What caught my attention was downloading my Facebook and Twitter archives and seeing how how much information existed there. I reviewed my Gmail account and its 183,194 emails since March 2006, remembering I have another seven years worth from multiple email accounts on another drive. There are thousands of blog posts. That’s not to mention close to 100 bankers boxes, trunks, desks and the like filled with documents, recordings, images, mementos and other artifacts to be rediscovered. There are also thousands of books… and the garage… and people… and you get the picture. There are hundreds of everything to “help” my research.
What was I thinking?
I’m not famous or well known outside my local community, so who cares? I’m hoping our daughter would find such a work to be of interest — maybe a few others.
I’m old school in that when preparing for a life of writing, an autobiography is a first step. Right or wrong, I learned that in high school. I’m already at retirement age, so I better make this part of my life brief.
Before writing a major work, one must follow the Delphic maxim to “know thyself” and its later Socratic expansion, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” We have to take a look. Going through my archives will help me assess who I was and who I might be. I can also use the experience to downsize the amount of stuff accumulated over the years.
Finally, I don’t know a topic that is not complex and subject to context and multiple interpretations. A brief 500 words per chapter forces me to consider what’s most important and stick with it by condensing the raw material into a succinct and hopefully brilliant couple paragraphs.
If I fail to reach brilliance or even get it done, what will I have lost? Nothing.
March 16 was filing day in Iowa for statewide and legislative candidates. It is a time for candidates to walk the walk and show up at the Secretary of State’s office with enough petition signatures to get on the June 5 primary ballot.
Some made it, some didn’t.
Most surprising to me is former Cedar Rapids mayor Ron Corbett was a last-minute filer. He filed so late the Secretary of State won’t be able to determine his viability until tomorrow. With his substantial financial backing I expected him to have petitions wrapped up earlier. It would be good for Governor Kim Reynolds to have a Republican primary challenger, so fingers crossed for my former colleague at the transportation and logistics company where I spent 25 years.
Six Democratic gubernatorial candidates will be on the primary ballot according to the Secretary of State: Nate Boulton, Cathy Glasson, Fred Hubbell, Andrea McGuire, John Norris and Ross Wilburn.
Lefties in the county seat are all about this year’s union and legislature-backed candidates for governor, Cathy Glasson and Nate Boulton. I’ve been to this rodeo before and in two words can debunk the idea that Johnson County Democrats decide statewide candidates: Patty Judge.
In the 2016 primary for U.S. Senator, Johnson County Democrats backed State Senator Rob Hogg with 4,577 of 8,189 votes cast (56 percent). Three other candidates split the remaining votes: Patty Judge (2,476, 30 percent), Tom Fiegen (524, 6 percent), and Bob Krause (218, 3 percent). Statewide, Judge led the field with 46,322 votes (45 percent) to Hogg’s 37, 801 (37 percent). Total statewide Democratic primary votes cast were 101,991.
In the 2006 primary, when Judge shared the ticket with Chet Culver, a majority of state lawmakers endorsed Mike Blouin who got 4,324 (40 percent) of 10,786 cast in Johnson County, beating Culver-Judge with 2,811 votes (26 percent). Culver-Judge came in third behind Ed Fallon with 3,447 votes (32 percent) in the liberal bastion. Statewide, Culver-Judge won with 58,131 votes (39 percent) compared to Blouin at 34 percent and Fallon at 26 percent. 148,751 Democrats cast a vote in the 2006 primary.
If there is a liberal bubble in Iowa, Johnson County is it.
John Norris in Solon, Iowa March 17, 2018
I’m backing John Norris for governor in the primary for a couple of reasons. He’s the only gubernatorial candidate to host an event in the small town nearest me. I heard him speak for the second time yesterday in Solon.
As Norris admitted, his plan to engage rural and small town Iowans may not be a winning strategy in a primary where Democratic voters are concentrated in urban centers. The flight from rural to cities and out of state is not new and is a key challenge Iowa faces in growing our economy. Norris hopes by focusing his campaign away from population centers his shoe leather and car rubber approach would payoff in the general election. If Norris survives the primary, he would have laid the groundwork to compete statewide with the Republican nominee.
Norris would be ready to govern on inauguration day. As Governor Tom Vilsack’s first chief of staff he has experience in cleaning up a Terry Branstad mess, and that’s where the state finds itself in 2018. He addressed the need to repair the damage Branstad and his protege Reynolds have done since their election in 2010. Democrats taking control of the state legislature is a necessary component of Norris’ strategy and that could take multiple election cycles, he said. Having the knowledge and experience — being ready to govern on day one — is an important aspect of his campaign and why I support him.
