View of the Saint Mary’s Catholic Church cemetery in Solon, Iowa on July 30, 2022. Photograph of the now razed Saint Mary’s Catholic Church on Aug. 1, 2013. The cemetery was located around the church. Photo Credit – Wikimedia Commons.The cemetery has a look of not being maintained. The closer the view, the more markers are found damaged and askew. Broken tombstoneBroken tombstonesLeaning grave markersStacked, broken grave markers.
There are cemeteries like this across Iowa and the United States. I like the look of sunken and leaning monuments, and broken grave markers reflecting the passage of time. How is perpetual care done in places like these? Beyond mowing the lawn, not much is done except by family and volunteers. If I had family buried here, I’d maintain our burial site. What would happen after I’m gone? This cemetery is not featured on the current church website. I wouldn’t call it neglected, yet it is not a main part of the community.
Except for the image of the church, photography is by the author.
The Midwest is bracing for a heat wave next week when ambient temperatures are forecast in the 90s. On Wednesday it is expected to reach 103 degrees. The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Service issued a reminder to farmers of what to do to protect their investment in livestock. It is going to be a scorcher in the corn belt from top to bottom.
I finished my month of posts at Blog for Iowa earlier in the week and am ready to turn my attention back to Journey Home. This blog has had four names since I created it to move from Blogspot to WordPress in 2008. If we ever get out of the coronavirus pandemic, I might give it a fifth. We are at a distance from the end of the pandemic.
The challenge in the garden is keeping the plants watered, yet not too much. They will survive the heat with adequate hydration. Early morning or late evening watering has been best.
Tomatoes are beginning to ripen and we had our first slicers for dinner last night. Yesterday I grated and froze zucchini for winter soup and tried a quick dill pickle recipe I saw on TikTok. From here until Labor Day, part of every day will be food preservation. I have a row of San Marzano tomatoes to convert to canned wholes for use throughout the year. I tasted the first ripe ones and they were deliciously different from other varieties I have grown.
My sleep patterns have changed while on holiday. I stay up until 9 p.m. and am sleeping through the night, getting six or seven straight hours of sleep. It has been a long time since I did that. I’m hoping the new patterns persist.
I keep plugging along with reading and have almost finished Loretta Lynn’s memoir Coal Miner’s Daughter. The book reminds me of the part of Appalachia where my father was born and how people there lived and still do. Lynn’s birthplace, Butcher Holler, Kentucky, is about 85 miles from Father’s birthplace. Of course, Lynn got to know June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash through her music. June Carter Cash is a shirttail relative of ours.
It is easy to see why people liked Loretta Lynn’s music back in the 1970s. She was part of a social revolution that changed how people lived. In part, it was based on Roe v. Wade and introduction of the birth control pill which Lynn wrote about. In her song, “The Pill,” she wrote, “I’m tearing down your brooder house ’cause now I’ve got the pill.” Husband Doolittle got a vasectomy after birth of their twins and Lynn wrote about that too.
Wildflowers bloom in July with an ever-changing array of color. Now that the garden switched from planting to harvesting, I walk along the state park trail almost daily to watch nature’s changes. Even though The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly to its “red list” of threatened species in July and categorized it as “endangered,” I saw a few Monarchs on the trail yesterday.
The world we know may be dying due to the climate crisis yet there is evidence of our past in every walk along the trail. Stay cool next week!
I attended enough events and got enough one-on-one time with Deidre DeJear – both during her current campaign and when she ran for Secretary of State – to know she would be a good governor. When I compare her to other Democratic gubernatorial candidates, she is hands down the most enthusiastic I’ve seen in recent years. We Democrats need some enthusiasm to defeat the Republican machine.
I like her and plan to vote for her yet this race is not about me.
The question I get asked repeatedly is “Can she win?”
At her June nominating convention, DeJear said, “My story being possible in Iowa, ensures that all our stories are possible.” It resonated with me when I heard it. Iowa writer Chuck Offenburger said it would resonate with Iowans if it were broadcast across the state.
Offenburger laid out a case for DeJear in a July 18 column.
He gave reasons why continuing a Reynolds administration would be a bad choice. His conclusion about Reynolds’ governance is “Doesn’t that sound like a whole lot of big-government overreach — which Republicans are normally the first to bitch about — by a governor who might be trying to stretch her shelf life too long?”
Offenburger also told DeJear’s story. He concluded with “It’s time for Barack & Michelle Obama to make another visit to Iowa.” It is polished writing of an experienced journalist which Democrats should read. I believe the column helped DeJear’s cause.
As counterpoint, Offenburger’s writing seems likely to be drowned out by the conservative noise machine with its ubiquitous right-wing radio, television and social media chatter. Not enough people have heard this case. More need to.
When people I don’t know ask me, “Can she win?” they are likely referring to one of the following things.
