Paul Left Again...

Man, I really got you readers with my last headline about Paul leaving me. Yes, I baited you and it worked. I can see how many readers there are for each blog - it really jumped on that one. Sorry to disappoint. He's stuck with me. We do joke that someday he'll ask me to dress up in a brown outfit with an antler hood and I'll be walking in the woods - oops! Hit by an arrow. No officer - I thought it was a deer. Okay - that's creepy, but it makes us laugh.

This time he's in Green Bay with our son Judson. They have started a "thing" where they attend an NFL game each year. Jud is a Cowboys fan (did we fail here? or just let him be his little self at age 4?), and Paul is a Packers fan. Last year they were in Dallas for a Cowboys/Packers game. Paul had never been there before - Packers pulled out a win at the end of the game.

This year it's a Packers vs. Buffalo game at Lambeau Field. Paul took his Rodgers jersey for Jud to wear. A full one half of Paul's wardrobe is either Cyclone or Packers - so he's covered. The beautiful part of these trips is that Jud figures out all the logistics for his dad. We're hard to buy gifts for - so this is such a gift. They flew into Green Bay and had a room at an Air B & B very near the stadium. They will fly home right after the game.

Next year they plan to go to a Cowboys "away" game - visiting more venues around this country. I love this tradition - even though I'm not part of it. Hmmm, what can Amy and I do? Bonding - adult children are wonderful.

I love dive bars

Lunch at Hickory Park - Sunday

Last weekend Paul and I enjoyed another tradition that has become an annual thing - Cyclone Football with college pals. Steve (Moose) and Kay came from Gurnee (north side of Chicago) along with their children from the Twin Cities. Vicki and Fred came from Northfield, MN. My college roomie Jane and a couple of her kids came too. Others stopped by our tailgate too. I can't say enough about our host and hostess Kevin and Kari - so thoughtful and generous setting up the tents and chairs, sharing their spread.

The weather gods blessed us on gameday. It was a perfect early fall day. The Cyclones beat Akron. We went to the classic dive bar the Tip Top before retiring to our hotel in Ames for the evening. When we walked in the door, a guy was standing on a table trying to put his foot behind his head. It must have been a bet. Or the beer talking! 

It's such fun catching up with our friends. And we are starting to plan an Alaska trip for next summer. No college friend weekend is complete without a Sunday morning lunch at Hickory Park. We all know what we're going to order before we see the menu: smoked turkey on an onion bun with mashed potatoes & gravy. Paul and I shared a delicious hot fudge sundae. I had to rest on Sunday - having fun is hard work! 

This weekend is a quiet one. I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning where I found the jigsaw puzzle for this Christmas in Vail, and a baby gift for my new grandniece Lily Lopez. (Leslie's daughter). I love sending those Cali kids Iowa gifts.

On Saturday night, college roomie Jane and I watched the ISU game at the Angry Goat. I've known Jane since I was 18 years old. Lots of history! Of course, the game didn't come out like we wanted it too. The Cyclones hung in there but didn't have enough offense in the end. I trust our coach to keep these guys on the right track. 

Funny: at work, the State of Iowa switched our operating system to Google a year ago. Last week my Gmail updated to a new version that anticipates what word I'm going to type. I can hit tab to accept the word/phrase or just keep typing.

I started an email to my co-worker Becky to ask her to update my program webpage with a new document. When I send emails like that I sometimes just sign with an L instead of typing my whole name. Gmail tried to fill in

Love you,

Good thing I caught it! I actually laughed out loud. And didn't hit tab to accept. But I wondered - what if we all expressed our love and appreciation to each other more often? I've worked with Becky for 10 years now. I told Becky the story - what I nearly sent. And I shared with her that I have grown quite fond of her.

Thanks, Google, for reminding me that I should appreciate all of my relationships more. Please don't let me start emailing stakeholders - citizens of Iowa and landfill operators signing "Love you". That would be weird!

