Fam Wedding Bells

I love weddings! Our nephew Chris was married to Dana this weekend. Chris is Paul's sister Dorie's oldest son. They are Milwaukee area peeps. The wedding was in Appleton, WI, so we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in Dubuque at the lovely Hotel Julien Dubuque on Friday night.

When Paul and I were first married, Dubuque (near Paul's hometown of Earlville) was a dump of a town. Now it's fabulous! We pulled in about 5:30 p.m. and walked down the main drag to a brewery I'd scoped out online called Jubeck New World Brewing. It isn't a large place, but it's decorated in a cute "flight" theme. It's a small batch brewery - no big tanks, but the beer I tried, a nutty ale, was quite delicious. Then we hit a burger joint to split a burger. Last we found a hidden bar - the Busted Lift. It is listed online, but we had to ask out hotel guy how to find it - like a speakeasy! Very cool underground place. Our hotel room was lovely, and a wedding reception was going on at the hotel, so it was filled with beautiful people.

The Lift, Irish Bar - stone walls

View from Hotel Julien, so pretty! 

In the morning we headed out to Appleton - some three hours northeast. The leaves are just starting to turn, so it was lovely. Once we arrived, there were Goldsmiths galore! All of Paul's brothers and sisters with spouses were there. Sister Carol brought her friend Roger. It was nice to meet him - a former classmate of hers from high school. We love hanging out with these peeps!

Chris and Dana's wedding was simple, elegant and beautiful. They bbeamed with love and happiness during the ceremony and reception, which was right at the church hall. We sat and chatted with the siblings until the delicious meal was served. A bit later I must admit, Paul and I snuck across the street to a sports bar (it's Wisconsin - they're everywhere) with Paul's brother Ken and wife Mary for a beer. We stopped back for a piece of cake before heading back to the hotel.

Goldsmiths!

This morning the groom's parents hosted a breakfast for all (brothers/sisters) of us before we headed home. It's always fun catching up with the family. I enjoyed reminiscing about Paul's mom and dad, Laura and George - two of my favorite people. They would be very proud of their family - children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!

In two weeks we get to do this again with my family when my niece Jordan ties the knot with Jill! Can't wait. I love weddings.

Trip to Double Ds

Wednesday this week I headed to Dubuque for the League of Cities conference. I helped with a booth to market our section's programs to Iowa communities. A co-worker, Becky Ohrtman, from another section in our bureau staffed the booth with me. Ironically, Becky worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service - who Paul works for - prior to DNR. So she knows Paul and lots of his buddies. Trash and dirt - they're simpatico.

I took off Wednesday and arrived at the Grand River Center about 1 p.m. The location is great and it was a beautiful day. I took a few minutes to check out the river side of the center - so gorgeous.

I set my stuff up and attended an excellent session by a woman named Rebecca Ryan who runs a consulting firm that helps businesses and communities figure out how to deal with the next generation. Some of the keys she talked about, that community leaders need to consider are things like schools, vitality and health, leadership, night life, commute time (not really a problem in small towns - but for every 10 minutes one commutes, you lose 30 minutes of volunteer time). Rebecca talked about how the different generations deal with these things in different ways.

It's important for those of us that work with the public, because we can't assume that we are reaching everyone just because we print it in the paper or put it on the radio. That might have worked back when I first started working in this biz. Heck I even started a website, but today that's old news...for today's young people. Twitter, apps, Facebook - we need to find new ways to get information to the people. While not forgetting the Boomers who still read the paper.

I got to see some Crestonites that Wednesday evening, as people went by our booth. Of course Jim helped us in our booth. We gave away nifty chip clips with magnets along with information about our programs. Warren Woods - mayor of Creston, along with his lovely wife went by. Later I saw Mike Taylor, City Admin - and my former boss at Gits Manufacturing. That seems like a lifetime ago! Someone else called out my name as I made my way through the crowd - it was Chad Levi, husband of Renee, former St. Malachy teacher. That fam now lives in the Cedar Rapids area. The oldest of their three daughters is a HS frosh!

