Checking out the Sidney Rodeo

When the 100 Places listed the Sidney Rodeo, Linda and I both thought that the southwest corner of the state was a little far to go for a rodeo. We'd been to rodeos before; how different could this be? We found out...

The Freemont County Fairgrounds are located in Sidney, Iowa. The most significant building on the grounds is the rodeo arena. This facility has to be one of the finest rodeo grounds in the state, probably several states. And they know how to put on a show! From the fully covered stands on the north and south sides of the arena to the huge replay screen in the east end, this place shows an investment in the fan that makes an immediate impression. Add to that an announcer that is on the field and has a quick wit, an equally clever sound system operator with an impressive selection of musical riffs and humorous sound bites, and a rodeo clown voted entertainer of the year last year and you've got a show... before the horses and cattle show up!

We found our seats on the more popular south side of the arena and immediately appreciated that the builders had left a significant gap between the top row and the roof to let a wonderful breeze roll down over us. We had a few minutes to soak in the facility and assembling crowd. It was the family matinee performance so there were a significant number of young buckaroos in the crowd, some with hobby / stick horses in tow. I should probably mention that this rodeo is a four day, five session affair.

The opening ceremonies brought several competitors, dignitaries (including senior linebacker from this year's football team), color guard, and band onto the arena floor. One of the nice touches was the naming and pause to remember those members of the rodeo family who'd passed on since last year's event. The anthem was played and fireworks started ... literally! Part of the opening was a volley of Fourth of July grade fireworks!

The opening event was bronc riding. The first rider and horse put on a great show down the west half of the southern stands. The rider made his time and we were rollin'. The replay on the big screen was immediate and, by the time it was done, the score was shown as well. The announcer introduced the next rider and his gate opened. He didn't fare so well but the pace was established. They knew that people didn't need to be sitting on their hands waiting for the next rider. That image in the right has been altered to better show one of the more spectacular jumps and falls; the announcer called that one a Chiropractor's Delight. Ouch! He scrambled away without medical attention.

After the broncs, the Two County Dusters, a group of around thirty high school horsemen and women took the arena. They arrived in two columns but quickly split into two lines and wove figure eights, reversing circles, pinwheels, and other synchronized patterns to patriotic country music. It was quite a show and really communicated how horsemanship is an important aspect of many of these kids lives. They looked good out there.

Steer wrestling was up next. Sometimes called bulldogging, the he man event of the rodeo went off pretty much as you'd expect. Big guys drop off of speeding horses onto racing steers and wrestle the steer to the ground. What's not to like? (Okay... PETA might have an objection.) All the steers got up and a couple even got away.

Team roping was next. You better be a true Lariat Sam to have a chance in this event. Getting a rope around the pointy end of the steer is the first step; that's certainly not easy. Getting both of the rear legs with the second rope can't be easy either. Thinking about it, you'd probably have a much better chance of catching those when the steer is still on the run; once it stops, it's gotta be harder. We only saw a few teams accomplish the task at hand. In this collection of images, I actually have a photo of the winning team taking their Shell Victory Lap. Generally after each event, the winning competitor or team would take their lap in the arena.

Throughout the performance, four time PRCA Clown of the Year, Lecile Harris entertained us with his wit. Twice, he was also the featured act between events and shared a couple of his skits. In one, his taxi career took a pretty serious hit when his car acted up. In the other, he showed his skill with the bull whoop; of course, not all went as one might have been expected. Lecile's career has been long and varied and he can still put a smile on your face. It was a real treat to see this showman in the arena.

Tie down roping was another challenging event in our session. Some of the calves got away clean while others escaped after their knots were tied. One cowboy caught the back hooves instead of the head; he just let the calf go. The timing of this event is pretty amazing to me. This is just one of my photos of this event where the horse is skidding to a stop while the cowboy is dismounting but the calf hasn't even broken stride yet.

The ladies took the stage with barrel racing. The thought of bringing a galloping horse into a tight turn around a steel barrel and then get it back up to a gallop to do it all over again... and again is pretty scary, at least for me. You've got to have a great deal of trust in your horse, your balance, and the arena; one misstep and it's not going to be much fun. There were only four or five competitors in our session but they certainly put on a show of steely nerves and horse control. When they were done, there was a brand new high banked turn carved around each of the barrels.

Last up... the bulls. While the name of the event is bull riding, we didn't see a lot of long rides. There were certainly a few who were fortunate enough to get to stay aboard; there were several more who hit the dirt. As we watched this event and as I looked through my photos, I saw that there was one man in nearly every shot. If you didn't see him, it was because he was behind the bull. The guy in the red and white striped shirt has an amazing job. He's generally the first thing the bull sees when it comes out of the gate. He's often the last thing the bull goes after before heading back to the pens. That's his job. When a cowboy goes down, this guy puts himself between the bull and the fallen man as quickly as possible.

The picture in the bottom left is pretty scary but I know that that man got up and ran off on his own. The bull hung around to play for a while longer. That's him in the picture in the middle of the left side. He'd lowered his head and pawed the ground in an obvious challenge / warning; this bull was looking for trouble. The clowns faced him down, took his best shot, and lived to tell the tale. The bull then trotted off to his pen.

The top two photos are pretty dramatic as well. In the big picture in the top right, you can see the clowns on the run as the cowboy is heading down. This is also the only bull that got the lariat; I have to wonder if he has a history of bad behavior. The image in the upper left has the clown with the bull "in his pocket." There can't be much room between that bull and the clown. Pretty amazing stuff.

The event closed with a short video message about the cowboy spirit and values, encouraging those present to try to live up to the ideals of that way of life. A small herd of horses and foals were released in the arena as a tiny stampede representative of freedom and independence. It doesn't translate well in words but I hope you get the idea.

As you can probably tell, I had a whale of a time and would happily return. I really have to recommend this to anyone with even a remote interest in rodeo. These folks know how to do it. Happy trails!

Sampling the Fudge in Atlantic

Mmm... fudge. The people of the Main Street Grill in Atlantic, Iowa, know how to make it. Linda and I stopped to try this 100 Things You Must Eat item and were in for a wonderful treat. While I enjoy many things chocolate, I'd not have called myself a huge fan of fudge. Understandably, it's been quite a while since I've tried it and that may affect my perspective on the subject. All that said, this slightly gooey block of walnut speckled goodness melted in my mouth releasing just the right flavors to get my attention. This experience justifies a stop when "in the neighborhood." It's easy to understand how this made the list.

Visiting Elk Horn, Iowa

Home of the Danish Windmill, Elk Horn is a typical Iowa small town. Their authentic windmill was originally built in 1848 and moved to Elk Horn in 1976. Located along the main north-south road, it was easy to find. A gift shop and welcome center have information about the mill and the community. Having seen the windmill in Pella, one of the striking differences was the blades of the fan. The mill in Pella was a fixed framework with canvas that could be varied to change the aerodynamics of the surface; this mill had variable pitch shutter type vanes that did the job. Tours are available but we were on the move and declined the opportunity. A nice stop on the list of 100 Places.