Parking Ramps 2 Leslie 1

Just a small town girl...living in a big city world. I have to confess. After nearly 10 years of big city life - 4 commuting and 6 as a full-time resident - I still feel out of place at times. Like this week when I crossed the Des Moines River west into the "downtown" part of the city. Tall buildings, one-way streets and my nemesis - parking ramps.

This week I attended the Food Waste Recovery Summit at the Downtown Marriott, sponsored by EPA and the Iowa Waste Reduction Center. DNR pitched in some funding too. In my job, I deal with all things waste. In Iowa, after last year's series of waste composition studies at landfills, organic/food waste was the big "winner". We're tossing a lot of food, people.

I usually work in the Wallace Building, located on the east side of the Des Moines river. On the east side, we have the beautiful Iowa State Capitol, but no skyscrapers on our side of the river. Downtown Des Moines - where the banks and insurance companies hang out, while small for you real city-dwellers, is still intimidating to me. For the Summit, I had to negotiate my way through downtown to a parking ramp for the day. On day one, two ramps were full before I found one of those corkscrew ones. Dizzy!

Des Moines has a great skywalk system and we made our way to the Marriott through that. I should have dropped breadcrumbs! The system does have maps but I find it easy to get confused there - and it was beautiful later summer weather out - so I walked outside when I left that night. The ramp on day three of the conference almost got the best of me! The first attempt to get it was a fail - the button to get the arm to go up didn't work. I backed out and tried the next opening - private for Wells Fargo. Oops again! Third time was a charm. That is why I plan meetings away from downtown - parking is complicated and expensive there. Give me wide open spaces.

Single Speed beer-yum!

Who attends a cool conference like this? It was an interesting mix - government folk like me, people from restaurants, food banks, transportation, composters, biodigesters, students, brewers, and educators. I attended interesting sessions on topics like food rescue and anaerobic digestion. There is a new program many moving van companies are adopting where they will take all leftover usable food from people moving. They deliver the food to area food banks. All it took was one guy to see the need. He is the son in a family that owns a moving company out east. He ran with the idea and this non-profit now employs over ten people to coordinate events and moving food.

Des Moines, the Quad-Cities and Muscatine all were represented, with speakers talking about their food rescue missions. In Muscatine, a non-profit group teaches people to cook - 4 2 hour sessions with transportation and childcare provided. At the end of the sessions, each person receives a laundry basket filled with pots, pans, and utensils. How cool is that!?!

In one session, we drank craft beer (it was the end of the day) while listening to brewery spokespeople from Bell's (MI) and Single Speed in Cedar Falls talk about sustainability. Brewing beer uses a lot of resources. I was glad to hear about the things they do to reduce their marks on our world while providing delish beverages.

I learned more about food labels. There is no rhyme nor legal reason for most of them - except on baby formula. So use your nose and eyes. Best by is just that. Don't toss something just because of a label.

One session was like "Shark Tank". Three project spokespeople each gave a five-minute spiel on their project. At the end of the session, the crowd voted.

• Eat Greater Des Moines pitched their partnership with Wesleylife - they use the Meals On Wheels Smart Cars and drivers to pick up prepared foods from Kum & Go (convenience store) to deliver to rent-controlled apartment complexes. 
• A gentleman from Decorah started up a compost site just outside of that city. They are running it on a shoestring, and are taking certain organics from around the state already. 
• A woman from the Houston area presented her water-based composter made from a blue plastic repurposed drum with a motor aerator. You put food scraps in and end up with a water product that is rich in nutrients. 

The Decorah composter won. Yay! I voted for him. $1,000 can go a long way for a small business like that. 

Paul and I are good at cleaning up leftovers, but I wish restaurants would reduce portion sizes. They have gotten much better at "splitting" meals. Paul and I share a lot. The foods we struggle with are bread and produce. Those go bad before we can eat them. 

I miss the Earth Machine composter we had at our Creston house. We aren't allowed to have composters here in our DSM townhouse. They're worried about smell and pests. I like many things about living in a townhouse - but that is a negative. 