Becky with Jim

I stayed at the Hotel Julian - (that is Dubuque's first name). It was refurbished - and it gorgeous. I wish I could have stayed longer than 9 hours...but all too soon I was off to Davenport for an audit. Jim helped with that too.

Audit Team with Scott County staffers

It was a good trip - a long couple of days for an old bat like me.

Making a difference

Thursday was a 13 hour day for me - but worth it! Colleague Scott Flagg and I started at 6 a.m. heading to Davenport for a ribbon cutting at the Waste Commission of Scott County Electronics Demanufacturing facility. It's been open since 2005, the facility is now the only public facility in the world to be certified by EPA as R2 or a Responsible Recycler. It means they ensure all down the line that the vendors handling the material are doing so responsibly. No dumping in 3rd world countries!

Kathy is one of the movers and shakers in the trash world...she can talk a mile a minutes and is really nice

I'm proud to say that Kathy Morris, Director of the Waste Commission credits the program I oversee, the Environmental Management System (EMS) Program with getting them starting down the path toward this certification. The audits that I helped perform on their agency helped prepare them for the rigorous audits EPA performed on the agency.

Did you ever wonder what your LCD TV looked like inside? They take 'em apart here...

There was a good turnout at the event - the Chamber of Commerce, her board, staff and others. It was a well-planned event, and media was there in full force. The photos tell it all.


Presently Scott County doesn't do much reconditioning of products delivered. Mostly because they're all about data integrity. If you recycling a computer with them, they make sure the info is gone! But one of their upcoming EMS goals will be to look into more ways to reuse materials instead of just recycling.


The blonde cutie on the right, Erin is the communications director

While at the event, Scott and I introduced ourselves to a woman with a ReStore shirt on. If you're not familiar with these stores, they take still usable materials from people remodeling their homes or businesses and resell them, a partner with Habitat for Humanity.
ReStore What they do



DNR runs a forgivable loan program that Cindy, the ReStore woman had applied to. They wanted to add a medical equipment/supply room. Scott sits on the grant application review committee and knew about the project. Cindy invited us to stop by. It's stuff like this that inspires me - and makes me love what I do! The pics tell the story. They have lift chairs, adult diapers, wheel chairs - all sorts of stuff. Before - people had to scour all the Salvation Army Stores, Good Will. Because that's where folks dropped off this stuff - sadly they even take it to the landfill when Gran dies, because they don't know what else to do. Now there's an alternative!

People can donate these things to a central place - where others can then purchase at a much reduced price.

Cindy showed us the rest of the store too.
 

Volunteers help get items ready for the "store"

There were many volunteers helping man the place. They have to check all donations to make sure they're up to date, safe and clean. I was amazed how big the building supply store was - cabinets, sinks, lighting fixtures, even furniture. Very cool! I need to stop by the DSM store again soon.

Next we were off to Dubuque for a quick stop at the landfill. It was about 1.5 hours up the road. Manager Doug Hughes showed us the new cell (that's where the trash goes) they're building, and Bev Wagner drove us by their new methane gas flare. Presently they're just burning off collected methane. They will eventually sell for power. It's all better than allowing it to seep into the environment - major cause of global warming.

Doug in the new cell area - off behind is where they'll build their new office and household hazardous materials building

Methane Flare - the collection piping is very expensive so only the larger landfills do it. A turbine to make it into energy runs in the millions.

 A few short miles down Highway 20 from the Dubuque Landfill is Epworth, where we stopped at the site of a former school. Scott Flagg runs the derelict building grant program. Towns of 5,000 people and fewer can apply for cost share to help them remove asbestos from these buildings and then take them down - the city has to own them. Materials must be recycled - the more recycled, the more cost share. Epworth is a success story. This lot is the site of a former decrepit school building.


They even have green grass in Epworth. This site was a crappy building a few months ago...