Visiting the Indianola Balloon Festival

Friday evening, Linda and I went south to have a bit of dinner and check out the balloons. Dinner at the Crouse Cafe had the local color we'd hoped and I got to try the hot beef sandwich, half order. We topped it off with a warm piece of cherry pie ... with ice cream. It's not hard to see why these two made recent Register's lists. Hunger staved off for a bit, it was time to head out to the balloon grounds.

The weather was a bit overcast but the breeze from the east made for a comfortable August evening and (what looked like) good ballooning. I believe I heard them announce that ninety pilots were present at the evening briefing. Two balloon games were called and half the balloonists were sent off site.

Those who were going to launch from the field were going to play Fox and Hounds. One balloon, the fox, would take off carrying a large yellow banner. At some point, he'd (probably) land and lay out that banner as a target. The remaining hounds would take off carrying bean bags. When they they got "close enough," they'd toss their bean bag as close as they could to the banner. Closest wins.

The balloons that went off the grounds headed for locations a few miles upwind of the balloon field. There were going for a Ribbon Grab. Their job would be to get back to the field and, if possible, grab a large ribbon from atop one of three poles. Anyone with a ribbon would win two hundred dollars. If you didn't get close enough to grab the ribbon, you could toss a bean bag and hope that ribbons went unclaimed. Again, closest would win.

The take off of the hounds was a great, colorful display as various balloons would take off individually or, sometimes, several at one time. As we watched the hot air parade float by, I wondered whether it was better to take off early and try to quickly follow the path of the fox or to take a little time and see how the other hounds were flying and then chart a course. In either case they were nice to watch as they started their "chase."

The balloons in the ribbon grab dotted the sky high to the north but were following the terrain from the east. As they'd get close, you'd see them rise or fall trying to get the right adjustment to their approach. Some of the early balloons were close, some were definitely not. Before long, we did see one grab a ribbon but the most anyone else could do was toss their bean bag.

As the balloons approached the field, some knew they weren't going to be near the poles and would land where the hounds had just left. One of my favorite moments is captured in the horizontal photo in the top row of the collage; the family / team posed for a picture on the field as other balloons were approaching over their shoulder. Nice shot, I'm sure. I did get one of Linda taking a photo of the approaching balloons.

Friday Construction Photo #16

The steel keeps arriving and taking shape. The metal sheeting for the second and third floors has also expanded quickly. Stairwells zigzag up from the ground as well. They're smoothing gravel in the right center so I'm guessing steel will be going up there before too long. The crane in the left center still has an escape route but it looks like it'll be an interesting drive. The forms for the footings in the lower center look like they could pour more concrete soon.

Going to the 48 Hour Project Screening

Last night, Linda and I went to the Fleur Cinema and Cafe to see a screening of seven of the local 48 Hour Project films. Since nearly all forty teams had completed their films in the alloted time, they organizers had compiled the entries for four showings.

We stopped by early to be sure we got our tickets and to avoid what had promised to be longer lines. Tickets in hand, we went for a bite to eat. When we returned about fifteen minutes before the scheduled showtime, a nice crowd was gathering. We joined in and added to the general buzz of the place; there was good energy and anticipation. A ballot and pencil was given to each person as we entered the theater.

The show started and we saw our set of submissions. Each ran about seven minutes and had their own strengths. After viewing the films, representatives of most of the teams came forward and talked about the experience and answered questions from the audience. It sounded like most of the people had a good time and had learned a lot about filmmaking.

When Linda and I compared notes after voting, we found that we'd each chosen three different movies. In two weeks, there will be an awards showing that will screen the top twelve entries this year from Des Moines.

If you would like to see some of the submissions from over the life of the project, they're available at their website, www.48.tv. Be advised that they are not all family friendly. It is interesting to see what people have made given forty eight hours.

Helping a friend... and getting into show business!

Friday night, Linda and I went to the Vaudeville Mews to act as a local liaison for Scott, filmmaker husband of one of Linda's friends. He was doing some work related to RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, and needed someone to act on his behalf at the Vaudeville Mews in downtown Des Moines. Scott had registered to participate in The 48 Hour Film Project and needed Linda to draw the genre.

We, like a few others, showed up a little early and had to wait outside while final preparations were made. While we waited, we got to chat with a woman who was going to also be making a film; she and her family had spent the day at Adventureland so the kids were asleep in the car with her husband. She was looking forward to the next forty eight hours of little sleep with some concern. Fortunately, she had a writing team waiting for the specifications so she'd be able to sleep on the ride home.

The doors open and we filed in to a very dark venue. Soon, representatives of forty teams were seated and ready to draw. Four groups of ten went on stage to pull their fate from a fuzzy, black and white, leopard spotted hat. Teams reacted as desired or dreaded genres were drawn from their pool. Some of those possible were horror, drama, comedy, buddy, road, and musical / western. Scott had hoped for a road film and really did not want horror. Linda was in the last group and next to last to draw. We were both happy when horror was drawn a few places before her. She drew Fantasy, sounded okay.

After each team had drawn, the final elements were given. A character named John or Juanita Shold, a tourist, had to appear, a business card had to appear as a prop, and someone had to say "If at first you don't succeed... you know the rest."

We left the Mews and Linda phoned the information to Scott. Linda said he seemed happy but was very careful about getting the elements right. She said you could almost hear the concepts bouncing around as he asked the details over and over. Others were milling around outside the Mews, asking one another what they had drawn, wishing each other well. It was fun! We look forward to seeing the screening later this week.

Visiting the Old Central Des Moines Public Library, Des Moines Landmark

This great public building has served the city well and will continue for some time to come. When the city decided that the city had outgrown the capacity of the old library and started building the new branch, the next question was what to do with the old library. Fortunately, they found an excellent new role for this downtown Des Moines landmark serving not just the local community but the global community.

What will happen to the existing Central
Library?
The century-old Central Library located at 100
Locust Street will be the future home of The
World Food Prize Foundation Hall of Laureates.
A centerpiece of the Des Moines/Principal
Financial Riverwalk development project, the
Hall of Laureates will honor Iowa's heritage of
agricultural innovation and humanitarian outreach,
as well as the accomplishments of the
World Food Prize Laureates. The World Food
Prize was created in 1986 by Iowa native and
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Norman E.
Borlaug, and is funded by The John Ruan Trust.

Visit the World Food Prize website to take a look inside the main floor of this great old building.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Borlaug's Iowa connection and contribution to global food production.