The governor is commanding the polls with a 17-point advantage in the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. DeJear is behind in fundraising as well. With a bit more than three months until the Nov. 8 election, DeJear and Iowa Democrats could overcome these disadvantages with hard work and more voter engagement, especially as we get closer to the election. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
Deidre DeJear is black. There is a racist strain running throughout Iowa with Iowans who won’t vote for a black governor regardless of their qualifications. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
Is there a “Blue Wave” coming in November? Some express skepticism, including me. We are worn out from the elections beginning in 2010. When we drag out the old sawhorse about Obama’s 2008 and 2012 wins, or the true story of Tom Vilsack’s come from behind victory, we seem to be running out of Democratic anecdotes. We need new stories of a kind to which Iowans across the state can relate. Deidre DeJear is that story.
Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
In the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released on Sunday, “A majority of Iowans – 60% – say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, at a time when the state’s Republican lawmakers have new freedom to restrict the procedure.” That’s the highest percent since the Iowa Poll began asking the question. The percentage favoring keeping abortions a legal option is higher nationwide.
American voters opposed overturning Roe by a 30 point margin. Politicians such as Governor Kim Reynolds and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks have said Roe was settled law. Nearly 70% of Americans did not want the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. 75% of people say decisions on abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor, including 95% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 53% of Republicans.
With the willing help of Judiciary Committee Chair U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, president Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. All three said Roe was established precedent and settled law during their confirmation hearings. Yet here we are. What is popular doesn’t matter. Telling the truth doesn’t matter. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the court overturned Roe v. Wade. Conservatives who advocated overturning Roe v. Wade (since it was decided) are like the dog that caught the car.
No matter our income or where we live, Iowans value the freedom to make our own decisions, including access to safe and legal abortion. Abortion remains safe and legal in Iowa and we are fighting to keep it that way. We intend to protect our freedom from Republican politicians hellbent on taking it, who attempt to divide us and legislate for the wealthy few. From Sen. Grassley who stacked this court, to Gov. Reynolds who requested abortion rights be overturned at the federal and state levels, we seek their removal at the ballot box.
We all care about someone who has had or has considered an abortion. Most people likely know someone in this situation. We must ensure everyone has access to the care they need. Taking this right away won’t end abortions, it will simply make them harder to access for people with fewer resources. Limiting access to abortion puts pregnant people in danger and puts their lives at risk. Denying access to safe, legal abortions strips Iowans of a fundamental right.
What is there to say about abortion that hasn’t already been said? Very little.
Despite the Iowa Poll, some conservative Iowans continue to assert that a “majority of Iowans are pro-life and support every individual’s God-given right to an opportunity to live.” Thing about Roe is the discussion of when life begins was had in court and settled. I doubt conservatives who make the claim about when a fetus becomes an individual have read the court documents of Roe v. Wade. Their assertions reflect a position of ignorance.
If, as suggested, the dog caught the car, what comes next is a jump ball with conservatives having the home court advantage, especially those who have organized to overturn Roe v. Wade since it was decided. When asked why Roe wasn’t codified in law already, a Democratic legislator said “some things are just settled.” That is, until they aren’t.
Entering the last week of July, the garden is coming on strong. The refrigerator is full, the freezer is getting full. There is a lot to do in our kitchen garden every day.
Last night’s dinner was what I’d call garden soup. I harvested a bin of vegetables and as I cleaned them threw bits and pieces (cauliflower leaves, broccoli stems, peas and cabbage leaves) into a soup pan along with mirepoix, bay leaves and seasonings. It was occasion to use up veggies that had been in the refrigerator a while, like wilted lettuce, zucchini, kale, green beans, kohlrabi, and sweet corn. I added a couple of cans of prepared beans, a handful each of lentils and barley. Soup like this always comes out good. I froze enough for two future dinners.
I adjusted to being on holiday. That means I am getting more sleep, exercising daily, eating well, and spending my days as productively as possible. There are naps… in the middle of the day.
Reading consisted of two books this month, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I didn’t care for the violence in either of them. I started Loretta Lynn’s memoir Coal Miner’s Daughter and set aside books that require deep engagement in social or historical facts. I’ve been doing “summer reading.”
My work at Blog for Iowa turned into covering for much of the month of July. I hope readers enjoy the writing I am cross-posting here. I’ve been posting at Blog for Iowa since February 2009 and as long as the publisher continues to have an interest, so will I.
This July has been exceedingly hot. There has been good rainfall but the heat makes going outside in the afternoon oppressive. I attended an evening potluck dinner at the nearby city’s park and the breeze took away the oppressiveness. For a while it felt like summer I remember from being a grader when our home did not have air conditioning. It was a positive feeling.
I’m not back from holiday and will continue at least until Labor Day. For the moment I’m enjoying what days I can and living a life. The direction I hoped to find has been elusive yet there is time. Sometimes we need to simply drift and get our bearings.