Last we scooted across Highway 20 some more and then North to Arlington, home of another falling down school building. Someday the site will be a community center.

We met with the City Clerk, Public Works guy and the project director. I took lots of pics there. These buildings are in every town...

Scary looking, huh?

They took us inside, where the guy who most recently owned the property (they got it back on taxes) left tons of unsold 20 year old "energy" drinks in plastic bottles in the basement. They had to get kid's groups to help them empty and recycle them. They still have a few to go...

Something interesting up there...

Good to the last drop - 20 years ago...

Dang - we forgot to sign in!
 

We didn't head out until after 4 p.m. so it was a late night. I got back to Creston about 8:30 p.m. Tired, but pleased by how the day went. What I  and what we do at DNR makes a difference! 

Back to Dubuque and more

It was a 14 hour day yesterday. It started out rough - getting four people (Scott, Jeff and Jen along with yours truly) on the same page at 6:30 a.m. is imposible (pronounced im po see blay - that's spanish for impossible). And then the bladders...Dave would never have stood for it! He would have suggested, "sit on your foot!" and other helpful hints. So the trip that should have taken a little over three hours took more like 3.5. I was agast! Bullocks don't like to be late.

But you know what? The world didn't come to an end. We got the Audit done and it all went well. I simply called ahead and told them we were running late. The ride back was filled with, um interesting (insert gross) smells. We'd had a brief shower, and somehow between that, and the wind direction made the hog confinement smells seek out our van. Poor Jennifer has a very sensitive nose and was forced to breath through her sweater at times. Lucky for me my use of nose sprays through the years, and age had rendered my sense of smell less than keen.

Our conversations on the way back were inane. We discussed our favorite Halloween candy. There were arguments about what pie flavor is best. (Jen likes banana creme, it's lemon meringue for Scott - me, so hard to decide. French Silk? Remember Bishop Buffet's Choc. pie? Jeff didn't weigh in). You have a lot of time to talk on a drive to Dubuque (and back). We also talked about work stuff, which wasn't nearly as fun as popcorn balls that we got for Halloween.

Tonight I took a walk when I got home from work. Along the route, I was excited to see there is a Jimmy Johns going into the former Medicap near Joan's house. Yay! I like Jimmy John's. Big John (roast beef) with oil and vinegar instead of may. No cheese. Yum. Around the corner, I almost stepped on a big fat toad sitting on the warm walking trail path. My power walk was a nice way to walk of the steam I worked up from my day of acting as a go-between for 2 bureaucracies. EPA and DNR. Nuff said.

Duh Byuke

That's how you say it (Dubuque). Although I did like the Canadian pronunciation - Duh Buke. I've been there since Monday. I'm thinking of relocating there (okay it's just a fleeting thought). But what a cool city! (Except it IS on the dark side where everything is Hawkeye).

This year's annual Recycling and Solid Waste Management Conference was in Dubuque. Colleague Scott Flagg and I drove up there Monday afternoon and set up the DNR booth.

The DNR displays are brand new - and now I don't even need an engineer to help me put them together! They are like window shades. The old ones involved magnets and assembly. See the orange thing on the table? I forked over $5 of my own hard earned money for pretzels to lure people in to our table...since we don't have swag like other vendors do. And yes, I went around and gathered swag from other booths to distribute to my supervisor and key staff for bonus points when I get back to the office. I'm a suck up, I admit it. Plus I just like the joy of giving - especially when I got the stuff FREE.  

There were some great speakers at the conference, including the gal from the City of Ontario - who pronounced Dubuque so delightfully. This morning's session was about social media - using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like to further the cause of your organization. Yesterday our Bureau Chief Brian gave a DNR update, and a state senator from Dubuque talked about legislation she's sponsored on recycling.

