Pelicans lifting from the lake surface before dawn.
Pelicans have been on the lake for a few weeks now. For the moment, they gather overnight on the east end, a loose white raft in the shallows, then lift off just before dawn to find better fishing. In time, they will move on, continuing north. It is another sign that, despite the odd turns in this year’s weird weather, spring has arrived.
These are American White Pelicans, and they are everywhere—far more than one might expect. On clear days, when flying into or out of the Cedar Rapids airport, the landscape below reveals why: it is patterned with reservoirs, river backwaters, sand pits, and lakes, all of them inviting to birds in transit. From the ground, one can see them gather into long, shifting V formations, angled north toward Minnesota and the Dakotas. For now, though, they are here — resting, feeding, and reminding us, in their numbers and movement, that the season is turning.
During the day, the pelicans scatter. Across the open water, individuals and small groups spread out, each bird taking up its own stretch of lake or backwater, like a sentinel. They are not simply feeding at random, but searching — reading the surface, the light, and subtle signs of fish below. Only later, when something is found, do scattered birds begin to draw together. The distances close, the spacing tightens, and the loose geometry of the day gives way to purpose. They gang up on fish for dinner.
It took me years to recognize these patterns. I have a lot more to understand about this seasonal guest. For now, I just see them lifting from the lake in the predawn light. Heading out for better feeding areas: the way I would if one of them.
Good people are working to address the climate crisis… just not in the Trump administration. The dominance of the president and his minions runs throughout the federal government to promote energy solutions that make climate change worse. More specifically, discussion about loosening the regulatory environment blocks needed conversations about addressing the climate crisis.
Since January 2025, the Congress held hearings that mention climate change. However, they hear mostly from industry representatives. Which industries? Groups like the American Petroleum Institute and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Industry is urging Congress to create a more predictable, streamlined regulatory environment, emphasizing faster permitting, lower compliance costs, and clearer rules. They argue current regulations hinder investment, energy development, and competitiveness. They often frame climate policy in economic and security terms rather than scientific urgency. They do not address climate change, nor will they.
Few people I know don’t see the urgency of addressing the climate crisis.
Absent action by our federal government, there are voices we should recognize, beginning with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist. Global warming exists and Hayhoe doesn’t accept it on faith. According to her website, she crunches data, analyzes models, and helps engineers and city managers and ecologists quantify the impacts. She is everywhere on social media and tells the scientific truth about where our priorities should be.
Another person to follow is Bill McKibben, a prominent American environmentalist, author, and co-founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org. He is also founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice, according to his website.
There are others, yet Hayhoe and McKibben are in the middle of what is currently happening regarding the climate crisis. Follow them.
Blog for Iowa also recommends the handy climate change BS guide I first posted in 2015, “Is That Climate Change Article BS?” It’s a bit dated, yet still has good advice:
Skip climate articles by people who think the problem is hopeless or intractable — because it most certainly is not.
Skip articles written by George Will and his ilk.
Skip articles — especially longer climate essays — by authors who don’t explicitly tell you what temperature target or CO2 concentration target they embrace and how they’d go about attaining it.
Skip articles embracing Orwellian terms like “good Anthropocene.”
“One of the most important things we all need to know when it comes to climate action is this: we are not alone.,” Katharine Hayhoe recently said. I invite readers to follow Hayhoe and McKibben on social media if you are not already.
In Iowa we pay attention to the weather. On the first day of spring, unseasonably warm temperatures — climbing into the 70s and even 80s — were part of a broader “heat dome” pattern influencing much of the United States. Record-breaking heat hit the West, and the same atmospheric setup is pushing milder air into the Midwest, giving us an early, almost summer-like start to the season. Is it climate change? Yes — but not in a simple, one-to-one way. The high temperature today is forecast to be 83°F.
These conditions are unusual for March, yet they offer a timely opportunity to begin transitioning work outdoors. As the jet stream shifts and warmer air settles in, now is a good moment to prepare for seasonal tasks, adjust routines, and take advantage of this early stretch of favorable weather — keeping in mind that spring in Iowa rarely settles in all at once.
