Skunk River Greenbelt to Anderson Canoe Access

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Iowa

We are both very excited for this adventure. Its the last act of our marriage ceremony; our honeymoon but the first of many adventures together.

I have been fighting an ear infection for the past week and am a little worried about flying for eight hours with head congestion. I had a lot of problems with ear pain when flying before. Hopefully the medication provided by the good doctor at the Story City clinic will suffice in allowing our trip to get off on the right foot.

More to come..

I have my blog hosted by TypePad and they offer a mobile management application for iPhones and Windows Mobile based phones, but there is no native app for my spiffy new Galaxy S powered phone.

I am trying to come up with a suitable solution using the recently released Posterous app for Android and using the auto-post feature to get entries to my blog and flickr services.

Lets give this a whirl, shall we?

There was a huge wind gust along with severe thunderstorms last night in Story City. This very large, very old tree across the street from us came tumbling down around 2:30 AM according to our neighbors. I didn't hear it hit, but apparently it was a large boom when it hit the ground. It took out a utility line and part of the tree hit a metal outbuilding and did some damage.

There are a ton of branches and trees damaged around town. We lucked out with just some smaller debris and leaves in our yard.

Several weeks ago we attended the Story County Animal Shelter's open house with our two dogs Oskar and Sophie. Oskar had such a good time with Butler, one of of the residents of the Shelter we began the debate if we were able to give a good home to another dog.

Well after careful consideration and spending time with this 5 month old puppy we decided to give him a forever home in Story City. Butler was left at the Story County Animal Shelter about 6 weeks ago after it was decided that he was not a good fit in a home with a special needs child.

Butler will be undergoing a name change (in honor of Bernie Ferderko) and coming home this weekend to Story City and enjoying a fenced yard and premium dog food from Brekke's Country Store. We are really looking forward to adding this playmate to our pack of canine friends and the years of joy he will bring our family.

Hockey is back.

As a fan of a sport that’s been flying under the radar since the travesty that was the 2004-2005 lockout I’ve never felt better about the state of the NHL on a national level.  I think the ratings and interest over all coast-to-coast will back me up on this.

However I live in a state that is fixated on college and high-school sports.  Iowa in general has been hesitant to warm up to the coldest professional sport.  We recently lost a high-quality AHL team after a protracted legal dispute that left them mothballed for over a year.  No one seemed to care.

But things around here are changing.  And I’ll give credit where I believe it’s due.

• The Winter Olympic Games
• The Chicago Blackhawks

Iowa seems invariably tied to the Windy City.  When it’s hot in Chicago, people in here in the Hawkeye state (which incidentally is named after the same namesake as the Blackhawks) pay attention.

In my town of 3500 I’ve come across an occasional hockey fan, but with the Blackhawks Stanley Cup run, it seemed that everyone was paying attention. During our recent town-fest, I sported a Blackhawks sweater that I haven’t worn since high school. When I put it on I figured most people in town would think it was the Redskins.  However, there were an unusually large number of comments about the NHL and in particular he Chicago Blackhawks. While the commentary was not particularly insightful or revealing, it was a big confidence booster for me that the game has fully-healed from the lockout, and it is penetrating markets that haven’t been interested in hockey for a long, long time.  They have moved the sport to the front of the line here in Iowa over the past few weeks. As a hockey fan I applaud the Blackhawks for their Stanley Cup win and helping folks in rural Iowa get reacquainted with the best sport on earth.

Story City is a town heavily influenced by the many Norwegian, Swedish and Danish immigrants who came to the northwest corner of Story County in the mid-to-late 1800s.  This is reflected in the namesake of my town’s festival “Scandinavian Days.” While I have yet to feel full immersed in authentic Nordic tradition during these events, it is nice that you can dabble in some of the food-stuffs and culture that many of the natives here hold so dear. 

One of the most revered aspects of Scandinavian Days and Story City culture as well is a food oddity called “Kumla.”  It’s a baseball sized potato dumpling typically accompanied by ham, ham brother and butter.  I’m a guy who loves to eat, and these truly live up to their reputation as belly-bombs.  I can’t eat more than three.  If you’re ever in the area, make sure to give them a whirl.  While not my cup of tea, they certainly hearken back to the historic roots of this community.

The turnout this year was very healthy when held in comparison with some over the past decade.   I think they did a nice job of promoting it.  I know the weather certainly didn’t help. 

Here’s some footage I took of the very traditional small town parade from last Saturday.

I’ve been trying to avoid a lot of the hype associated with the speculation that several members of the Big 12 are leaving for the Pac-10 or Big 10.  It’s becoming more and more painfully obvious that it is inevitable. 

From what I hear, tomorrow will signal the end of a near century old affiliation between the University of Nebraska and my alma mater, Iowa State University.  For me it’s a sad commentary on the state of “amateur” athletics.   As as Cyclone fan who understand that Iowa State lacks any real relevence in football or basketball at this point it is still disheartening that television markets and revenue trump geographic rivalries and traditions.

I guess we’ll find out tomorrow what is going to happen.  Either way, I’m sure it will singal some big changes for my favorite college team.