The downside of representing the State of Iowa at this conference is that I can no longer party like a rockstar at this event. In the olden days, when I just represented Adams, Taylor and Union Counties, I used to tip a few. Just a few years ago in Dubuque as a matter of fact, Christine, Jeff and I drank our way up Main Street in Dubuque Night 1 of the conference. We went to a place called Paul's Tavern - where 60 year-old mounts of long ago hunted animals are located. Last night, co-workers Laura, Scott and I went there for 1 beer. Yeah, that's my limit now - I figure I can party on non-work nights. After the Tavern (3 beers $4.65), we hit an Italian place that was really good.    

This morning I took an early walk around downtown Dubuque. The sun was just coming up, and I saw things that I'd never seen before, despite all my years of hanging around NE Iowa. After all my Paul is from Earlville - not too far from Dubuque. And I did do the tipsy walking tour a few years back. Here are a few photos I snapped.

American Gothic - as seen at the Art Museum

 There were so many cool architectural shots - wished I had a real camera, not just my Blackberry. But the emerging light was part of the beauty. Our consultant for a project I work on is from Dallas. She does talk about moving to Dubuque. I can see why!

Fried

I arrived home in Creston today fried to a crackly crunch. I mean toasted. I have not been in need of a weekend this badly in the two years since taking the DNR job. Whew!

The two days of auditing in Davenport and Dubuque were very wearing. The twelve hour days - between traveling and talking, questioning the auditees constantly during the audit. I'm not used to the constant "on" position. Tough on this old broad!

Day one we were in Davenport until 4:30 or so - in a cold room and touring facilities in and outside. The agency there has a delightful young energetic staff. I really like them! We headed to Dubuque, stopping in my college roomie, Vicki's hometown of DeWitt to gas up. Lucky for me Jeff took over driving duties. Pulled into the Fairfield Inn about 6:15 PM and at at Olive Garden next door. I had a nice Lemondrop that night. Slept lousy. Missed my bed (or my Joan bed).

Got lost trying to find the Public Works office in Dubuque - stress right away Thursday a.m. Another tough morning of constant talking. I get sick of hearing myself talk! After lunch we headed to the landfill on the west side of town, another cold visit to facilities. Long drive back with much discussion - I should have held me tongue more. Self flagellation later. We arrived in DSM about 6:30 - I had to gas up the car and arrived back at Joan's about 7:15 - decided not to head to Creston as last time I drove home late on a Thursday I ended up with car damage...

Went to bed exhausted before 9 PM. Woke up at 2:30 AM with my fretter all jacked up. Worrying about writing up the audits. Decided to read a bit to take my mind off of work stuff. Slept in until 6 AM and discovered snowy roads for my commute. Yuck! Headache popped up at work and didn't get rid of it all day. A bit slick on my drive home to Crestonia but my trusty Subaru got me here safely - left work about noon. Glad to be home! Still hurting head and quesy stomach - pizza at A&G with McKims - Ryan and Megan are visiting, and McFees. Pop another Frova and drink pop. Finally feel better. YAY. My weekend is here!

On the road

I'm on the road again. Hit the road at 5:30 a.m. today - picked up my supe and another colleague. We headed to Davenport for an Environmental Management System audit. It was more fun than it sounds. We meet with people from the local recycling facilities and landfill. We get to ask them questions about what they do.

You prolly know by now I am interested about that stuff. I AM the trash lady after all! So I like talking trash.

After our long day, Jeff, Jen and I drove to Dubuque and checked into the Fairfield Inn. We ate at the Olive Garden nearby (I had a nice cocktail) and now I'm relaxing before I hit the hay.

Tomorrow we hit the audit trail again at the Dubuque Solid Waste Agency. I hope we cruise through it and get back to Des Moines at a decent time - like 6 PM. Today sucked for a Weight Watchers participant!

Dubuque

I was in Dubuque yesterday - a loooong day. Started on the road at 6 a.m. for a 10 a.m. meeting down on the river. I had my new GPS - the Garmin 255W on sale at Best Buy for $119. Unfortunately, the GPS and Google Maps didn't have a clue where Durrant Architecture was located - or where Ice Harbor Drive is in that town.

