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Outgrowing your dream

At a monthly luncheon with a group of other aging baby boomers, a conversation with a few old friends turned to the matter of unachieved goals. Now in retirement, what life goals did we not achieve during our younger years? I quickly identified my unachieved goal: learning to fly. As a youngster I watched airplanes scoot across the sky and dreamed that someday I would be an airplane pilot. Back in my youth I had a Walter Mitty complex. I was a day dreamer and had big dreams. In the classroom I often stared out the window and dreamed about the future. These were big dreams (yet ...

Must have tools for fishing

Some fishing friends and I got into a conversation recently, and as usual, the talk turned to fishing. We talked about ice-fishing and we talked about open water fishing. We talked about techniques for fishing and we talked about favorite places to go fishing. After exhausting all those ...

Jumpstart spring indoors

Spring. Are you counting down the days? Why not bring a breath of spring indoors by forcing flowering branches. The term "forcing" in horticulture terms is a method to speed up plant growth by artificially controlling heat and light to encourage early flowering. With branches from flowering trees and shrubs, this is done by cutting branches and bringing them indoors to flower. Select healthy branches with many plump buds. Be sure to keep the form of the tree or shrub in mind when cutting, as not to disfigure the plant. Cut just above a side bud at a 45 degree angle, as not to ...

Just how cold was it?

The recent cold snap generated a lot of “I remember when it was so cold…” comments. Most of us who have been around Iowa for a while can remember periods of sub-zero temperatures and how we coped with them. My first few years were spent in Kossuth and Winnebago counties up on the Minnesota border. In fact, the year I was three-years-old we lived on the south side of a gravel road that was the Iowa-Minnesota state line. I am accustomed to Iowa’s cold winters. As a kid you kind of take winter’s wrath in stride. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I became whiney about ...

Warm sweaters and cuddly cats

Having a cat in your lap is something like putting on a sweater to chase away the chills of a frigid January like what we’re suffering through. The same could be said for a cool fall day, too. This is the time of year when my cat Maxine and her habit of quietly leaping onto my lap is welcome most of the time. She doesn’t need an invitation; all that’s required is for her to realize that I’m sitting peacefully by myself. That’s all it takes for her to settle in on my lap as soon as I get settled, too. Sometimes she’s there before I am. Yes, it can be pretty ...

Houseplant hints

During the cold winter weather, there is not much gardening to do outside. But for those with houseplants, we will take a look at the importance of water, as a variety of water quality factors should be considered. Water plays a role in transporting nutrients from the soil up through the roots to the plant foliage. Water is also responsible for a plant's ability to remain erect, as without water, plant cells will not retain turgid, will shrink and cause wilting to occur. The tiny stomata or "pores" of the foliage that open and close to allow the plant to breath or transpire will ...