Friday Construction Photo #15

Things are really moving along! You really have to look close to see some of them. Of course, the girders and floors continue to rise and expand. Last week, it was a boxy framework; this week, we can see the basis of flooring on the fourth story.

In the right center of the photo, you may be able to see grey and white pipes sticking up out of the gravel. I believe the white pipes are plumbing while the grey are the entry of the electrical system.

Concrete forms await in the left and right corners of the site. This photo is of the concrete pumper delivering the concrete right where the workers need it. The mixer unloads into a hopper where what has to be a powerful pump pushes it along the piping of the boom for delivery. That has to be a pretty cool system ... especially for anyone who had to coerce a mixer into a tight corner to pour or horse a wheelbarrow of cement to the right spot. I've done neither but I still like it!

Snapping a shot of the Colonial Bread Sign, Des Moines Landmark

Now THIS is a landmark! When I first came to Des Moines, I quickly learned where this sign was found. At the corner of Univerty and Second Avenue, this sign was hard to miss and certainly unique. At that time, if you drove by early enough, the smell of fresh baked bread was everywhere.

After The Earthgrains Co. sold its Colonial brand and moved out around the turn of the century, the bakery was renovated and repurposed.

School district renovating landmark Colonial Bakery: facility will prepare 40,000 meals a day and save the district an estimated $1 million per year.

Fortunately, the sign has been preserved as well.

Finding the Wallace House, Des Moines Landmark

The one-time home of Henry A. Wallace, one of Iowa's influential, controversial sons is found at the top of Sherman Hill. Restored to match photos from over one hundred years ago, this museum now houses exhibits on the life of Wallace and the four Secretaries of Agriculture with Iowa roots. I'm sure that when current Secretary Mike Johanns, born in Atlantic, Iowa, completes his tenure, his contributions will be added as well.

From the Wallace House Foundation website:

The mission of the Wallace House Foundation is to build community through conversation about contemporary issues.

The Wallace House Foundation commemorates the remarkable influences of the Wallace family on Iowa, the nation, and the world. The Foundation is a neutral, non-partisan facilitator of dialogue that builds community and solves problems. The Foundation sponsors and staffs citizen dialogue projects, supports civic investment in Iowa communities, and provides consulting services to citizens, organizations, and government to facilitate communication, build consensus, and develop collaborative partnerships for effective action. The Foundation also preserves the Wallace House as a historical center and meeting facility.

About the museum:

“Uncle Henry” and Nancy C. Wallace moved to Des Moines from Winterset in 1892 when Henry became editor of the Iowa Homestead. They selected a home at the corner of 16th & Center Streets, one of the oldest properties in the Sherman Hill neighborhood. The Italianate Victorian-style house was built in 1882. The Classical style wrap-around porch features Ionic Roman columns. The stacked bay windows and a second story balcony are typical of the style.


Around 1895, the Wallaces altered the third floor for more space, adding two bedrooms, a hybrid mansard/hip roof and dormer windows. After Nancy’s death in 1909 and Henry’s death in 1916, daughter Josephine continued to live in the house until 1923. The house remained in the Wallace family until 1940. By the 1950s, the house was portioned into 11 apartments. The house was last inhabited in the 1960s.


The Wallace House Foundation purchased the home in 1988. The interior was gutted, and period photos taken around 1910 by Josephine Wallace guided the restoration work. The family donated many pieces of period furniture. Henry and Nancy's great-granddaughter Ann Wallace Fleming maintains the beautiful heirloom garden.

Locating the Lexington Apartments, Des Moines Landmark

Located in the middle of the Sherman Hill District, this apartment building is another interesting choice for landmark. While I'm sure there is history to the structure, it's not readily found on the web... sort of like the building itself. Without the address in hand, I don't think I'd have recognized it as a significant structure among all the other historic buildings in the area. It is somewhat recognizable and I think that I've seen it featured on the cover of local publications and in some photography of Des Moines but, if I'd not known it was "famous," I doubt I'd have taken this photo. I guess I'm contributing to its celebrity status. Please respect its privacy and not all rush up there all at the same time. ; )

Visiting Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines Landmark

While I've never been inside, I actually knew where this place was! This venerated cultural anchor at the downtown corner of the Sherman Hills district has had a long history of providing some of the finest artistic expressions in the city. A few days before I took this rather limited photo of the southern face of the building, the large lawn was covered with tents appearing to offer paintings and prints; it's an active member of the community.

I visited the Hoyt Sherman website and found

A grand manor home built in 1877 by prominent businessman Hoyt Sherman; the structure is now a museum and performing arts center. The original house and gallery display an impressive collection of 19th and 20th century paintings and elaborately carved 17th century furniture as well as many rare, ancient artifacts. The newly renovated historic theater built in 1923, hosts an impressive array of world renowned musicians, theatrical productions, and local performing arts events.

Visting the Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines Landmark

Located just beyond the historic Sherman Hill District, headstones in this cemetery have the same names as a lot of streets and parks in Des Moines. Many of the founding and early influential families have relatives buried here.

Actually seeing the Butler Mansion, Des Moines Landmark

Anyone who's travelled Fleur Drive south of downtown has almost certainly passed the driveway to the "landmark" Butler Mansion. While I've certainly passed by more than one hundred times, I'd never actually seen the mansion... until last Friday.

Now the home of The Integer Group, an Advertising/Agencies, Communications/Public Relations, Internet/Web Site Design business, the mansion took part in the 10th Annual Holly & Ivy Holiday Tour last December. They earned "special thanks to The Integer Group for its “Twelve Days of Christmas” theme throughout the seven-story Butler Mansion." Seven stories?!

The mansion apparently also has some permanent guests. The following story is taken from the Des Moines Business Record:

The first ghost sighting at the Butler Mansion occurred in early 1990, just months after Liz Newell and Jack Kragie bought the building to house their advertising and public relations agency, Kragie Newell Inc.

Newell remembers being told that a creative director for the firm was working late. She was alone in the building. She walked up the home's central ramp to Newell's office, which was located in the late Earl Butler's bedroom. As she was dropping off some materials on Newell's desk, she saw a hazy figure in the office's bathroom.

It appeared to be a woman, dressed in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head as though she had just stepped from the shower. Thinking that it was Newell, the creative director quickly left the room. Newell wasn't anywhere near the office that night.

"She thought it was me, just getting out of the shower -- that's how real it was," Newell said. "That was the first one."

Several months later, a woman was dropping off her son at the mansion, which is located on Fleur Drive just south of Gray's Lake. He was an intern at Kragie Newell.

As he walked into the building, the mother noticed that a woman, again dressed in a bathrobe with a towel around her head, was looking at her through the window in the building's kitchen, which was located beneath Newell's office. The mother, who didn't work at the agency, had never heard the story about the first sighting....

