Has it really been 45 years since our middle daughter, Annie, was born? Impossible, I say, 'cuz I'm only around 61, ain't I Deb? What? I'm how old? Holy smokes, that almost puts me at the red tees in "Geezer Golf." Ok, to be honest, I've been at those tees for about four years now. Where ...
My birthday was last Friday, and to tell you this story, I have to rewind to Thursday afternoon. It all connects eventually, trust me. So, the day before, Thursday, June 26, my birthday eve, the last day of my 28th year, I wanted to take it relatively easy. One of the few things I needed to ...
The dictionary defines civic pride as a feeling of satisfaction and positive regard for one's city or community, often stemming from a sense of belonging and shared identity. Recently, I’ve been really thinking about how our two towns line up with that definition. Both what we do well to ...
We’ve launched over 4,000 satellites into space and now have huge numbers of operable and defunct satellites along with other human-sourced junk continually and densely orbiting our planet. We’ve badly polluted and over-fished our massive and irreplaceable oceans. We’ve managed to poison ...
Editor's Note: This column will publish in the Friday, June 11 print edition of the News Chronicle. I hope you are having a great summer! My family has been enjoying extra time together during summer break. The Tama County Board of Supervisors had been made aware that the Landfill and ...
Editor's Note: This column will publish in the Friday, June 11 print edition of the News Chronicle. I was gone for a couple weeks, but I’m back. The Tama County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday was a good one and had a mixed group of people. There was a lot of talk about ...
This is a photo of my father. He was born in Tama. He is standing before Mount Suribachi during World War II. If you don’t recognize this place, then you may not fully grasp the weight of history — or the immense cost of freedom. Take note: there is no flag on the peak. A Major in the ...
I am a proud American, and there was a time when I felt an even deeper pride in our country. Like many people, I didn’t always appreciate paying taxes — especially when the difference between gross and net pay is so noticeable. But as I matured, I came to understand the critical importance ...
Now, I’m not usually one to complain about the heat very much. Yeah sometimes it gets to me, but that’s just part of life. You roll up your sleeves or take off your shirt and you deal with it. I don’t complain about it often but I do know I’m not very good at suffering through the ...
Sometimes the fates align like an eclipse making a single perfect, beautiful, once in a lifetime moment. When these things happen you have to appreciate them for their rarity, and for the sheer mind-tickling wonder that it is. To cut to the chase, it is my birthday this Friday, and my sister ...