Can John Norris get 35 percent of the votes in the primary? He said yesterday his campaign is between a rock and a hard place. He wouldn’t lose the election based on policy, as I believe a majority of Democrats could get behind a Norris primary win. Others have better statewide name recognition, particularly Fred Hubbell and Andy McGuire. According to a Feb. 6 poll by Selzer and Company, Hubbell and Boulton would present the strongest challenges to Reynolds in a head to head race. Where is Norris’ opening?
With six gubernatorial candidates it is possible none of them gets 35 percent of votes cast to win outright. That would take the nominating process to a convention. Because of Norris’ name recognition and long experience in Iowa Democratic politics, the convention could be his path to winning the nomination as a compromise candidate in a potentially heated debate between highest vote-getters in the primary.
Glasson has a “win at the convention strategy” and won 33 percent of delegates to the district and state conventions in Poweshiek County, which held their county convention yesterday. She appears to be the only gubernatorial candidate with such a strategy. In Solon, Norris expressed confidence he could win the primary outright.
A lot depends on primary voter turnout, which I expect to be more like 2006 than 2016, when Democrats won the general election for governor. Johnson County will contribute to, but not drive this effort and that’s where I believe Norris’s campaign is worth supporting.
In other filing news, Democrat Jodi Clemens and Republican Bobby Kaufmann will face off in House District 73. There is a four-way Democratic primary in Senate District 37 with Eric Dirth, Zach Wahls, Janice Weiner and Imad Youssif filing petitions. The winner of the senate primary will run against Libertarian Carl Krambeck unless Republicans hold a nominating convention to get a candidate on the ballot. Kaufmann has said in public Republicans don’t plan to run in Senate District 37, however, that could change. I plan to vote for Clemens and Wahls in the primary.
The last statewide contested race in the Democratic primary is for Secretary of State where perennial candidate Jim Mowrer and Dierdre DeJear filed petitions. I support DeJear.
First Day of Soil Blocking 2018 Photo Credit – Maja Black
As one makes one’s bed, so one finds it. ~ French Proverb ca. 1590
Today is my last day as a full-time employee at the home, farm and auto supply store. Reducing my schedule from five to two days a week should free time to work on other projects. At least that’s the hope.
We built a home in Big Grove and made it ours. I walked the lot lines before we broke ground and sat on the dirt high wall after the lower level was dug. We hooked up utilities, installed a door between the garage and residence, and moved in all on the same day in August 1993. No regrets.
Almost 25 years later our home needs updating and some maintenance. We’ve been spending our time living more than working here. Today’s transition will change that and I’m looking forward to it.
Fifty years ago I began working part time after high school at a department store. Despite how American business evolved since then, I made it across the finish line. I’m still here. We’re still here.
Now comes the downsizing, reducing and recycling — a frugality characterized by the fact we haven’t generated enough trash to set out our curb side receptacle in three weeks.
There will be industry as I’ve mentioned previously in these posts. However, one focal point is rebuilding stamina needed to work more hours each day. It’s not really retirement.
We never know what will happen to us. We make plans. We stay busy as best we are able. We contribute to a greater good if we can. We hope.
As I head through the door this morning I don’t know what today will bring. I’ll sleep tonight and wake up to a tomorrow that begins like so many others have.
Someone broke the law to leak information about the county’s potential purchase of property with conservation bond money.
In a closed session of the full board of supervisors, with five staff members present, one or more of them broke the trust of being invited by leaking information about property the conservation board was considering for purchase. He or she broke the law.
The news made its way to the Solon Economist last week in the form of a letter written by two grey-haired Iowa City liberals. They made a case against a potential purchase most of us hadn’t heard about. Their biased opinions fill otherwise empty space about this topic. The letter raised questions about how they got their information.
“Someone flagrantly broke the law,” wrote Supervisor Rod Sullivan on his weekly blog. “She or he ought to face consequences. This was not an accidental slip. This was a purposeful, devious violation of the law.”
I’m all for a robust debate of how the county spends our tax dollars. If last week’s letter is true, I question whether buying the property is an appropriate way to spend conservation bond money.
However, I support the rule of law and the leaker should be sought out and receive due process for committing a crime.
Early and illegal notice about conservation fund spending did not benefit public discussion one bit.