Finding Esther Hall, another Des Moines Landmark

"A highlight of the structure is the fact that it is important in development of educational institutions for women and for its place in the development of charitable and social services." - Meeting minutes City of Des Moines Landmark Review Board, April 06, 2004

While it may have an important history, this building isn't all that easy to find and, contrary to my idea of a landmark, nobody I spoke with knew where it would be found.

I am glad steps have been taken to maintain it and that it will continue to exist in our community.

Attending COUNTDOWN: The Story of the Exploding Whale

This afternoon, Linda and I went to a show at the iowa Fringe Festival that recounted and elaborated on the beaching of a dead sperm whale in the Pacific northwest over thirty-five years ago. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Chris Gummert has collected information through newspaper research and interviewing the principal players in one of the unusual news stories that tends to show up from time to time. His presentation was entertaining and humorous and I can't really share much of that; what I can do is share the news video that I found on the web that also underpinned the show. It's a hoot!

Exploding Whale

Posted Dec 05, 2005

In November of 1970, the Oregon Highway Division descended upon the coastal community of Florence, Oregon to detonate a sperm whale that had been rotting away on the beach. What happened next is now legendary, and it was all caught on tape.

Checking out the Ostrich and Camel Races

Fully fed from our stop at the tenderloin place, Linda and I headed out to Prairie Meadows race track to see their exhibition ostrich and camel races. We weren't sure when they'd be in the schedule of races but figured we'd likely see something interesting. Our first surprise was the full parking lot, full to overflowing. Pickup trucks going over the curbs to park on the grass; this promotion worked! Linda parked in line with a bus-sized rv in the semi, rv, and camper section; we figured we weren't taking a space any semi, rv, or camper would have fit in so it would be okay.

It was no surprise that the crowd inside the casino and trackside was much larger than any we'd seen in our few visits; it was impressive. As we looked around, we heard the announcement that it was ten minutes to post time for the ostrich race. The starting gate was already in position but the jockeys were leaning against the rail.

We walked over to see if we could watch them load but the truck that delivered them also shielded them from the crowd. That probably helped with the loading but made us wonder what they'd do when they saw the crowd with jockeys on their backs. It didn't take long to find out.

The gates opened and the birds were off and running. As they picked up speed, a couple of the jockeys slid further and further back until the were on the ground, one holding fistsful of feathers. One jockey did stay aboard his bird and made it to the finish line, escorted by a riderless pair.

We stayed around for a couple of horse races but, to make it to the Fringe Festival, had to leave before the camel race. Before we left, we stopped by the pen to see the camels. Both the camels and ostrichs were very popular.

Enjoying a Jumbo Tenderloin

I have to report a new place to stop for a bite to eat. Actually, this was several bites! Friday evening, Linda and I stopped at a little neighborhood tenderloin joint on Hubbel Avenue for our dinner. I ordered the Jumbo Tenderloin and onion rings; they were GREAT! The tenderloin was nearly the size of a hub cap and very tasty. The onion rings were hot, fresh and nicely seasoned. Even though it's not on the list of 100 Things You Must eat, it was a meal worth commenting on.

Iowa Fringe Festival

In my Friday Construction Photo #13 posting, I mentioned that a red and yellow tent in the upper background was up for the Iowa Fringe Festival. I'd not heard of the Fringe Festival before a few weeks ago but it sounded like it could be interesting. I visited their website and found their mission statement:

The mission of the iowa Fringe Festival is to provide a cooperative enterprise for artists to take creative risks in an inspiring and exciting environment for audiences. The Festival, through collaborative support from all local theatre groups, will bring national/international attention to the Greater Des Moines area, promoting this as an exciting entertainment and cultural destination, while building performing arts audiences in this market and throughout Iowa. The Festival will attract local, regional, national and international artists to Des Moines for these presentations in both traditional and non-traditional venues, while developing a more vibrant and nurturing landscape for Iowa’s performing arts and providing a wide range of entertainment at a price that a broader audience can afford.

I also learned that there were going to be over a dozen venues working over the four days of the festival and nearly fifty troupes would be participating. This was going to be big!

Looking at the summaries of some of the acts, it was apparent that they were targetting an audience that I'm not a part of but others looked like they could be quite entertaining. Linda and I have been to a couple of the shows and are planning to get to one more. While not all shows are for everyone, I appreciate that there is an opportunity for the artists to step up and express themselves and deal with the responses. It's certainly not for the timid.

Elaborating on that "Arc of Sidewalk"

In Friday Construction Photo #13, I said I'd say more about an arc of sidewalk in the upper right of the photo; this is it. That arc is actually a fountain that spans two blocks in downtown Des Moines, cutting an arc around the Pappajohn Center to the new Central Des Moines Public Library. The design of the fountain suggests a stream with its headwaters at the east end of a similarly styled walk through the center of the western gateway. It's not uncommon to see people pausing on the benches along the walk or dipping their feet in the flowing water. I showed some folks wading in the photos from Wandering around at the 2007 Des Moines Art Festival. This visit, a mother and two young girls paused for fifteen minutes or more to wade up and down the block. It's quite a nice, surprisingly informal place to pause.

Visiting the Gold Star Monument

Another Des Moines landmark, this one I knew. Located on the east side of the river at 700 East University, it's hard to not notice it sometime. Built in 1925, this monument commemorates one hundred sixty five Polk County men who were lost.

ERECTED IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE MEN FROM POLK COUNTY IOWA WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN THE WORLD WAR THAT GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE SHALL BE MAINTAINED AND THAT LIBERTY SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH

Unfortunately, in researching a little about the monument, I ran across a disappointing story on the WHO website dated April 18, 2007.

Gerald LaBlanc is trying to save a piece of history. "Right after the Great War the wives and mothers of 165 boys all killed in battle had a donation drive and with those funds erected this Gold Star Monument. However, by the 1950's the wives and mothers had all passed on. And they left no endowment. The monument is absolutely abandoned."

The monument is showing its age and could use some maintenance. Fortunately, the Iowa Lutheran Hospital next door is cutting the grass or this story might have been even sadder.

Looking for the Southeast Water Trough

Recently, I was looking around on the web and found a Des Moines city site that listed the "landmarks" of the town. Sounds like a photo opportunity to me... and a chance to learn where these landmark locations are found. After taking my Friday photo, I had some time to kill before meeting Linda so I headed for the Southeast Water Trough. I don't think I'd ever seen this landmark and, having seen the location on Google Earth, was curious what I'd find when I got there. It was certainly easy to recognize when I saw it; that's a good thing in a landmark.

Located at the corner of Southeast Eleventh and Scott, this watering hole is located within a mile of the Iowa State Capitol. Located in an area that was once a rail center, I can easily imagine this being a place to pause and refresh working horses. It's nice to see it preserved.

