State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

global warming

  • Unexpected Monday

    Monday didn’t happen as expected. There were three things involving arborists, health care and farming. Without announcement, the arborist arrived to take down a maple tree I planted on the northwest corner of the house. Turns out I didn’t know what I was doing when planting the 12-inch, stick-sized sapling so close to the house… Read more

  • Earth Day – 2019

    A thin haze dimmed reflected light from the moon. Thin enough to allow dots of starlight to penetrate the atmosphere and with moonlight illuminate the neighborhood. The haze was just enough to know it was there. I moved trays of kale, broccoli and parsley seedlings from the garage to a pallet near the driveway in… Read more

  • Burning Brush in the Carbon Cycle

    Is burning brush good for the environment? As a gardener I burn brush on a garden plot a couple times a year, rotating the burns on each of seven plots over time. The idea is the mass of the brush is reduced, carbon dioxide is released, and minerals return to the soil. It’s a common… Read more

  • 50th Earth Day Coming Up

    I looked in the recycling bin and there were only eight items in it. Thursday is our day to leave the bin at the end of our driveway and I’m going to wait until next week. It’s not that we’re throwing more in the trash instead of recycling. The trash bin is completely empty, making… Read more

  • Long Tail of Carbon Emissions

    Earlier this century India and China decided to build fleets of coal-fired power plants as their citizenry entered a world most Americans and Europeans already knew for its modernity and comparative affluence. The two populous states required more electricity. Carbon emissions from the new plants have come home to roost. According to the International Energy… Read more

  • Climate Change, Roundabouts and Retail Stores

    During a tour of my usual spots to observe flooding it doesn’t look as bad as it has. In 2008, the flood waters came to within 100 yards of our home before receding. We are nowhere near that now. Yesterday afternoon Governor Kim Reynolds issued a press release saying the president had approved a major… Read more

  • Starting Spring

    It felt good to be outdoors on Friday. The sky was clear and temperatures warmed enough to shed my coat. Green-up has begun. We filed our income taxes with the Iowa Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service. Earlier in the week I paid the second half of our annual county property taxes. This… Read more

  • Flooding in Late Winter

    The amount of snow and ice melt in the Midwest is monumental. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued disaster proclamations for 41 counties because of flooding (Click on the map to see details). News photographs show Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska, home of the U.S. Strategic Command, is one third underwater with at least… Read more

  • Flooding at Mill Creek

    Mill Creek swelled its banks swamping nearby farm fields. It looks like the nearby city sewer system was spared inundation… for now. Snow melt is everywhere in the county. Inches of packed snow yielded to ambient temperatures in the 50s and continuous rain. After a frigid, snowy winter the ice and snow pack is melting… Read more

  • Wind Howled All Day

    The store manager from the home, farm and auto supply store phoned Sunday afternoon to ask me to work on Monday. The colleague who assumed my full time job last spring was visiting family in Nebraska and bad weather closed roads across the state, including Interstate 80. She couldn’t make it back in time for… Read more