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."

Well our summer is slowly fading away although it probably is a welcomed relief after this past week of high humidity and warm temperatures. Since we really weren’t paying attention how about we play with a few random thoughts?

1. I know I’ve said this before, but I can do cold I just can’t stand high heat. I’d sure just like a mid-70s with a nice breeze kind of climate.

2. I had been proclaiming the complete genius of the product development crew with our friends at the Oreo division of Nabisco. I had been extremely excited about Birthday Cake Oreos and although the Lemon Oreo were a close second in my favorite cookie this past weekend while I was stumbling through Fareway in Polk City. Root Beer Float Oreos. Game over.

3. We are rolling into the big Labor Day weekend which means the start of college football and Dexter’s Fall Festival which lands there because of an oddity with the calendar. Be sure to grab the kids and come over for the parade on Saturday.

4. Just a reminder that the kids are back in school and that means we have a new group of drivers on the road. Give them a little extra space and eventually they will settle down I’m sure.

5. If you visited the State Fair what did you think of the experience? I spent a couple days there this year as I always do, but for some reason something was missing. Oh, I had a corn dog and all the usual food and saw the usual things, but it just seemed like something just wasn’t there. I’ve often thought that there are a couple of places on the grounds that should be just left as green space (wouldn’t it be nice if there was a shady spot with benches and grass that people could stop and rest at?)

6. Speaking of the Fair, I did run into a few Earlhamites while watching the mutton busting contest. It was good to see smiling faces and to hear nice things about this column. I also promised not to make any comments about the proper way to eat a Gyro.

7. I had been a complete rock star this year with my ability to grow cucumbers in my garden. I didn’t plant as many tomatoes as usual and for some reason they just weren’t doing what I had hoped they would. After a little tender care, some soothing talk and a good dose of fertilizer those little plants were loaded waiting to turn. The hail storm last Wednesday morning took care of that, and a giant maple tree straight north of my house. Anyone need some fire wood?

8. That old maple tree had been home to a den of raccoons for years now. Clear down inside the rotted out stump was a brick. I’m not going to guess how it got there. It has also started making me look at the rest of the mature trees around the house. I wonder if maybe it’s not start time to think about taking some of them down before they blow into the house, although I hate to lose the shade.

9. Reading through some one hundred year old newspapers really has been interesting to see just how much people depended on word of mouth to get stories and news around a community. Long before the advent of the internet or flashing message boards and just at the start of radio communication it was the local paper that shared much of the information that was available, even if it tended to lean close to gossip and rumor. Funny in a way that a century later some news still boarders on that.

10. Finally this week I’m not sure which is worse in the house. One of those fruit flies that you can’t get to leave you alone or the cricket who is hiding in some corner just squeaking away all day. Both of them are getting a dose of bug bomb tomorrow.

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