Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

How about just a few random thoughts to kick off the first week of March?

1. Frank Buckles died early this week. If you aren’t sure who this is you’re probably not alone in your pondering look. Mr. Buckles was the last surviving veteran of World War I. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, if tradition holds true, and had lived an amazing 110 years on this earth. I’m struck by his death for two reasons; first, because my Great Grandfather was a veteran of that war, I’m reminded that generation is now for the most part just a footnote in history, but also because for all the death and waste of life during that war, you would have thought those of us in the human race would have learned from it.

2. Also on the subject of death this week, Iowa Blackie passed away. Ok, Ok, I know there are more of you confused as to who Iowa Blackie was than by Frank Buckles, but I’ll get you there quickly. Once crowned King of the Hobos, Iowa Blackie became somewhat of a poet and one of his books with his autograph has become a treasured part of my collection and a great reminder of an afternoon spent laughing and listening to his tales of the road.

3. I’m not sure that I’m really down with Mr. Groundhog this week. After giving us a great forecast, and Mother Nature thumping us with near summer like weather last week, you would have thought we were through the worst of the snow, until last Friday nights blast to the face. I’m giving the groundhog two weeks to get it straight or I’m going to visit him in an unpleasant way.

4. Maybe it isn’t the same as getting a pie, but Girl Scout cookie time is here, and there is just something about eating a box of cookies the minute you get home that just screams… “Comfort Food!”.

5. Gas prices continue to go up while my attempts at keeping a smile on my face as I fill up my car keeps going down. I’m just thankful I’m no longer driving an SUV!

6. Life is filled with great successes and great sorrows. I’ve been on both sides of that coin the last few years and my goal has been to live life somewhere in the middle. I may not be successful in my attempt every day, but I do feel like I’m making a difference.

7. I usually take the Pitzer highway to work every day and don’t think too much about the world around me as I make the journey, but the other morning just as I hit the bridge by Leepers I noticed a large bald eagle sitting on the bridge railing. Now I know this spot well, considering I’ve almost been deer hunting here with my car a couple of times this winter so I always slow down, but that morning I drove extra slow past him as he turned his head and watched me as I drove past.

8. If there are any extra crafty people out there who would like to purchase a few old four pane windows to do something that crafty people do with them, drop me a line, I’ve got a bunch of them, but not the urge or artistic talent to make it happen.

9. I have found a smell worse than coming home to the smell of an empty LP tank, it would be the smell of a dead mouse that can’t be found! Ughhh.

10. Finally this week; I’ve been pondering an interesting question lately that came up during a conversation with a few good friends. We all ponder what we would do if we won the lottery, and what we would do with the few days we had left if we knew they would be our last. But if you knew that today may be your last day on the earth, what wrong would you go back and correct if you could? What would you take back that has been said? Who would you make peace with? It’s and interesting subject to ponder, and yet isn’t it one we should be doing every day that we are alive? Just something to consider as you go about your day.

See you next week…Remember, we’re all in this together.