I’m awaiting arrival of a batch of seeds. When they are in hand, I’ll plant them indoors, followed by peppers, tomatoes and cucurbits over the next couple of weeks. I will use the warm weather to clear the space for the portable greenhouse. By Good Friday, potato tubs and onion and leek starts should be in the ground, the greenhouse assembled and in use. I am simply waiting for the soil to hit that perfect window of friability — crumbly, loose texture that breaks apart easily — and then, game on!
The bed near the front steps has Bluebells. They were a transplant from my in-laws’ home and thrived without me doing anything. They are just budding in the ground on March 20. I carefully cleared the surface and planted a number of old flower seeds, some dating to 2022. The idea is to have something else grow here after Bluebells are done. With old flower seeds, one never knows.
In the garage, I opened the box of onion sets only to find they were leeks. I looked at the order form and indeed, I had not ordered onions. These several weeks, I had been planning how to plant onions, but now the ship steers to starboard in order to make a new plan. Luckily my supplier still had some onion sets left, so I ordered them.
Days like this, I put on special clothing and just go to the garage. No plan, no urgency. Just me interacting with my environment and home. Things get done.
While moving the potato tubs to the designated plot, I found the ground too wet for digging, or even walking on it. Don’t want to compress soil, so I delayed for a few days until it dries out. Spring is off to a good start.
Open for business on the first day of Spring, March 20, 2026.
Canada geese on the margin between open water and ice.
Things are happening in Big Grove Township. Songbirds are migrating, the ice cover on the lake is melting, and parts of the ground are thawing. Ambient temperatures hit 68 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday — it was shirt sleeves weather. Due to high winds and combustible material everywhere, the National Weather Service issued a special weather statement with elevated fire danger in the mix. Welcome to the new winter.
Each day I spend an hour or so outdoors clearing the garden. Once the ground thaws it will be more time than that. There is a lot to do, yet I’ve been to this rodeo. Steady work as the ground is ready gets the garden in.
The sound of geese chatting and flapping their wings dominates the pre-dawn hour on the state park trail. Such vocalization and display on Jan. 15, can only mean one thing: the climate crisis has come home to roost.
There is the science of weather. La Niña is present but fading into a neutral state of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. In other words, the weather is not doing much except what can be seen: ice melting, warmer ambient temperature pushing into the 50s, and lack of precipitation. So what’s up with these birds?
I know geese have strong bonds within mating pairs. They are particularly protective of their goslings. What I’m seeing now is not mating behavior, per se. It is a reaction to climate change in the form of over-wintering, early pairing displays, and vocal/aggressive behaviors. These behaviors are now normal near the lake where I take my daily walk, and in other parts of North America. The environment changed faster than their instincts evolved. What I observed in an earlier post is mostly pair-bond reinforcement and territory signaling, not actual breeding yet. I don’t need to be worrying about freezing little goslings in 3-4 weeks just yet.
Like with anything, my fellow early morning trail walkers noticed the noise and wondered what it was. I opined about it before really understanding the behavior. Geese will eventually adapt to changing climate. One might say they already are.
It’s hard to believe it is November already. Following are some photos taken in the last two weeks.
Late harvest of Red Delicious apples.Pelicans returned.School bus.Morning light on the state park trail.Last gleaning of kale.View of our Autumn Blaze maple tree.The trail goes on forever.Autumn Blaze maple tree at peak color.Before sunrise on the state park trail.Kroul Farms specialty pumpkins.Autumn Blaze maple tree.
We have been expecting the first hard frost. I was awake when it hit in the wee hours of Friday morning. The average date is Oct. 13, so we are 11 days behind. Nothing to say about that other than that is where the day began.
It was chilly indoors so I turned on the furnace when I couldn’t stop shivering. I set the thermostat at 65 degrees and that took care of the shivers. When I went for my morning walk I donned my winter coat and needed it. I saw the sunrise light show from the dining room windows, yet had things to do and didn’t get out until daylight. The way light falls on the trail is always a show in its own right.
I felt like crap when I woke. It is likely the COVID vaccination on Thursday. By evening I felt myself again. The main accomplishment this week was going through clothing to see what I want to keep and what goes to the thrift store. I reduced the number of blue blazers to the one that fit best. I kept only one pair of slacks to go with it. The others will go into the back seat of the car with other clothing donations until I drive by the drop off point.