The business is in a Lied Building - see it at http://www.durrant.com/
and is all low waste, low energy and high recycling. I was impressed. The parking lot was made of pervious materials - allowing for rainfall to infiltrate instead of run off. Color me impressed!

After the meeting - the Iowa Recycling Association Board Meeting, we had a nice lunch and headed across the river to Kieler Wisconsin to tour Moor Salvage where old fridges and cars go to be recycled so they can be reborn into new stuff. Julius Moor was a great host - and the two huge tugboat motors and transmissions were impressive!


Last but not least, recycling nerds know how to party! We headed to a vineyard near Sundown Ski resort to sample wine (but not me, since I was driving a state vehicle a nice Hybrid Honda Civic), designer beer and some food. The location was gorgeous. http://www.parkfarmwinery.com/. I ate some of the food and drank some water while chatting with the folks attending the wing ding - about 15 or so.

The drive back to Des Moines was a long one - I was listening to a book by that guy that wrote Jurassic Park - this one's about Genetics. Scary! Got to Joan in time to watch the second hour of Grey's Anatomy with Joanie. Nothing like a 15 hour work day, but 8 hours was on the road, so it was a nice way to get comp time. When I got to work this a.m. I had to gas up the Honda and turn it in. Good trip.

Couple Things

I coached myself to listen more and talk less last week during my trip to Chicago. Did I listen to myself. Not very well. I am such an over-sharer. Just ask my spousal unit. And I even do squelch a few things I consider sharing.

There are worse people though. Like the guy from Dubuque we ran into at the recycling conference. The four of us - Todd, Kathy, Michelle and I, were eating lunch when Paul (not my Paul but Paul from Dubuque) came up to say "Hi". We asked how he was doing, and he said - fine now that he'd had his prostate tuned up, and he could now pee like a young boy. Hmmm too much information!

Throughout the course of the drive there and back though thinking back I realize I worked into the conversation with Michelle - who road in the back of the vehicle with me - that I'd had a hysterectomy, broke my foot and now take Topamax. It's not like she didn't share info too, but I still feel like a walking medical case...at times. I didn't mention peeing however...out of the blue, like Paul did.

I got enthused about healthy eating again watching Oprah yesterday. I know lots of people don't like the lady, but I do and I like most of her shows. Yesterday's shows featured Jamie Oliver - who is trying to get people and schools healthier and more natural.

Jamie visited a fam somewhere down south - their frig looked worse than ours. It was full of chicken nuggets and cheap frozen pizzas. (while ours only has a one pizza). He cooked up all the bad stuff in their house and piled it on their table. He noted that the color was all pretty much white and tan. He and the kids did a burial ceremony in the backyard with the fry daddy! While it sounds humorous, he said it was actually kinda spiritual and moving. I like the guy.

Then he and Oprah cooked up and meal fairly quickly meant to replace a chicken nugget meal one might purchase at Kentucky Fried or someplace like that. He did whip it up pretty quickly along with smashed potatoes - he's big into knowing what natural ingredients go into your body and your kids.

I feel badly that I didn't do that very well with our children. In our defense - that is Jamie's only job - food. He doesn't have to go to another job and rush home and have hungry people awaiting food on the table. I didn't grow up cooking, and I'm just not comfy doing it. I'm not sure how my sisters learned to be at home in the kitchen - I can clean up with the best of 'em but I'm still a cooking rookie.

Today I took my Jamie recipes along when Pablo and I went to the market. Paul kinda gave me crap in my mission - as he does. urging me to purchase margarine with lots of "good grease". In his own way he subtly sabotages my efforts. And then I give up and revert back to my old ways - and he's comfy with that. I worry that he doesn't eat healthy while I'm gone. We can't rely on youth and good looks to get us by in life anymore (hint hint to all you readers named Paul).

I'm sure I won't turn over a whole new leaf. But I'd like to try again at cooking new and healthier recipes. It's not like Paul and I are rushing around all the time anymore - we have time to cook and it's something we can do together. Maybe Jamie has a cookbook!