Friday Construction Photo #14

Steel! Suddenly, there's steel going up! In it's first week on the site, that new yellow crane has been busy hoisting I-beams, giving a vertical dimension to the work. The streets echo with the clank of men bangin' them into position. It's a busy place. In this shot, I count four backhoe type machines; there are mounds of dirt and gravel are still scattered across what was once a pretty smooth work site. It looks like the trenches are full of cement; there are a few underground vaults that appear to be finishing up. This portion of the skyline is going to be changing nearly daily for a while now.

We'll probably soon be losing sight of something and I'd like to take this time to point it out. In the greenspace in the right background of the photo, there's an arc of sidewalk. I'll be posting more about that shortly.

Also, the red and yellow tent in the central background is part of the Iowa Fringe Festival. I'll be talking more about that in an upcoming post as well.

Getting some landscape ideas at Reiman Gardens

Number six on the list of 100 Places in Iowa You Must Visit, this 14-acre public garden is quite a gem, worth the price of admission. Featuring the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing, "a 2,500-square-foot indoor tropical garden containing exotic and native butterflies from six continents," the gardens have become a major attraction in central Iowa. Several different styles of gardens and examples of spaces for outdoor living are nicely interwoven across the grounds. We were often surprised to see what was around the next corner, beyond the tall grass or vine covered trellis. Prairie species have an area set aside for their continuity as well.

Trying pizza at the Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company

While in Ames, we stopped to try another of the 100 Things in Iowa You Must Eat, #10. Denver-Style Crust Pizza at The Great Plains Sauce and Dough Co. Denver-style crust appears to be crispy on the bottom, whole wheat, and closer to deep dish than thin-and-crispy. The outer ring of the crust, sometimes the part people don't actually eat (thereby producing "pizza bones"), is a little wider and thicker than usual... and that sets up a situation for something I'd not seen before. At the condiment counter, there are squeeze bottles of honey; not to put on the pizza toppings but to squirt on that outer ring after the "pizza" is gone. It's now a tasty honey-wheat little treat. Nifty, eh?

Roaming Story County in search of Barns

Yes, Saturday, Linda and I went looking for barns. We'd thought we might head west but the distance to points of interest was getting a little longer than we were thinking. Looking at the map, there were a few nice locations to the north; one was the Handsaker Barn (also known as the "Fernald Barn.")

Looking for specifics on where to find the barn, I found the following on a Story County Barn Tour and Picnic website:

The Handsaker barn, featured on the cover of the Spring 2003 edition of the Iowa Barn Foundation Magazine, is a spartan, unique square barn known widely as the "Fernald barn." William Handsaker bought the rich land, on which the barn stands, from the government in 1853 for $4 per acre. The barn was built in 1880 by J.W. Handsaker, great great grandfather of Gary Handsaker, who with his mother, Gloria, owns the farm now. Dale Handsaker, Gloria’s husband and Gary’s father, was a well-known Story County farmer until his death. The beautifully maintained house on the farm was built in 1875. Gary removed the shingle siding on the barn, brought back the original wood siding, and painted the barn red as it was originally. Interestingly, the Handsaker family sold some of their land so that the village of Fernald could be built.

Eight more barns were identified on the page so we had our mission. I made some quick notes, located the addresses on Google Earth, and we were on our way.

We made our way across rural Story County, trying to identify the barns and stay one step ahead of our gravel dust tail. It was interesting to see the "celebrity" barns but we both enjoyed the working barns every bit as much. The top two photos on the left edge of the collage are two that were particularly noteworthy.

The big photo with the red square barn is the Handsaker barn. It was probably the best maintained of the lot but didn't appear to still be in use like some of the others.

Another celebrity class barn would have to be the Rosenfeld Barn seen in the very small image in the right side of the collage. The history of that barn reflects a nationwide attraction, more for the residents than the structure.

The Rosenfeld Barn was built around 1918, on land George Rosenfeld purchased in 1873, to house a nationally recognized purebred herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. In 1923 the Rosenfeld herd had the International Grand Champion Aberdeen-Angus Cow at Chicago. And, in 1925 the herd produced the Grand Champion Herd of steers over all breeds at Chicago. The huge (96 feet by 66 feet) barn has a poured concrete foundation that goes up inside walls higher than usual. Cattle rubbed against the concrete instead of wood leaving less deterioration. The pegged barn has 27 four-paned windows for light and ventilation. Buyers from throughout the United States used to attend breeding stock sales at the barn. The barn passed from George to Carl to Clyde. It is now owned by Mrs. Beth Rosenfeld Young and Mrs. Ronald Rosenfeld.

The dairy barn at Iowa State University was a little disappointing. While the huge U-shaped structure was no doubt state of the art in its day, it was pretty clear that no cattle have been on site for a couple of years. We walked up through one leg of the barn and it appeared to be a very large shed... with stalls. You can see the northern faces of the twin legs of the barn in the photo in the top right.

Similar to the dairy barn, the horse barn at Iowa State is U-shaped; wider and not as tall, the enclosed lot actually had horses. We walked through one leg of the barn and saw handsome horses in nearly each of the stalls. A system of corrals fill the gap between the barn and the railroad to its north. The faces of this fine brick barn can be seen beneath the Handsaker Barn photo.

The three barn complex in the photo to the right of the ISU horse barn are the O’Neill Dairy-Hassebrock Barn. "The O’Neill Dairy, owned by brothers Clem and Henry, was an Ames institution in the 50’s and 60’s. The large cow herd provided about half of the milk consumed in Ames."

The history of the Bowman Round Barn seen in the lower right was a little thin on the Story County Barn Tour and Picnic site. It's still an interesting and pretty unique stucture for the area.

Returning to the Iowa Speedway

When I heard that the Daytona Prototypes of the Rolex racing series were coming to Iowa, I made a note that it could be a fun thing to see. Having seen the Rolex races at Le Mans and Daytona, it would be nice to see them first hand. I mentioned it to Bill and he was interested as well. "Get me two tickets when you get yours." were my instructions. If Bill was bringing his daughter, I figured Linda would likely enjoy seeing something new as well; I was right. After visiting the capitol, we set sail for the track and another new adventure.

When we arrived, there were motorcycles testing their equipment for their race on Saturday. It was fun to see them flopping from side to side as they sped through the chicane and sweeping curves of the road course. Next came the qualifying for the prototypes; they were louder, faster, and quite colorful. It was pretty interesting to see a dozen or more cars all go out on the track at the same time for qualifying. The drivers had fifteen minutes to post their times. When a car spun into the gravel pit in the twelfth minute, there was a scramble to get it back on track so cars could resume their run; fifteen minutes means fifteen minutes whether you're running or not.

