Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

The third annual membership banquet of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association was a huge success Saturday night, February 20, at the Panorama National Conference Center. About 200 people attended. Auctions and a few cash donations helped raise $10,604 to help market and promote the RRVT, the paved rec trail in west central Iowa that's in the midst of an expansion, 56 to 89 miles.
[TO READ THE STORY, AND TO SEE THESE AND OTHER PHOTOS IN LARGER FORMAT, CLICK HERE]

A conversation

COPING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins, follilcular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, and is undergoing treatment. We post updates weekly here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

''The Lord will overshadow you, and you will find refuge under his wings.''

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

Our Partners & Patrons
Iowa Hall of Pride
netINS, Inc.
Butler House on Grand B&B
Sam's Barber Shop
Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney
KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show''
Barack Obama story & coloring book
The Monks of New Melleray Abbey

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

After the toughest, snowiest winter that either of us can remember, we have now reached the point in early February where snow is stacked everywhere. Piles are six or seven feet high. The dogs can drop full-body into snowdrifts if they're not moving fast enough. Some drifts are five or six feet tall, and 30 or 40 feet long. Whew!
Click here for larger format

Earlier photos in this series

POGGENSEE'S POSTCARDS

Here is the final group of
Don Poggensee's photos from
his recent expedition to
Yellowstone National Park
Pictures by Iowa photographer Don Poggensee

COMING UP IN IOWA

We recommend the following, if you want to experience this state at its best!

March 8-13: High school boys state basketball tournament, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines. Details, click here.

April 7: Play ball! Baseball returns to Principal Park in Des Moines, with Iowa Cubs playing Iowa Hawkeyes in an exhibition, 6:35 p.m. I-Cubs regular season starts at home April 8. Details, click here.

April 13: Iowa Jazz Championships in Des Moines. The state's 60 best high school jazz bands in a day-long competition, with the finalists performing at night. Details, click here.

THE CONTINUOUS
IOWA CAUCUS

It's time for us to start thinking about the race for Iowa governor from another angle. Which of the candidates' families would be the most fun to have in Terrace Hill -- and remember, the standard here is fun for the rest of us as we watch them?

[SEE PAST RESULTS]

*Out in Greene County, Iowa*
The “Grand Junction news” won’t be the same, after passing of correspondent Verna Mae Wise By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 10, 2010 COOPER, IOWA For 49 years, she wrote the small community’s social news for our county seat newspaper, the Jefferson Herald. Her last column came out on the day she died last week. Many will remember her for making a white poodle, Muffin, the most famous dog in the county. Many more of us don’t quite know yet how we’ll keep up to date with the news of the Wise family, whom Verna Mae has introduced us to in her columns through the years. She had an extremely loyal following. Says one of her most devoted fans, “In a way, she was the Garrison Keillor of Greene County.” [READ MORE]

*My View from the Porch*
She sees same-sex marriage as a civil right & allowing a popular vote on it would be wrong By CARLA OFFENBURGER March 7, 2010 COOPER, IOWA Our columnist is answering the current Guest Column by Andy Upah on this Internet site, about one of the most contentious public issues of our time. Carla Offenburger’s argument supports the Iowa Supreme court’s decision: Giving gays and lesbians the right to marry – and thus opening up for them the legal benefits and protections that our laws give married couples – is a basic civil right. And we’ve never allowed a popular vote on whether some group’s civil rights should be removed. [READ MORE]

*What's Carla Reading?*
''The Help,'' a first novel by Kathryn Sockett, has quickly become No. 1 on the Best Sellers list By CARLA OFFENBURGER February 6, 2010 COOPER, IOWA Sockett, a native of Jackson, Mississippi, uses her hometown as the setting for a story in the 1960s. A group of women, friends since their Ole Miss years, are now married, mothers of young children and society leaders. They essentially turn their kids over to ''the help'' -- black maids -- to raise them. One of the friends, unmarried, becomes an advice columnist for the local newspaper. She starts consulting some of the maids about how they do various tasks, and that gives the columnist disturbing insights about the lives of ''the help.'' There's trouble. [READ MORE]