The bad thing about conferences is the challenge to take the stuff you learned and do something with it. Co-workers and I took notes. My big takeaway? Good things are happening Y'all!  More needs to. We waste too much. Even though the Midwest is the breadbasket - Iowans are hungry! Volunteers (and money) help so much in these efforts. And good infrastructure. 

This week was a good one. I love what I do (except parking)! 

 

Lovett, Storm Warning, Emergency

Months ago I purchased two tickets for a Lyle Lovett concert at Hoyt Sherman Place. Why, you might ask. How did I become a Lyle fan? I blame it on my friends Mary Faber and Deb Peterson.

In 1996, not long after my Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, those two asked me to go to a Lyle concert. They knew I was feeling sad. I knew who Lyle was - a couple of his band's songs had made it to the radio. But I didn't know much about him - except that he'd had a brief, ill-fated marriage to Julia Roberts. Never-the-less, a night out with those two wonderful friends was just what I needed! I don't remember much about the night except the love and care Mary and Deb provided. And that Lyle Lovett and the Large Band didn't suck. I didn't rush out and buy all their CDs - but their music kept percolating in my head.

Years later, living in Des Moines, I searched for music to fill out my library. I often wear earbuds at work to drown out the cacophony of cubicle-land. Especially since I sit by loud-talking phone guy. He seems to think his phone is like those old "cans with strings" we use to put together when we were kids. He yells at people on his phone. Ugh. Insert earbuds, turn up tunes.

I ended up getting a Lyle CD and they had me at "That's Right You're Not From Texas" and "MONEY". I'd always thought they were a country band, but no - they're more swing. And the individual talent of the Large Band is special.

Deb and Leslie love cheese and fancy drinks

I knew Paul wouldn't be too wild about seeing a band he's never really listened to. And he's left me...for his hunting trip. So I asked my pal Deb and come up for the 8/31 concert. We made a night of it, visiting the Cheese Bar and Eatery A.

Band members have been together for many years. Cello player was born in Iowa! 

Hoyt Sherman is such a special concert venue - the musicians always bring it up. The acoustics are marvelous. I got seats up close but off to the side. They played many of my favorites. The musicians and female singer Francine get a lot of solo time. They played for over 2 hours. Fun night. The while weekend Deb and I enjoyed time to catch up on each other's lives. I miss that! It was hard to say goodbye Saturday morning - but it was Game Day baby!

Or so I thought! I packed up the gear and headed to Ames about noon. Kevin and Kari got a slick new trailer this year. Tailgating was fun, but no lie, I missed my honey.

Kevin and the babes at the game

He did call while I was still on my first beer of the season. He was high on a mountain peak. The phone was cutting out - I heard a story about how he and his hunting buddy Al had come upon a father/daughter team riding mules to hunt elk. It was her 16th birthday present. For some reason, the mules spooked and dumped the riders. The dad hit his head and the daughter was injured and couldn't get up. Paul and Al dumped their packs and hiked back to the parking area to call mountain rescue. Chainsaws had to be used to get a 4-wheeler up the path to get a stretcher up the get the girl. I was concerned about the mules (of course). They ran back to their trailer. Phew! The dad left a note on their windshield yesterday - thanking them. It turns out they ended up with only cuts and bruises. Yay! No other hunting news - the elk are in hiding.

Creston's Trevor Downing (the big guy) Freshman lineman

Hmmm storms look ominous. There's a Cyclone warning! 

The game was exciting! All 4 minutes. The usual cast of people that sit by us was accounted for. Yay! We high-fived after ISU's touchdown. Then lightning and rain hit. Game Over. We sat in the car. It turns out they have to wait 30 minutes after every lightning strike. Which means the game could have started at roughly 3 in the morning. It was the longest lightning show every.

We finally ended up back under our tailgating tent drinking a beer, eating sugar cookies - what a combo! We laughed taking down the tent in the rain. Those people are so damn cheerful. Big thanks to Erecke's for putting me up at their house Saturday night. And to everyone, who stopped by our tailgate. It was fun seeing you all. Next time there will be a real game to follow!

This group laughs a lot!