As advertised, NASCAR driver Mark Martin dropped in after qualifying for the Chicago race. Winding down his NASCAR career, Mark is looking at other, less frequent racing series where he could still run but not year round. Before the race, he took a seat in the autograph area and was interviewed by a few individuals and photographed by many including yours truly.

During the autograph session, the Bob Pace Band featuring Steve George played an excellent hour plus set of blues and R & B for crowd. Bob plays guitar and Steve does vocals; each is excellent at their art. Linda and I had heard the name before and will now be watching for them to come to the area; they're worth a trip.

Another hour or so passed and they were racing. The race was to be 400 kilometers (just under 250 miles) or two and one-half hours, whichever came first. There were very few breaks in the action so they did go the scheduled distance. After the sun went down, it was pretty fun to see headlights and brake lights glittering as the cars wound around the 1.3 mile circuit. When it was done, another occasional NASCAR driver, Scott Pruett, was one of the winning pair of drivers.

Hmmm... two hundred fifty miles in two and one-half hours, that's averaging right around one hundred miles an hour... including pit stops, a mandatory driver change, a couple of yellow flags, and nine corners per lap. Pretty sporty! For comparison, I checked the NASCAR.com to see what the Cup cars had run a few weeks ago at the Infineon road course; they published an average speed of 74.547 mph. Curious, I checked the Formula 1 numbers... they just ran the British Grand Prix and their fastest lap averaged 222.629 kilometers per hour. That works out to about 138 miles per hour but doesn't consider any stoppages nor indicate a sustained running rate. Track configuration would also play a big part in those numbers but it's interesting as a very rough comparison.

While it's not our favorite form of racing to watch, it was fun to do once. I'd do it again ... maybe in a year or so...

Visiting the Iowa State Capitol

Friday afternoon, Linda and I took the afternoon off and stopped off at the capitol. It had been a while since I'd been there (November 16, 2006 to see Scotty and Fiddy) and much longer since Linda had been there. It's on the list of 100 Places so we took the opportunity to peek under the golden dome.

The majority of the people that were around were involved in maintaining the building so things weren't at their best; that also meant that we had access to nearly everything. The mosaic in the upper left of the collage was just one of many that had me wondering if a quilter had tried their hand a ceramics.

The interior of the dome was every bit as striking as ever, even with the scaffolding obstructing it.

Everywhere you turn, there are shiny chandeliers, tall windows, and period appropriate details. The wallpaper, heavy drapes, and smell of old wood and leather in the chambers of the Iowa Supreme Court seemed to ooze with a somber gravity; it was clear that something important happens there.

The House and Senate chambers were orderly and appropriate but not as photogenic or interesting as the Law Library. Five stories of narrow walkways allows for a lot of books. The white wrought-iron railings of each floor and the spiral staircases were a striking accent to the wooden bookcases and shelves of books.

Our capitol isn't the most up to date facility in the nation but I'd have to guess that there are few finer. It was nice to step in and appreciate the investment that has been made to build and maintain this treasure of our state.

Friday Construction Photo #13

I thought there was a lot going on last week... Everything that was going on last week moved ahead and new things are happening! Unfortunately, most of the things in the image are coated with gravel dust and the sun was high so there's not a lot of contrast to pick out small details. It's not too hard to find the big yellow crane in the upper left; that wasn't there last week. The rebar fabrication station that used to be lower center is reforming in the right center. The deep, broad trenches that were in the lower portion of the site are now filled with concrete and bristle with rebar. The main footprint of the building is starting to emerge; it appears to be a capital 'H' with the top being in the upper right (or lower left for that matter.) There's a rectangular box with dark sides and a light top with two circles; it looks like some sort of electrical or stormwater box with two manholes to me.

Friday Construction Photo #12

Lots of interesting little things going on this week. Most apparent is probably the framing in the right center of the photo; I'm guessing that's for an elevator or stairwell shaft but we'll see. The rebar fabrication area has moved from bottom center to the right-hand corner. In the lower left, the footing trench sure looks deep and wide. New gravel is being laid out in the upper center. In the center, there's a line of dirt piled up like a trencher had recently been run. In the left corner, there are some pretty well constructed wooden squares that could either contain concrete or keep concrete out of their area. Hmmm...

Reporting the Pepsi 400 results

.005 seconds seperated Kyle Busch from the win Saturday night. Had Kyle won, it might have given my team the win but, as it worked out, it was not to be. For the second week in a row, I would have beaten anyone but the team I was facing. Oh well... them's the rules and we play by 'em. I'm pretty pleased with my team and their overall performance.

Kyle Busch finished second, Jimmie Johnson took tenth, and Jeff Burton came in sixteenth.

#1 Bear Down Racing 424 vs. 435 #3 Desert Denny
#4 halffastracing 284 vs. 371 #2 Overdue
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy 386 vs. 272 #5 Blue Bayou

#4 halffastracing was 13-4; lost; now 13-5
#5 Blue Bayou was 11-6; lost; now 11-7
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy was 9-8; won; now 10-8
#1 Bear Down Racing was 8-9; lost; now 8-10
#2 Overdue was 6-11; won; now 7-11
#3 Desert Denny was 4-13; won; now 5-13

Spending the Fourth in Clear Lake

This year, Linda and I went to Clear Lake in north central Iowa. Probably best known as the home of the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake offers many leisure activities and puts on one of the better Fourth of July celebrations in the area.

We found Linda's usual family parade viewing spot and waited for other family members to arrive and things to get under way. The family arrived and we were all pretty surprised by an F-16 formation flyover, apparently to start the parade. With Iowa in the political candidates' crosshairs for exposure, the parade attracted two candidates and a former President of the United States, Mitt Romney and Senator and President Clinton. Two of Linda's nieces were also in the parade so we waited for them to pass by before moving to the park for the next traditional activity: eating!

Tradition dictates that the you order a corn dog at the first vendor offering them. Corn dogs fit well into the Iowa diet of about-any-kind-of-food-on-a-stick so we didn't have to look too hard to find a vendor. That tradition honored, we moved on toward the stage to find a shady spot and some benches to establish the next family gathering spot.

Our location established, I followed Linda's daughter's fiance to the home of the next traditional food item: tenderloin sandwich (not on a stick) from the Tender Den. The batter used to make the Tender Den tenderloin bubbles up to a very airy coating around the actual meat; it reminded me of tempura style fried food. As we lingered in the shade in the park, people thoroughly photo-documented the occasion as various combinations of people were arranged and positioned.

Next, we moved to the sea wall for a big family shot. Being not of the family, I was eligible to perform in the role of photographer which I fulfilled to the best of my ability. While I feel I've learned a lot over the past few years with my camera, I got to work with several cameras of varying design and feature so I hope I did okay.

