Morelly Brankrupt
Posted in Morels on January 29th, 2007 by wapsi |
It’s that time of year again, the very last few days of January. This is the precise time of year when the dreams start. The monitering of rainfall, snow totals, daylight, etc. The light at the end of the seasonal winter tunnle is visibile and growing brighter by the day. I dont mind winter. Actually, I really enjoy it. I like the snow, the cold air, the sweaters, and even shoveling. The main reason though, that I like winter so much, is because when its over I know morels are not too far behind. I look forward to April more than I do any other month of the year.
Precipitation. Annual precipitation totaled slightly above the long-term median (1873-2005), but a little below the more recent 30-year normal (1971-2000). Unusually wet weather prevailed in March and April with frequent precipitation providing excellent soil moisture reserves yet very little flooding. This early season moisture proved to be critical as very dry weather prevailed in May, June and July. Each of these months brought record low precipitation totals to various western Iowa locations with the three month May through July period easily the driest ever in northwest Iowa (district average of 4.93 inches, 6.96 inches below normal and 0.55 inches less than previous record set in 1894).
http://www.agriculture.state.ia.us/climatology/weathersum2006.htm
My first morel came on April 17th last year. After that day, the floodgates were open all the way into May. I was hunting around Des Moines and I believe the first morel I found was at Walnut Ridge in the Saylorville area. Last year, from my experience - was pretty outstanding. Come to think of it, the last 4 or so years have been pretty good. I haven’t been totally disappointed in a long time by morel harvests.
Browns Woods April 19th 06
I am a little apprehensive about my upcoming season. I am usually, other than the unknown in what the weather will do, very confident about the guarantee that plenty of morels will be found. I hunt areas that produce morels year after year, usually get lucky with new spots, tag along with friends on ‘their spots’ whenever I am invited(and sometimes when I’m not), and always am very happy at the end of the season with the amount of morels I find, annually. But this year I am in a completely different location. We moved to Eastern Iowa in November. Yeah, back to the old drawing board for morel spots. Around central Iowa, I had plenty to chose from. Early spots, public spots, secret spots, late fruiting spots.. you name it, I knew where to look. It is a different story over here in the hills of eastern Iowa. Spots, I have not. Curiously though, our yard backs up to some ‘in town’ timber. It is a very small wooded lot. Maybe 3 acres. It isn’t officially my property. Plenty of dead and dying elms down there so I am hoping we find something there. My awesome neighbor, the owner of this wooded area, could care less about morels and could care even less if we hunted and picked them. I checked with him straight away and he was really nice about it.
“Oh yeah, I see them in the yard, I just mow them over….” “I’ve been clearing this back lot out for a long time. You should have seen it before, lots of dead elms and overgrowth”
When I heard him say that I couldn’t believe my ears. Some people in this world, just do not know the value of a fresh morel. Like little golden treasures on the forest floor. Don’t mow your morels. Please. To my neighbor’s credit - the back yard looks amazing. Like our own little county park. He has worked really hard over the last decade to make it a very nice wooded, but mowable lot. Our property backs right up to it, so it’s very nice aesthetically and also that he has been so kind to let us use it as it was an extension of our own yard.
Browns Woods April 06
But this really is the time of year where my focus starts to wander to the woods. Always looking for dying elms and thinking about morels. I have always dreamed about morels that would grow within a stones throw of my residence. It would be nice to actually monitor/nurture/water? them for a few days before greedily snatching them from the ground. There is plenty of public land around here for hunting. Obviously no one is going to step up and tell me where to look. People just do not do that with morels. I have to go out and find them on my own. That is really the beauty of the whole thing. Also, what a great feeling when you find a place you know is yours and yours alone.