~ Published in the Solon Economist on March 15, 2018
“Good navigators are always skeptical, not of the presences of things, but of what they see and understand. Good navigators are almost always lost.” ~Robert Finley
Green up has begun and everything seems ready to pop — even if it isn’t.
My usage of “green up” comes from the 1936 film The Trail of the Lonesome Pine,” in which June Tolliver said, “I ain’t marrying till green up,” delaying pending nuptials between her and cousin Dave Tolliver until after hog killing time. Waiting until green up is cause to delay not only weddings, but needed chores, engagement in society, and anything and everything until ambient temperatures warm and spring is in the air. It’s a lame excuse but we keep hoping it will work out after green up.
Demands on my time increased as tenure as a full-time employee at the home, farm and auto supply store draws to a close in seven days. If I’m lucky, and only partly as a result of planning, the most important things will fall into place. There’s also a lot not planned.
I hope to transform how to look at the world. Beginning March 18, my worklife will devote 56 hours each week to writing, food ecology and paid work. It’s a lot but I hope to increase that to 80 hours or more. Will determine if that’s possible in the process.
What I know is there’s much left to accomplish. That said, I don’t keep a bucket list. When young I meticulously kept a to-do list which helped my rise to a middle level of performance and productivity. The to-do list was always there, and rarely did I remove something without addressing it. I use no such device any more. I eschew lists. I abhor them. I can live my life without them and will.
What I hope is to continue to evaluate what and how I see in the world. It’s an imperfect process, one that requires attention and energy. Like green up it’s a path toward life’s potential. As June Tolliver found in the film, the unexpected can come into view. We must break the cycles of tradition and habit in order to see it.
Your vote on the acquisition of Dick Schwab’s property will make it easy for me to determine for whom to vote in this year’s June primary and who to support going forward.
I know the property involved better than most and have worked and spent time with Dick there. In my discussions with him he made it clear he would donate the property to what is now the Bur Oak Trust. I don’t know what changed his mind, but it is human to reap a profit and I’m not surprised he seeks a buyer as he makes his exit from Johnson County.
Maybe I misunderstood his intent. I’m human too.
It is not clear what portions of his property are included in this transaction, as I just found out about it in the newspaper tonight. It isn’t clear what exactly is proposed.
The fact is what I know of this property is well developed and does not seem a good use of the limited conservation bond funds set aside. I hope and expect you to vote no on the acquisition of this property using conservation bond money.
I don’t usually weigh in on your activities, but this one is important enough for me to do so.
BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP — It’s a little crazy for a 66 year old male to make plans.
It would be easy to “go on the draw” as people I know have done. This framing comes from relatives and friends in Appalachia, where my father’s family came up, who found a way to collect a monthly payment from the government in the post-FDR era. It seems universal in American society to expect the rewards of a life of work and trouble in order to take it easy. Going on the draw has a subtext of relinquishing part of the self-reliance that has come to characterize being American.
There is plenty in society to engage our mind, heart and soul, without adding a layer to it. Social groups abound. Paid and volunteer work create human relationships. There’s shopping, movies and restaurants. Central to many are public libraries — one of the few remaining places with no expectation patrons have money. As much as I’d like to self-identify as a “retiree” and take advantage of all this, the feeling “I want,” as Saul Bellow aptly described it in Henderson the Rain King, nags at me. We may not know what we seek, but are always looking.
Is it hubris? Ecclesiastes instructs.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. (Ecclesiastes 1, 2-4, King James)
When we live our bodies break down from use. We are broken through trauma, physical and emotional. What we need more than treatment for symptoms is healing. Such healing falls to the care of a network of family and friends who look after us when we are broken. Health care is so often more about family and friends, home remedies and rest, than the health care and health insurance which takes an increasing proportion of our income.
Once we accept the underlying fragility of the human condition, many make plans and that’s positive. Our lives have meaning only if we find it in useful, social activity. Once we cease engagement in life and society, the truth that we might die tonight is rendered moot.
Asian Greens in Scrambled Eggs with Vermont Cheese and Pickled Bits and Pieces
After tangling with a schedule to reduce hours at the home, farm and auto supply store I concluded there were only three immutable weekly activities: writing (26 hours), paid work (16 hours), and farm work (12 hours).
Add an hour of prep time before work outside the home and these three activities fill 69 percent of available weekly hours. Everything else must fall in place behind these priorities. It is a rigid frame on which to hang everything else.
