The Road to Farley is Less Traveled

I took the parents on a little Saturday drive today. Neither of them had been up to Lake Delhi in years. I'm talking like 35 years, maybe, since we stopped boating in Delhi and started boating on the Mississippi. My Grandpa and Grandma Scherrman had a cottage on Lake Delhi, or Hartwick Lake as it was once called, since the early 1930s. We have lots of old photos of my grandparents, my dad, and my two aunts up at the cottage swimming and boating. It was a family tradition. Every Sunday in the summer, rain or shine, we would go to the cottage. For a number of years, we would also spend a week there. That was our version of a family vacation and the closest we ever got to camping. The cottage was pretty bare bones. It had running water (just cold -- no hot) and an indoor flushable toilet and electricity. But, that was about as far as the luxuries went. It had an old cast iron pot belly stove that you could fire up if we got a sudden cold spell in the summer and the temps dipped down...

Corn -- glorious corn. You know, it was actually corn that inspired my very first blog. 'Memba that commercial from the '70s about maize...well, actually for Mazola Margarine: You Tube: Mazola Commercial I had my first sweet corn of 2011 today...it's one of the pure joys of summer in my opinion. There is simply nothing sweeter.  Fincel's Sweet Corn - Accept No Substitutes Fincel's Sweet Corn, locally grown in East Dubuque, IL, can't be beat. It's so popular, they have their own website  and  Facebook page .  Fun facts about corn:  Although considered by many to be a vegetable, corn is actually one of the few grains native to the Western Hemisphere, where it has been cultivated for centuries. Corn is America's number one field crop. It leads all other crops in value and volume of production. In the U.S., corn production measures more than 2 times that of any other crop. Over 55% of Iowa's corn goes to foreign markets. The rest is u...

It's hard to remember that just about six months ago, it looked like this outside: I don't think the really heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while... We were all bemoaning the snow and the cold and the long dark days of winter. Mother Nature finally gives us a reprieve, and now we are all complaining of the sweltering days and the excessive heat warnings that have been in effect since last Saturday. I'm reminded of a country song that was popular when I was in my "country" phase living in Texas:  Why do we want What we know we can't have Why don't we want What's in the palm of our hands Why we always looking At what's just out of our grasp Why do we want What we know we can't have Isn't it just typical human nature? We are rarely happy with whatever weather we are experiencing. I do my share of whining about the weather, particularly when I'm out walking Bailey in temps that can swing from -30 to +105. But, ho...

As you may recall if you follow my blog, back in early May I blogged about the new slalom ski I purchased that was going to solve all my water skiing issues. Well, I'm happy to report -- thumbs up to the Pilot. Old School -- New School Here's the comparison of my "equipment." The ski on the left is what I have been using basically since I finally mastered (if you can call it that) slalom skiing about 27 years ago. It's actually my sister-in-law Janis' ski. Back in the day...it was pretty awesome. Enter the Pilot. As you can see, the Pilot gives a lot more surface area, which is what is supposed to make skiing so much easier. I think my blog on May 1 included some customer testimonials that you would "pop right up" with the Pilot. Well, I can't say that I popped right up, but I will say that the deep water start was significantly easier with the Pilot. I didn't nearly drown myself before exiting the water, and I did not displace my cont...

 On the road to Farley today, I was caught up in a Corvette Cruise. I got sandwiched in the middle of them just outside of Marion and didn't shake them until I hit Cascade.     We got a big ol' convoy...  As I drove along, I remembered that my cousin Mike once blogged about, "Will I Ever Buy a Corvette?" His blog was actually included in the Michael Dregni book celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Corvette, "This Old Corvette: The Ultimate Tribute to America's Sports Car." I think Mike's answer to the question was "yes," it was more just a matter of "when." His essay reflects on the effect the common car has on our every day lives and the lust many of us have to own a Corvette. Funny thing about passing these 20-25 corvettes -- gray hair is required! Every single driver of the Corvettes I passed had to be 60+ years old. I guess the thing about owning a Corvette is that it is a totally impractical car, and...

"Life itself is the proper binge." Great quote? Who said it? The blog title is a clue. It is a tale of inspiration, information, and execution. Flashback to November 2009. I was flying to Perth, Western Australia to visit one of my best friends. What I tell people about going to Perth is that it is far…very far. To get to Perth from Cedar Rapids, it is a total of 25.5 hours in the air. With layovers and crossing the international dateline, it takes two full days to get there. LAX – Melbourne is 15.5 hours trapped in a flying tube. Needless to say, I got caught up on a lot of movies on that trip. Enter Julie and Julia – the inspiration. This was the 2009 movie with Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell, a woman who blogged about cooking her way through Julia Child’s book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Watching that movie on my long long boring flight made me (A) hungry and (B) inspired to attempt to master French cooking myself. Befo...

It was 235 years ago today that church bells rang out over Philadelphia, as the Continental Congress adopted Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence. The opening lines read, in part: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. As I read these words, I am reminded how truly lucky we are to live in America. Certainly, America is not without its problems, but there are so many things we take for granted that thousand -- millions -- around the world have to struggle for. When I wake up each morning on my super-comfortable pillow-top mattress, I do not have to worry about walking a long distance to fetch water. I walk 10 feet and turn on a faucet from which I can drink the water without worry of contamination or parasites. Then, I turn on the shower that pulses warm water. The thought of hiking to a r...