On the to-do list was fix the short garden hose attached to the spigot in back. For whatever reason the hose washers came up missing and I got quite a spray yesterday. I found two new ones in the first drawer I opened. Hose washers are not something for which to make a special trip to the hardware store. The main hose is stored in the garage until spring.
I aired the front left tire on the John Deere, stored the grass catcher for winter, and fueled. I mowed one last time for the season. It went quickly and looked okay when finished. That tire needs replacing so I backed the tractor into the garage so I can get at it, jack the front end up, and remove the tire and rim. The thrift store is not far from the tire shop, so I’ll put the old one in the back seat so it can be dropped off on the same trip.
Before sunrise I made a dish of enchiladas. I’m not sure when I will bake them, yet likely over the weekend. The refrigerator and pantry are full of food so there are plenty of meal options. Thank goodness my Social Security pays for most basic stuff of living.
Now that the garden is finished attention turns to the two dead ash trees. My chainsaw is kaput so I need to get to the hardware store and see about a new one. I noticed the Ace Hardware in Mount Vernon is a Stihl dealer. I’ll likely start there and see where it takes me. I hate the expense for a tool to use two or three times a year. However it is more expensive to pay a tree service to remove dead trees.
It has been quiet in the neighborhood. As if the whole world is preparing for winter and can’t be bothered. Days like this I notice my mobile device usage is pretty low. There is plenty of work to do as the season turns in the real world.
There is a lot of chatter in the national news media about the price of electricity. We are apparently in a war with China over dominance in artificial intelligence, which requires a lot of electricity. National Public Radio reported, “Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation.” We don’t hear that so much here in Iowa except on national media. Why? According to Bill McKibben, “The average Iowan will spend 39% less on electricity than the average American because it produces 57 percent of its electricity from the wind, the second-biggest wind state in the country.” If you throw solar arrays, and other renewable energy into the mix, Iowa’s total share of renewables is 64 percent.
Spoiled as I am by normally low electricity rates, when last month’s electric bill arrived it was 51 percent higher than the same period last year. What the heck? Although the total amount of the bill was comparatively low — typical for Iowa — I had to look at it.
The price per kWh of electricity from our electric cooperative has been stable and predictable. It wasn’t a rate change that caused our increase. Our monthly usage increased from 429 kWh to 745 kWh. The average American household usage is much higher than that. The reason for higher costs was this increased usage.
What happened? The average temperature increased by four degrees year over year. We likely ran the air conditioner more because of it. It was also oppressively hot this July, which meant spending more time indoors and using more electricity with the washer, dryer, stove and our electronic devices. We also had a millennial house guest for an extended stay. They did online streaming from here with a multitude of electric devices which sucked more juice. In sum, the increase was explainable.
Why are people concerned about increasing electricity costs? Donald J. Trump is president. He does not seem well educated about electricity.
On Trump’s first day in office he declared an “energy emergency” for made up reasons. The unstated reason is he extorted oil, gas and coal companies. “Candidate Trump literally told the fossil fuel industry they could have anything they want if they gave massive contributions to his campaign, and then they did,” according to McKibben. Trump’s payback for the bribe was to hobble the renewable energy industry.
The Trump administration immediately began to do absolutely everything in its power to stop this trend (to develop more sun, wind, and batteries) and replace it with old-fashioned energy—gas, and coal. They have rescinded environmental regulations trying to control fossil fuel pollution, ended sun and wind projects on federal land, cancelled wind projects wherever they could, ended the IRA tax credits for clean energy construction and instead added subsidies for the coal industry. Again—short of tasking Elon Musk to erect a large space-based shield to blot out the sun, they’ve done literally everything possible to derail the transition to cheap clean energy. (Trump is shockingly dumb about (electric) energy, Bill McKibben on Substack).
More than ninety percent of new electric generation around the world last year came from clean energy. This was not because everyone in the energy business had “gone woke,” McKibben wrote. Texas, arguably the most un-woke place in the U.S., installed more renewable capacity than any other state last year. It was because you could do it cheaply and quickly—we live on a planet where the cheapest way to make power is to point a sheet of glass at the sun.
I don’t know what happened to Republicans. Senator Chuck Grassley used to be one of the big supporters of wind energy in Iowa because of the way wind turbine arrays meshed with farm operations, giving a farmer another revenue stream.