It’s already a 54-hour work week.
What’s missing is community organizing, the rest of food ecology, and home maintenance, all of which need to be squeezed into the remaining hours each week. Developing capacity to be more productive is part of this. It necessarily means doing better than using artificial stimulants or shoddy work in any activity area. It’s a plan.
It is time to use up fresh onions, garlic and potatoes, then rotate the canned goods so oldest jars are consumed first.
Winter means soup, casseroles, pasta and hearty meals made from pantry and ice box ingredients.
As the ambient temperature warms, we are ready to move into the new year’s fresh food cycle. But not so fast!
There are egg sandwiches, chili mac and soups to be made before spring buds.
I donned my LaCrosse rubber boots and toured the yard and garden.
The ground is too hard to plant lettuce. Garlic is not up. The only bit of sprouting green was flowers I transplanted from Indiana. Tips of green were frosted on those that emerged. A thick layer of sand lies on the side of the road. Time to sweep it up and save it for next winter.
At 13 days until the transformation of worklife, I’m spending time organizing time and tasks.
To be successful means purging old habits and developing new. The work seems much harder than it should be. While working at the home, farm and auto supply store I’ve developed some questionable habits around internet usage, resting and eating. They produced the current result, so they were not all bad. One only gets so many chances to start over.
There are two problems with my transformation. First, I’m limited to 12 hours per day of primary activity. Not everything I want to do will fit. Second, I’m not used to working 12-hour days. To get things done, I need to ramp up. The situation is complicated by keeping two days of paid work in the mix. We’ll find a use for the money, but I’ll also need to figure out how to get more productivity out of a day to meet overall goals.
Paul’s Pie
Drawing the pie chart was fairly simple. Making that fit among rigid schedules of paid work, writing and farm work has proven to be challenging. Where I suspect this will end is with a hard schedule that includes writing, food ecology and paid work, leaving everything else flexible.
I’m committed to this now, so no turning back.
The week of the county party central committee turns into a session of drinking politics from a fire hose. As you can see in the pie chart, community organizing gets a 20 percent allocation of time and politics is a subset of that. I’ve limited myself to one social event per week and expect most of those to be related to politics for the next couple of months. I learned a couple of things:
Rep. Dave Jacoby explaining plan to run 100 Democrats for 100 House seats.
Iowa House Democrats are planning to run 100 candidates for 100 seats in the midterm elections. We don’t usually run everywhere, so that makes this year different.
In the governor’s race, Democrats are working to win the primary. With seven announced candidates at the beginning of the filing period we’ll see if everyone files and if there is anyone else. It takes 35 percent of votes cast to win the primary. Cathy Glasson’s campaign is playing a side bet that the governor candidate will be chosen at the state convention with no one getting enough votes to win outright. The campaign claims to have won 30 percent of delegates at the caucus, which may or may not translate into 30 percent at the state convention after counties pick their delegates at the March 24 county conventions. 30 percent seems unlikely to win at the convention.
There are still too many geezers like me on the central committee. I’d gladly step aside and let someone else take my seat, but the truth is these women, millennials and newly registered voters who are supposedly playing a key role in the midterms don’t come to the meetings, don’t want the job. It’s a truism that flying at 30,000 feet, political strategists come up with all manner of demographic projections about the electorate. Our local elections of everyone up and down the ticket are made at a distance of six inches in front of our noses, rendering strategist musings moot.
Cold and frosty as the ground is today I can justify another day indoors to file our tax returns, work on community organizing and get caught up on everything else. However, it won’t be long before lettuce and potato planting. Next Sunday I start my first trays of seedlings in the greenhouse.
There’s everything spring brings and for which we yearn.
First Day of Soil Blocking 2018 Photo Credit – Maja Black
This is me soil blocking at Sundog Farm last Sunday.
Working at farms has been a spring ritual which helps me feel like part of a larger organization. The older I get, the more important that seems.
Farmers may seem isolated, but the farms where I work engage dozens of people in many roles. I met people from all over the world as a result of farm work.
It’s part of who I am and will be for as long as the relationships are sustainable.
It took about an hour of setup time as the water lines and hydrants remained frozen from winter. I settled on working in this doorway to the barn on top of a windy hill.
Once the lines thaw out, I’ll move to the germination shed.
Inside the barn, ewes were lambing and young ones kept escaping pens where they were isolated with their mothers from the flock. It’s a story as old as life.
Journey Home 
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