I’ve written about the environment on Blog for Iowa since my first post on Feb. 25, 2009. Never in the time since then has there been more happening regarding degradation of our environment. As Scott Duncan’s graphic above indicates, it is getting a lot hotter on most parts of Earth. Methane and carbon dioxide emissions are rising, the oceans are getting warmer, ice sheets at the poles are melting, and there is a general lack of political will in the United States and elsewhere to do enough reverse our course.
More than 40 percent of U.S. population lived in counties affected by climate disasters in 2021, according to Sarah Kaplan and Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post. In a report issued June 27, Kayrros, a firm that analyzes satellite data, said methane emissions have climbed despite the launch of the Global Methane Pledge at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, last fall. The firm said that “global methane emissions so far appear to be going in the wrong direction.”
“Sadly, we have taken the ocean for granted, and today we face what I would call an ocean emergency,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres told delegates at the June opening of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. “We must turn the tide. A healthy and productive ocean is vital to our shared future.”
Despite substantial evidence of environmental degradation that affects human life and society, President Biden’s plan to address the climate crisis fell flat in the Congress because there were not enough votes to pass it with a divided U.S. Senate.
“The reality we face implores us to act,” Al Gore said.
In Iowa we tinker around the edges of addressing the climate crisis. Decisions like the one I wrote about in 2009, which stopped Interstate Power and Light from building a coal-fired electricity generating station in Marshalltown, have been driven by economic factors rather than any concern about the environment. “You don’t like coal? Fine! We’ll use natural gas which is cheaper anyway,” they might have said. Neither the government nor industry in Iowa takes action on the climate crisis unless there is a positive, monetary effect on someone’s bottom line. Human health and well being has been a secondary consideration despite the warnings of public health officials like I was back in the day.
A lot of Iowa environmental activist bandwidth is being taken up by the fight to stop three different Carbon Capture and Storage proposals. Art Cullen cut to the chase in a July 15 editorial in the Storm Lake Times, saying, “The pipelines will get buried. The Iowa rainmakers will get theirs as we pretend that we are addressing the planet being on fire.” It is hard to give up on the fight against CO2 pipelines, even if it plays out like some of the other transportation proposals to take oil, electricity, liquefied CO2, or other commodities across county lines.
What is a climate activist to do? I would start by learning about big scale solutions and getting involved in electing candidates willing to take action on them. I reviewed The Decarbonization Imperative: Transforming the Global Economy by 2050 by Michael Lenox and Rebecca Duff here. It’s a good place to start. A couple of things seem clear. Individual action is unlikely to solve the climate crisis. Large scale solutions take technical skill to design and political will to implement.
I recommend readers become part of the solution to the climate crisis by getting involved in efforts to implement large scale environmental projects. In most cases, that begins at the ballot box with voting for candidates willing to do the work.
Solon Beef Days parade entry, July 16, 2022. Photo Credit – Johnson County Democrats
Most of my political friends no longer walk in the Solon Beef Days parade. This year may be my last, as well. If anything, participating in our politics is about nurturing long-term friendships. When old friends are absent, it’s time to make new ones or move on.
A positive thing about parades is the conversations with candidates and elected officials that are possible. The Johnson County Democrats entry included State Rep. Christina Bohannan who is running for the U.S. Congress, State Senator Kevin Kinney, County Auditor Travis Weipert, and County Supervisors Lisa Green-Douglass and Jon Green. House District 91 candidate Elle Wyant had her own entry further back in the lineup. Informal accessibility makes for good conversation and remains a positive aspect of participating in parades.
I wore a Mike Franken for U.S. Senate t-shirt with my old Solon Beef Days ball cap. Later that afternoon the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll reported Franken trails incumbent Chuck Grassley by eight points. There is a steep hill to climb for Franken to win. It’s not impossible, yet not easy either. Democrats are not afraid to do the work.
“It is his weakest showing since 1980,” pollster J. Ann Selzer said of Grassley’s results. It only takes 50 percent plus one vote to win, I retort.
Each cycle it becomes increasingly clear Iowa is returning to its conservative roots. As older folks step off the main political stage, younger people debut with different values, creating a new electorate which is taking a turn to the extreme right. Democrats have been relegated to minority party status for the time being. I plan to stay engaged in party politics in a county where Democrats hold a significant voter registration advantage. I’ll have less to say as I age.
Leaving the state is not a real option for us. Our living family was born here and starting over would take more energy than we have. Our finances are stable, we own our home, and our health is reasonably good. I don’t know to where we’d move that would offer better opportunities for septuagenarians. We are bound to the state where we were born.
The county party opened an office in nearby North Liberty on Friday. I gathered some 35 yard signs and delivered them there so they would be more available for voters. I’ll help distribute yard signs from our garage when the big push comes, yet for now, better the office has them to distribute. I didn’t stick around for the speeches from gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear, congressional candidate Christina Bohannan, and others. I heard everyone scheduled to be there speak multiple times. Before I left, I signed the volunteer sheet and will help out with the office if they need me.