Under Trump we have taken a step backward and let China, Europe, and literally everyone else take the lead in developing the electricity of the future which taps power directly from the sun.
We can and must do better than this as we consider our energy future.
When I visited the Iowa legislature, one of the people I sought was Rep. Chuck Isenhart from Dubuque. Almost every bill regarding conservation, climate change, renewable energy, and water quality involved him in some way. We were sad to see him lose his last election. Since then, Isenhart has been staying active including writing about environmental issues on Substack.
Why would our national legislators back away from clean energy? Isenhart has some thoughts.
“Just because our gardens are growing cucumbers doesn’t mean we have to make pickles,” Isenhart wrote. “Backing away from clean energy while continuing to subsidize fossil fuels and mandate biofuels puts us in a pickle, making even the wildest dreams come true for those who advocate for an “all-of-the-above” energy future (meaning ‘don’t leave fossil fuels behind’).”
In an Aug. 18 post, Isenhart outlines the damage done to renewable energy programs by Republicans. He starts with his personal story of installing solar panels on his roof and what a good deal it was for him, the utility company, and the environment. The story arrives here:
So – good for consumers, good for business, good for workers, good for the environment. Win-win-win-win. Thus, good for government to keep promoting, no?
Ahhhhh, no. Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted unanimously to unravel most of the federal government’s support for clean energy. Your chance to use the incentive I did is fast running out.
We may know how bad Republicans are with advances in renewable energy and the environment. Isenhart lays it out with specifics. Read his entire post here.
Green slime on the state park lake due to over-application of nitrogen in the watershed.
Weeds will grow anywhere in Iowa with open ground. I use plastic fabric to suppress weeds in the garden, yet a weed will find even the tiniest pinprick, plant itself, and grow. The purpose of weeding is to favor one side in the competition among plant life and improve crop yields.
This post isn’t proceeding how I thought it would. I am from an agricultural state, so when I think of weeds, I think of how it impacts row crops, corn and soybeans. I feel obliged to discuss that first.
On Sunday crop dusters flew over the house most of the day. It’s time to spray pesticides and herbicides, I guess. In 2024 Iowa corn yield was 211 bushels per acre according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. According to Farm Progress, failure to control weeds, especially early in the crop cycle can lead to anywhere from 20-40 fewer bushels per acre. When the corn is taller, and has established a canopy, competing weeds can reduce yields by about 3 bushels per acre for every day they are left uncontrolled, according to Iowa State University. Corn farmers live on tight margins, so they usually don’t hesitate with a generous application of glyphosate. Those 20-40 bushels can mean the difference between a good year and a bad one.
I have been reading Chris Jones’ book The Swine Republic. In the way the universe sometimes comes together, Monday morning’s reading happened to be the chapters on glyphosate and Dicamba, two herbicides widely used in Iowa. I was already writing this weedy post, so it added a certain something to my mood. This isn’t the rabbit hole I intended when I began.
I would use the weed paradigm differently. Whenever I enter the room where most of my artifacts live, they compete for attention. By getting rid of some, they would be out, freeing me to follow the vein of an idea where it may lead without distraction. Part of me doesn’t mind the diversions. Empirical me understands I only have so much time left on this jumping green sphere and I’d better make the best use of it.
I should weed out things of marginal interest to the broader thrust of my work. I don’t want to. My wants and urges have little to do with logic. They arise from a complex experience of a life that seldom conformed to social norms for their own sake. This is part of what makes me unique. Unwillingness to execute a plan to downsize possessions is a feature of my creative life, not a problem. Rational me understands the house will explode if we try to fit much more in it. Creative me says if it will, let it explode and we’ll see how it unfolds.
When I’m in the garden I pull weeds as I go. This is especially important as soon as seeds germinate and emerge from the soil. Like the corn farmer, I know this is the time to eliminate competition for nutrients, light and space. It is better to do it before seedlings emerge. I do what I can to produce a bountiful harvest. My creative issue is the seedlings in my life emerged long ago and have grown to become part of the living landscape. Weeding the stuff would create a new way of seeing. What if I don’t like it?
Maybe I’ll feel better about weeding my stuff after I finish the autobiography.
Anyway. It’s time to set all that aside and get to weeding. We can’t take it with us and don’t want to leave a big mess for my heirs to clean up.
Journey Home 
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