The Surf Ballroom is one of The Places in Iowa to Visit so Linda and I walked the six blocks or so to see the site and possibly step inside. When we arrived, we each were scoping out picture angles that would show the signage and the structure without a lot of wires in the way. The end of one driveway looked like a good spot so we moved into position. As we were discussing the shot, a woman walked down the driveway with a guestbook and pen in her hands. "Would you please sign our book?" Evidently, they've been collecting signatures from various people who've stood in their driveway to photograph The Surf. I signed and she offered to take our picture in front of the ballroom. That's it you see above, cropped a bit.

After roaming around the festivities, we loaded into the car and headed over to one of Linda's aunt and uncle's house along the south shore to enjoy an afternoon chatting, walking along the lake and down to the dock, and, of course, grazing on several tasty treats brought for the occasion.

We left before the fireworks display; it's a bit of a drive and the weather was looking a little like rain so we felt it was probably a good idea to be heading for home. We did take a swing past the home of one of the food items on The List: the Muskie Lounge, home of the Muskie Burger. We were well fed and felt we'd have a good chance at returning to try that treat another day.

Reporting the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 Results

My guys did pretty well this week. I took a chance and started Juan Pablo in place of Kyle to see if he really was up snuff. He did well but...

Jimmie Johnson took fifth, Jeff Burton finished seventh, Juan Pablo Montoya came in ninteenth. Kyle Busch was on the bench and finished eleventh. The twenty nine points I give up with Kyle on the bench would have been enough for the win this week... if I'd only known!

#2 Overdue 351 vs 317 #6 Red Neck Racing Academy
#4 halffastracing 430 vs 412 #1 Bear Down Racing
#5 Blue Bayou 411 vs 397 #3 Desert Denny

#4 halffastracing was 12-4; won; now 13-4
#5 Blue Bayou was 10-6; won; now 11-6
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy was 9-7; lost; now 9-8
#1 Bear Down Racing was 8-8; lost; now 8-9
#2 Overdue was 5-11; won; now 6-11
#3 Desert Denny was 4-12; lost; now 4-13

Returning to the Waveland Cafe for pancakes

Remember when Linda and I stopped at the Waveland a week or so ago? I think I mentioned that they were known in some quarters for their apple cinnamon pancakes the size of dinner plates... well here they are, before and after. Our waitress advised starting at the center and working outward from there to keep the syrup under control; it was good counsel. Normally one who can clean up a dinner plate of food, I found myself slowing to a crawl having completed only half of my order. Older, wiser (yeah, right!), and filled to capacity, I did call it quits after making one cut to the outer edge. Yes, the pancake was quite tasty. The bits of cooked apple were about the size of blueberries and the cinnamon was present but not overpowering; a very nice breakfast choice.

Wandering around at the 2007 Des Moines Art Festival

After the Farmer's Market, Linda and I headed over to the Des Moines Art Festival. A growing annual tradition, the festival has been rated highly by both the artists and those who come to see and purchase their work. Most of the work was visual arts of varying forms like paintings, sculpture, photography, and printing but there were also three stages with bands performing most of the day. Demonstrations were also going on much of the time. Set up on the Western Gateway greenspace, the setting was very comfortable and spacious enough to handle the large crowds without feeling crowded.

One of the more interesting projects on site was a pair of huge panels of black background with a grid drawn on the face of each. A pretty large, open-sided tent shading several tables was set up next to it. People were lined up, waiting for their turn at a table. They were given a set of some sort of crayon and a small (about one inch square) portion of the image to reproduce on what appeared to be a Masonite square about one foot on each side. As each person completed their square, it was passed up to the two men on a lift to be fastened to the appropriate place in the panel. The two images being produced were based on Van Gogh's Starry Night and Irises. It was a very successful participation project as I saw men, women, boys, and girls all taking their turns contributing their square.

As were were making our way back to the car, we paused at a bench near the library and watched as people of all ages took their turns cooling their feet in the water sculpture in front of the new library. The fountain is almost more of a stone sided stream running a graceful arc across the ground between the front door of the library and the eastern end of the art festival. Tiny spillways and large, rough cut stones well suited for seating break up the run and provide a interesting variety as young and old made their way along. At the lower end, the water cascades over a short wall onto what is effectively a portion of the sidewalk. A grate drains the water before it gets to the regular walkway but that little bit of water spilling over the side was a powerful magnet for hot feet. While kids generally showed the way, nearly as many adults followed their lead into the refreshing little pools.

The image in the lower left and upper right look like there were only a few people present. The upper right was taken after the first wave of people had passed by after opening on Sunday. The lower left was also chosen more for the grandmother and two children rather then another shot that had closer to a dozen people sloshing around. In hindsight, I probably should have taken shots that showed the people.

Checking out the Des Moines Farmer's Market

For many in the Des Moines area, Saturday morning means a trip downtown to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables at the Farmer's Market. Linda and I joined the shuffling lines passing stands and bands and made our way down court avenue and several side streets, alleys, and at least one small parking lot. Craft vendors displayed their wares and bakeries offered free samples of various interesting breads. Living plants and cut flowers were offered at various locations as were varied breakfast concoctions. This weekly festival of fresh food was quite a treat for the senses.

Friday Construction Photo #11

Another week of working on footings. If you look closely, you might be able to see that some of the footings at the far corner of the site are actually now above ground level. You have the whole range in this shot: above ground, poured with rebar, and freshly dug.

Also, in the "background" of the photo, you can see the white tents of the Des Moines Art Festival. Each year, this event has seemed to grow in popularity and stature. Weather looks like it should be fantastic for this weekend's event.

Enjoying eight and a half innings and another sunset

Friday evening, we returned to Sec Taylor Field at Principal Park to enjoy an nice cool, overcast evening. For eight and one half innings, it was an excellent game; both teams getting nice play in the field, a couple of runs, and exciting baserunning. Usually, eight and one half innings is enough to make a good evening for the home team. Unfortunately, the half inning that we could have done without was the top of the fifth when the Oklahoma Redhawks posted nine runs. That kinda put the game into a different category. It finished eleven to two and the best photo of the night is to the right, just as it came from the camera. Sometimes I crop a photo down to capture the "important" part of the image. Sometimes I play a little with the brightness or contrast to "help" it a little. This one, I don't think I should touch. If someone came to me with this sky, I'd have to raise a skeptical eyebrow and wonder. I assure you that this is just as it was recorded. Pretty amazing to me... and I was there!

Practicing casting

Can't really call it fishing when there's no sign of fish now can I? Linda brought some bread and we swung by the Valley Junction Farmer's Market to pick up some cheese curds and had a little lakeside picnic. Energized, we set about the business of casting about in what proved to be a futile pursuit. Linda salvaged the evening with this photo of the sunset; somehow, her fishing pole got in the picture but, as it turns out, I like it! (Yes, I know that she wanted it in the picture...)