Extra! Extra!Barack Obama is a human being:
Posted in politics on January 25th, 2007 by wapsi |
Let me start of off by saying how fascinated I am with Barack Obama, and I’m not really sure why. Maybe its because we have been so charisma starved the last couple terms. I’m ready for a new president. I don’t mean just a new suit - I mean a whole new approach. If I see one more white haired, careful speaking, wishy-washy, manufactured president - I think I’ll puke blood. Where is our Roosevelt? Our Kennedy? Our Lincoln? The political climate doesn’t make room for these forward thinkers anymore. The spotlight of the media is enough to make these guys so rehearsed - we get the same exact version every time. Coke & Pepsi. It’s like choosing between soft drinks. I prefer Pepsi, but I will settle for coke. Sure.
Where is our turn around guy? The problem is that all of these guys went to the same school, they were raised in the same neighborhoods, they have the same upbringing and they mostly took the same course to get to where they are now. Cookie cutters.
I’ve heard and read quite a bit lately about Senator Obama’s smoking habit. I have heard it refereed to as his “dirty little secret”. Please. This can’t be real can it? Are people in this country really that afraid of tobacco? Look, I know it’s a dirty habit. It’s downright awful. But it suggests absolutely nothing about leadership skills. One could reasonably make the assumption that smokers have an addictive personality, they may be a bit compulsive, and have bad breath, but how can smoking lessen the promising leadership of a presidential candidate? Look at our current situation. President Bush has allegedly been sober for how many years - are we better off because of this? I read that Obama admitted to smoking 3 Marlboros a day. This is hardly a serious habit. Trust me. Why are we not more concerned with foreign policy? Domestic issues? Health-care? Finance reform? Public Education? 3 Smokey treats a day?? Are you kidding me?? Have we become that afraid of our own shadows?
I’ve also read some stuff about his past cocaine use. In my opinion, this is almost just as absurd as the cigarette smoking. I’m sure to someone who has never really been around the block and really partied hard - this must sound as awful as microwaving kittens. Let me tell you, a little blow never hurt anyone….okay - maybe it has, but they had a pre-existing condition. 99% of people that casually try cocaine one or two times go on to live completely normal lives, and sometimes they even become the President of the United States. In fact, after I heard that he had tried cocaine, and openly admitted to it without trying to hide it - I liked the guy even more. Hes honest, upfront about his past and has nothing to hide. Plus, when you’ve done drugs on a moderate level - you see things differently and little more for what they really are and at this point in our nations history - I welcome that different vantage point.
One thing I will guarantee… you will never ever see Barack Obama smoking cigarettes in photo, person or video. If he makes it to the Whitehouse, he will have kicked the measly (laughable) 3 smoke per day habit anyway. If I smoked 3 cigarettes a day, I wouldn’t even feel right about calling myself a smoker.
He’s got charisma and my support.
I’m New Here
Posted in personal on January 24th, 2007 by wapsi |
No really, I am.
Im new to the Wapsi Valley and Eastern Iowa.
I’m also new to blogging. I’ve just gotten my feet wet.
Some Background
I am a nearing 30 web designer/developer. I live in a sleepy eastern Iowa town with my wife and two children. After years of renting, towards late summer, we decided it was time to become home owners. We looked around a little bit in the Capital City of Des Moines and didn’t really find what we were looking for. We had always talked about living in the country, but thought that was out of the question. We finally found a place we liked in The Great Jones County. We aren’t quite in the middle of the country, but pretty darn close. We saw this house and fell in love with it. The first few months in the new place have been great. We are really taking our time getting used to our new surroundings, and with the winter months - it has been pretty uneventful. I really wanted to give a small town another try. I grew up in a tiny little town of 800 people and the place we are in now is considerably larger(8000). It’s important to me that my kids have the chance to be kids. I remember as a child, getting on my bike at 8am and not coming home until the six o’clock whistle blew. It seems those days are long gone for children, and thats a shame. I want my kids to be able to be kids. I think in a small town - the opportunity to be a kid increases greatly.
Where is this going?
I have no idea. I’ve had an itch to blog for a long time and I finally just bit the bullet and went for it. I know, you are supposed to have a plan, a goal, a niche topic. I do not have a niche topic. I have lots of interests from family, music, to DIY stuff to morel hunting and web design/development. This will be a combination of all of these things. everything neatly catagorized, of course.