*Guest Columns*
		He wants just one thing from the legislature: Let us vote on the same-sex marriage issue
By ANDY UPAH February 25, 2010 WEST DES MOINES, IOWA This young Iowan comes to this matter as a Catholic who studies scripture. He sees homosexuality as a sin, and contends that state government has no jurisdiction for re-defining marriage. His is a conservative view, one he knows many in his own generation do not share. But he feels confident that Iowans, if given a chance to vote, would reject gay marriage. [READ MORE]

*OFFENBLOGGER*
Our perhaps peculiar views of the happenings around us GAMES ARE GREAT, AND SO'S HE! - Chuck O at 3/9/2010 1:39:42 PM ''LIGHTS OUT'' COUNTRY LIVING! - Chuck O at 3/7/2010 9:08:04 PM HE'S A REPUBLICAN TO WATCH - Chuck O at 3/9/2010 3:46:23 PM WE ORNERY LOCAL REPUBLICANS! - Chuck O at 3/6/2010 10:44:48 AM SADDLE SHOES ARE HOT FASHION! - Chuck O at 3/5/2010 2:43:17 PM MINI-REVIEW ON MORNINGSIDE CHOIR - Chuck O at 3/4/2010 8:41:36 AM TO READ MORE, CLICK ON THIS LINK

Say what?
Our letters-to-the-editor: Reactions to what you've read here
at Offenburger.com & elsewhere, and a place to tell us what
else is on your mind.

“I am a 1980 Morningside graduate, and yes, there is, or was, a fight song, called 'Men of the M.'”

Messages are posted now from Rev. Dale Schoening... Althea Eickhoff... Luann Waldo... Ronn King... Paul Stigers...
[CLICK HERE TO READ THEM]

Featured Partner & Patron

The Monks of New Melleray Abbey & their new Trappist Caskets

The best spot in the whole state of Iowa.

6500 Melleray Circle
Peosta, Iowa 52068
(563) 588-2319
melleray@mwci.net
www.newmelleray.org
www.trappistcaskets.com

It’s been nearly 30 years ago since Chuck Offenburger first wandered into New Melleray Abbey, a 160-year-old Catholic monastery 12 miles southwest of Dubuque. He struck up a friendship with one of the Trappist monks, Father Jim O’Connor, and they’ve been in regular contact ever since.

When Offenburger compiled his “Top 12 Spots in Iowa” for the Des Moines Register and The Iowan Magazine, listing the places people should visit to really experience the state, he ranked the abbey as No. 1 – not only for its serene beauty but also for its abundant spirituality and role in Iowa’s early history. Family, friends and college classes have followed Chuck and Carla Offenburger in for visits. “We’ve sent people of all faiths, and people of no faith, to New Melleray and every one of them has come away feeling there’s something very profound and moving about it,” Chuck has written.

You can arrange stays in the Guest House. The monks observe seven prayer times daily, beginning at 3:30 a.m. and ending about 8 p.m. Visitors are free to set their own schedules. Many people do retreats there. Some just read, pray and meditate. Others ask for spiritual guidance from one of the priests or brothers.

The monks, who’ve always been farmers, have now started making “honest wooden caskets” for those who are concerned about the opulence and costs of typical funerals today. Prices range from the $575 plain pine box to the $1,385 “premium” walnut shaped casket. The wood comes from the New Melleray forest, the logs are milled into boards in the abbey’s sawmill and the monks build the caskets in their woodshop. “Our Trappist philosophy towards labor calls for us to work quietly with our hands while applying simple integrity to our workmanship,” their brochure explains. You can also buy their wood cremation urns, as well as various-sized stools, benches and kneelers, beginning at $40.

Needless to say, Chuck Offenburger has already reserved his own Trappist Casket, although he hopes not to use it soon.

Brother Felix Leja, who heads New Melleray’s new Trappist Caskets venture, and the monastery’s Abbot, Father Brendan Freeman, with one of the monks’ fine pieces of work.