I made it out to the garden and after relentless rain, all the tomatoes had exploded. I did pick a variety of peppers, including cayenne. I will dry and turn the cayenne into red pepper flakes for seasoning. One more check box on the list of gardening things done. I noticed kale is coming back, so I need to get into that patch and harvest.

These are weird times for our politics. Statewide candidates are busy, but some really don’t know their schedules. I asked one I had known a long time to attend an event we were planning in October. They said they didn’t have a clue what they would be doing that day. My sense was the campaign is fluid.

Things are in flux and potential victories are in the winds. It is a heady atmosphere.

There are paid canvassers who seem to be on autopilot, doing the bidding of the party. Each candidate also has a cadre of canvassers, and they mostly do their own thing, both with and separate from the party. That work is important, yet it is no longer the kind of work I remember from 2004-2006, when Iowa began electing Democrats again.

Iowa is Iowa, however: always full of political surprises and disappointments. National Republicans have given Democrats an opening this cycle. How that will translate to local politics remains to be seen.

It rained again on Monday and Tuesday. More of the same as I attempt to move this life forward.