It has happened... we are now done with medical doctor appointments. Last one was today with my cardiologist on my birthday.
And the best part is we did good.  My glass is always half empty so I'm always looking for things to go wrong, but when they go well it makes it just that much better. I never in a million years would have thought we would get the results we did. Our labs were good to great and will tweek the meds a bit to make them even better.  My A1C of 6.3 was the best it has been in years. Cholesterol readings made our Drs. smile in disbelief. To be sure the labs were good because we (I) take a pile of pills to make them that way. The result of modern medician without which most of us would be not be walking around and living the good life. So now the goal is to get in better shape so we can dump some of the meds. One can plan and hope can't one. 
I've already got a treadmill set up at our new winter location in AZ. Now to use it. Might go and splash in the pool first and after. 

Now we can get our minds around the trip planning... to pack a 26 foot U-Haul truck full of stuff... and drive it back to our winter home in Arizona. But for tonight a good steak with aspargus is planned... (it's my 64th birthday) and yes we did splurge a bit and got a Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing. We'll save you a piece. 

Tuesday July 19

Yes we are still in 'IOWA where the tall corn grows'.

Or the state road signs that tout 'Iowa a place to grow' and at this time of year heat and humidity makes that happen. It may be good for corn but not for us humans.  It is running in some places a heat index of around 120. To be sure this is not dry heat and it sucks. All this is good for is the sucking sound of money going to electric companies to pay for A/C.  The condensation water discharge from our 5er A/C is turning green with algae before it can make all the way to the ground.  You think I'm kidding. 

People around here wait all winter so they can get out and go camping... You would think now would be the best time... but would you go camp in a pop up or tent in a non electric site in this heat?  Iowa has three seasons... months of winter, tropical summer, and a couple of days in the fall with nice weather for everything else.  I can speak as I grew up here on a farm without A/C so many yers ago. I think my blood boiled and I never go over it. Nobody had air back then. I do remember trying to sleep in the heat... yes it is still a vision in my mind now that I think about it.   Might be why now I still like a fan blowing on me while sleeping.  But we didn't know it could be any better so just liveid with it as it was at that time the norm. You know as they say it builds character... Growing up on a farm in IA and coming of age in the 50s and 60s just felt normal. There wasn't cable or satellite TV to tell us differently.   Not so today...  Every idea and thought is on the web and I'm a junky of it all... making up for lost time... me thinks. I did have a Heathkit shortwave radio back then trying to stay connected to the world. Heaithkit (check out the link to the past)... did you build Heathkits? Cutting age stuff... back then.. Now don't date yourself.

But I digress... It might be the heat... or just an old fart doing a post with drink in hand. 

But Here and Now I might be a bit biased due to the current... can't go outside... on this not a leaf moving hot and muggy day. Open the trailer door and get hit with a blast furnace. If our A/C quits just come and pick up the ashes and scatter them... 

Now you thought that was bad.. but it gets worse... even FREDs can't handle this heat. (You do know what a FRED is?) as in F...ing Ridiculous Electronic Device).  Our DataStorm internet system is acting up. It is quiting in the afternnoon. After posting for help on the dstastormusers forum I got the point that my dish LNB up on the roof may be OVERHEATING.  It made sense since when we sprayed water on it... the signal SQ would come back up and get us back online. 

Terry got up top and looked at the feedhorn which was good but with the case open it makes it easer to spray water to cool it down.

Lots of FRED stuff under the case. 

I'm working with contacts on the web to get replacement parts for our satellite system. All who have been very helpful.
Just agreed to get a new LNB (the unit on the right with the red label on it for only $89. 

So there you have it us stuck in IOWA watching the corn and beans grow trying to stay cool. We have a place at Terry's sisters with full hookups. And yes it does take a bit of maneuvering to get backed into this spot. 

Why are we still here... waiting for more Dr. apointments (had to reschedule some as we were late getting back from AZ) and getting stuff stored here lined up so to transport back down to AZ in a big 20 ft. U-Haul truck we are going to rent.  That should be a whole nother adventure.  Stay tuned... Years ago we once saw a big U-Haul truck in Nebraska broken down with the drive shaft hanging down on the road blocking traffic. Not cool. I'm knocking on wood as I type.