Saturday was my last political walk through Solon in a parade. I’m thankful for all the experiences and have no regrets. I wish my successors well.
President Lyndon B. Johnson addressing crowd at rally on Sept. 28, 1964. Photo Credit – LBJ Presidential Library.
A lot changed in political campaigns since I worked my first for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Democrats and Republicans are now at a place where established patterns repeat each cycle: marching in parades, having a booth at the county fair, putting up sign advertising, and canvassing voters. These may be comforting, yet campaign action has moved.
Both major parties use big data to inform their campaigns.
Perhaps the most dramatic change was the way Trump campaigns used Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to scrape personal data about tens of millions of voters from the internet, and then custom target voters with tens of thousands of distinct daily ads designed to either persuade people to vote for Trump or not vote at all.
Progressive radio host Thom Hartmann wrote that on the day of the third presidential debate in October 2020, team Trump ran 175,000 variations of ads micro-targeting voters. These ads were, for the most part, not publicly seen.
This is way beyond showing up to meet candidates at a county fair.
Despite this use of technology, elections reduce to staying engaged with candidates, and working to cast an informed vote. That pressure from social media to disengage from politics? Someone is working to make us feel that way. We must resist and vote for who best serves our interests.
I reviewed the candidates and for me, Democrats on the ballot deserve our votes. That’s for whom I will vote on Nov. 8.
~ First published as a letter to the editor of The Little Village on July 15, 2022
The main effect of summer holiday has been to get more sleep. It hasn’t been good sleep, just more of it, maybe seven or eight hours per 24-hour period. I felt fully rested a couple of days since beginning this holiday and hopefully more of the same is in the immediate future.
My main activities have been gardening, walking the trail in the nearby state park, and cooking in tune with seasonal produce from the garden. There has been time reading on my mobile device, although my book reading slowed down. It is beginning to pick up again as I just finished Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Since my sister-in-law gave us her old television, I’ve been watching some of the January 6 Committee hearings and cooking shows on Iowa Public Television. These things are a preview of retirement life to come.
We decided I’m too old to be climbing on the roof for my annual inspection and cleaning of gutters. I haven’t resolved how to get this done yet I’m thinking of buying a drone to fly around the roof and send pictures of its condition back to the ground. At 12 years since the installation of the current roof, it may be showing some wear. When I’m ready to clean the gutters, I’ll post a notice on our community Facebook page feeling confident someone will help. The gutters do not appear to be clogged with organic debris and haven’t been since I cut down the maple tree I mistakenly planted too close to the house.
I drove our new car 1,196 miles since we bought it. A trip to Chicago, three trips to Des Moines, and the rest of the miles are local errands. It is good to own a newer car, one that runs well and gets better fuel economy. I also enjoy the ability to charge my mobile device while driving. The 2019 Chevy Spark is a subcompact and the feel of driving it is a bit rough. It’s not like I live in it, so it is tolerable. During holiday I’ve been considering what other trips I may want to make. No decisions, yet I’m looking at Saint Louis and another trip to Chicago.
When conditions are right, I spend time outdoors. There is unending garden work and a host of long delayed yard projects. There will never be enough time to do everything myself, so I’m going to have to hire some help. Once finances stabilize after replacing the freezer and auto, I’ll take a look at a fall project by a contractor.
The main purposes of this summer holiday were to rest and consider where I want to take this blog. I know some things about my writing, but haven’t made any progress toward a decision. I expect the blog will survive in some form.
For now, it has been raining with scattered thunderstorms. The lightning woke me earlier than usual this morning. If it stops raining, I’ll walk on the trail by the lake and take it all in. I’m in no hurry to determine what’s next.
Heads of garlic just out of the ground, July 12, 2022.
This year’s garlic crop was a success. I planted 100 cloves and yielded 100 head. It will be enough to seed next year’s crop in October and use in the kitchen until July 2023. The harvest is curing in the garage until the leaves turn brown and dry. After that, I’ll sort and trim them, then store in a cool, dark place until used. The best of the crop will be used as seed.
Growing garlic is a basic part of our kitchen garden. Garlic is also one of our favorite ingredients. The goal for the garden is to produce food to make our kitchen meals interesting throughout the year. Since I began growing garlic a few years ago, it joined tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers, greens and apples as one of the foundational elements of our cuisine.
Because of the space garlic requires to grow, I have no ambition to increase the harvest and sell some of it. In fact, since I began donating excess produce to the local food bank, commercialization of any part of my garden seems unlikely. I’m happy with where I am, which is flush with garlic for the coming year.
2022 garlic crop on my home made curing rack, July 12, 2022.
Journey Home 
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