Having fun at the old ballpark... again!

Monday night, as part of their Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Night, we (Linda) brought six cans of tuna to pay our admission as the Iowa Cubs hosted the Albuquerque Isotopes. It was another beautiful slightly warm evening to be out. The Cubs hit back to back homers in the second to take a 2-1 lead. Over the next three innings, they gave up four runs and trailed 2-5. It looked to me like the teams were playing pretty well, hitting the ball hard; unfortunate for the Cubs, they were generally hitting at someone while the Isotopes found the occasional gap. In the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs got things going and put two more on the board before running out of outs. It was a good time... and take a look at those barbecue nachos! Tasty!!

Reporting the NASCAR Results

Wow! I guess I've really fallen behind on my NASCAR reporting. Thanks Greg for reminding me! I can't really go into each of the races but here's how they wer scored.

Pocono 500 / Pocono Raceway
#1 Bear Down Racing 303 vs 345 #6 Red Neck Racing Academy
#3 Desert Denny 421 vs 449 #4 halffastracing
#5 Blue Bayou 444 vs 387 #2 Overdue

Citizens Bank 400 / Michigan International Speedway
#2 Overdue 470 vs 369 #3 Desert Denny
#5 Blue Bayou 356 vs 352 #1 Bear Down Racing
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy 297 vs 239 #4 halffastracing

Toyota/SaveMart 350 / Infineon Raceway
#1 Bear Down Racing 472 vs 398 #2 Overdue
#3 Desert Denny 251 vs 388 #6 Red Neck Racing Academy
#5 Blue Bayou 365 vs 300 #4 halffastracing

Over these three races, my Bear Down Racing won one but lost no ground to league leading halffastracing. Unfornately, that's three races that I won't be gaining ground ... and there's a lot of ground to be gained.

Current standings:

#4 halffastracing 12-4
#5 Blue Bayou 10-6
#6 Red Neck Racing Academy 9-7
#1 Bear Down Racing 8-8
#2 Overdue 5-11
#3 Desert Denny 4-12

Visiting the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge

Saturday, Linda and I met for breakfast at the Des Moines landmark Waveland Cafe. A smallish "greasy spoon" class diner complete with counter stool seating and a Coffee Mug Club, this place seems to always be doin' bustling business. We saw but didn't try the dinner plate sized pancakes; I've since read that their apple cinnamon pancakes are quite tasty. Fueled for a day of roaming across the countryside, we set sail east for the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge to check out Buffalo Day.

Overcast skies didn't deter a nice assortment of families and retired folk from coming out to see what's happening at the refuge. We took a brief look around the learning center and caught the bus tour around some of the grounds. Our guide had only been on site a few weeks but clearly had a great deal of knowledge about the flora and fauna and the progress the Fish and Wildlife Service have had with this project. Along they wa, we saw the three elk in my photo resting on a hilltop. Several other members of the herd under the trees down along the creek. We did see some of the forty-seven member buffalo herd but were too far away to get a decent photo.

The buffalo currently at the refuge are not the original herd. The genetics of the old herd were recognized as containing cow; they didn't get into how they recognized the contamination but it must have been apparent that the old herd wasn't as pure a strain as the current herd. The current herd is from a national bison herd that has genetics as clean as any around. In the interest of protecting that population, smaller herd groups are being distributed to other locations. While that may make our herd more "authentic," I can't help wondering what happened to the old herd. Hmmm...

Back at the learning center, we wandered the various displays and came face to face with the badger in the photo. His head is probably at least four feet tall and can be found around a corner in a maze teaching about what's lurking under the surface of the prairie. The displays were interesting and engaging, even for an old guy like me.

We stepped outside and walked the longer trail through some of the prairie restoration near the learning center. Over the two mile walk, we saw several interesting plants and saw and heard several birds taking advantage of the protected status at the refuge. The pheasants and deer better enjoy it while it lasts; in the fall season, hunting these two is allowed on portions of refuge land.

Friday Construction Photo #10

Rain this morning surely slowed at least a few of the tasks at the work site today. The sky was threatening when I took this shot and soon another downpour was rolling across the city. Several of the concrete footings are clearly poured and trenches bristle with rebar. It looks like the rebar storage area in the foreground is likely to be displaced in the next week or so as the trenches keep expanding.

Spending another nice evening on the square in Indianola

Tuesday evening, Linda and I set out for the square in Indianola to spend a couple of hours in lawn chairs with the locals listening to another bluegrass band. Unlike the Minnesota based group we saw a couple of weeks ago, Southern Reign is mostly a central Iowa family band; the two women are apparently sisters and one of them recently married the banjo player. Not as polished as Munroe Crossing, this quartet made up for it in with a cascade of fine bluegrass numbers that, to the best of my knowledge, didn't repeat what we'd heard last time we were there. Their setlist did come up about ten minutes short but they were able to pull a couple of pieces off the shelf and finish their time nicely. It was a beautiful Midwestern evening to be out. Unfortunately, they won't last long ... and, also unfortunately, the schedule is running out as well. It's been nice to sit in with the locals and enjoy one of their treats.

Checking out the HyVee Triathlon... Elite Teen Divisions

Saturday, Linda and I went to Gray's Lake to check out the start of the teen divisions of the HyVee World Cup Triathlon. Before we were done, we'd walked the bulk of the course and seen some kids press on through the temptation to just call it a day.

Temperatures were around ninety and there was limited air flow. At one point during our walk, Linda and I paused under an underpass to catch some shade and enjoy the breeze; it reminded me of the breeze that always seemed to be present in the a middle of corn crib.

There weren't a lot of fans lining the course for these kids so we had great access to about anywhere we wanted to go. When all was said and done, we caught the shuttle back to the lake. One of the young competitors was directly across from me on the bus and his eyelids were sagging; I'm guessing he slept well.

Checking out the preparations for the HyVee Triathlon

This weekend, Des Moines will host their first HyVee World Cup Triathlon. This event will award a record seven hundred thousand dollar purse and be covered by NBC Sunday afternoon. Over the course of the weekend, there will be several age and gender specific runnings over varying courses. For example, Saturday morning, there were triathlons for seven and eight year olds, mostly the children of competitors but also some more local participants. Saturday afternoon, elite teenage competitors will take to the course. Sunday morning, the cycling portion of the course for the amateur classes will take them out of the county to Jordan Creek and back again where they'll finish with their run. The elite adult competition will focus more downtown and make up the distance by turning multiple laps. All will start at Gray's Lake as seen in the photo and I believe all finish near the capitol. It promises to be quite a show and showcase for the community.

I've heard that these are fairly rare and that next year's event will be one of three triathons to qualify people for the United States Olympic team... and the only one in the United States. The designer of the course and event has compared this course with that of Amsterdam; I'm guessing that's a good thing.