Oh and by the way it is MUCH cooler in AZ in the Tucson... Benson area than here and they are getting monsoon rain. We love following along with the Kova TV local AZ radar seeing when we are getting rain on our winter location.  So far they are getting much more rain and storms than what we expected would happen down there. We wish we were there right now. Or sort of... we will be back soon. Life moves on and so are we. 

Wednesday July 6

We have landed in eastern Iowa in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area just north of Newhall at Terry's family farm. 

 We are nestled in between some corn grain bins.  They are full so good protection from possible storms, me thinks. Need to get the weed eater out and clean up our patio area. The rest of the area is mowed nice as it was done after we got here. No desert sand burs here. But you have to watch out for cow pies. There is a old one right out our door step. Might still be juicy under the crust. 
Ya always need to be careful out there. We are happy to be here in this sea of green. Taking it all in so we will remember it all when back in dry and brown AZ.

To you techie people notice the Datastorm dish on top of the 5er got a good sig up over the grain bins. YA. 
And did I say it is rather warm and humid here in Iowa... like all over, I guess. But to combat that right here on the grain bin is the ideal weather buster a 30 amp RV outlet... Just what a A/C hungry RVer needs. 

This RV plug was installed just for our use last year by Terry and his brother who is farming the family century farm 
while still working fulltime for the USDA.
To get here we took US30 the original Lincoln Highway across eastern Iowa. 

An old rural gas station of years past. Nothing much here now but this place called Youngville.

On the 4th we went for a day trip to Cedar Rapids.  Below a shot of the city government on the Island of the Cedar river. You may remember a couple of years ago when this river flooded and pretty much wiped out this downtown. In the picture below it went several feet above the bridges. Can you imagine. During the Iowa flood of 2008, the Cedar River reached a record high of 31.12 feet  on June 13, 2008, the previous record was 20 feet. 1,126 city blocks were flooded, or more than 10 square miles, 561 city blocks were severely damaged, on both banks of the Cedar River, including the City Hall, Central Fire Station, Main Public Library, Ground Transportation Center, Public Works building, and Animal Control building. It is estimated 1300 or more properties are to be demolished in the Cedar Rapids area because of the flood.

Here they were getting ready for their Freedom Event on the river bank and bridges. 

South of Cedar Rapids is the town of Solon, with also a nice drive around a state lake and a COE lake park. 
We like to check out the weekend campers to see how the working folk are doing on a holiday. 

We had in our day trip planned to stop for a Tenderloin sandwich.  I knew this place was rated for one of the best... 
(A little research on the web helps). We had not been here before...  glad we did.

This is a picture from wikipedia.org and was taken at the very same Joensy's restaurant where we ate in Solon, Iowa. I didn't take a camera inside... but it looked just like this one to be sure. HUGE  As we were eating a food (meat) company came in the front door with a many more crates of tenderloins and headed to the kitchen. Now this was on Monday the 4th of July mind you and they were doing a large delivery. That tells you just how busy this place was. The restaurant is pretty much a dive but they do put out the sandwich of choice. I had to cut off the sides and take it home in a doggie bag. About all I think I want is one of these a year.  Or untill next time. They do offer a smaller one and that would be a better choice. 

Later we drive through the Czech Village in south Cedar Rapids.

See the bridge below at the end of the street... that's why this area flooded so bad back in 2008. It is right on the rivers edge.

You know about St. Patrick's Day with green beer... well the Czech have St. Joseph's Day and is celebrated around the same time in March every year. I remember going to this street and downing red beer at their event which is only a couple of days after the Irish celebration. They held some big street parties down this street. And still do I trust. 

This area was flooded up to the rafters and is being restored along with the world famous
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

It is being raised 11 feet to a new foundation. 

I lived in Cedar Rapids for 20 years. Those were the best of times as are every day now. Every day is a great day as you get older if you are feeling good and if aches and pains are at bay. We like to just drive around the city and see how things have changed. I have been gone for several years as I got job transfered out of town to Des Moines back in 1993 if my mind can remember back that far. Have no desire to live here again but nice to visit once a year. The main reason is Terry wants to visit his parents who are in their mid 80s. They are doing well but we all are not getting younger so time with loved ones is so very important.  Life is good carry on...
 
 
 
 

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