 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  Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat! Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series 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 RELATED LINKS About Offenburger.com Biographies Want to Reprint? Want Updates? ARCHIVES Chuck Offenburger's columns Christie Vilsack's columns Carla Offenburger's columns Carla's book reviews Jared Strong's columns Guest Columns The Simple Serenity Farm columns Farm Photos, 2006 - 2008 Our Iowa News Digest Along Our Way 
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 We see London! We see France! And what-ho! We see Governor Richardson’s underpants! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 5, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA What happened here Sunday evening was another demonstration, a somewhat startling one actually, of how our Iowa Political Caucuses allow us to get up close and personal with the nation’s presidential candidates.  So Richardson came sauntering out to meet the big crowd Sunday evening wearing blue jeans that appeared to be a little too snug around the waist, a black turtleneck shirt with long sleeves and a black down-filled vest that was sleeveless. He gave a tremendous 45-minute speech, but the more he started lifting his arms, putting his hands behind his head and sticking his hands in his jeans’ front pockets, well, those of us on the east side of the front few rows couldn’t help but notice that the zipper on the fly of those jeans was creeping downward. My wife Carla Offenburger, who is very good at spotting flaws in men, if you know what I mean, turned to me and whispered, “I think you should be telling him that he needs to zip up his pants!” I had a two-word answer: “Not me.” Richardson started taking questions from the audience, became even more animated and soon that zipper had slipped down a good four or five inches. Then we could see white underpants – thank God. Jerry Roberts, an active Democrat who is on the Greene County Board of Supervisors, was sitting on the other side of Carla and whispered to her, “Does he realize that he’s been speaking the last 45 minutes with his zipper open?” Carla told Roberts, “Don’t say anything more! I already am so nervous about this I can’t watch anymore!” I heard both of them giggling to my left, and managed to squelch a laugh myself since I pretty well knew what they were talking about. Carla spent the rest of Richardson’s presentation, leaning forward, elbows on her knees, looking at the floor. When it was all over, 90 minutes after he’d started, Richardson came right toward our front rows of people to shake hands. Neither Roberts, who had a copy of Richardson’s book and got an autograph on it, nor I said anything to Richardson about his wardrobe malfunction, at least right then.  Governor Bill Richardson gets ready to sign a copy of his book for Jerry Roberts, a member of the Greene County Board of Supervisors and an active Democrat. Carla, however, cut to the quick. She shook Richardson’s hand, grabbed him by the arm, leaned up and whispered in his ear, “Governor, your pants are coming unzipped!” I can only imagine how he must have felt at that moment. But he somehow stayed composed and said, “They are?” He then began moving on down the line of people. Roberts said he subsequently sidled up to a member of Richardson’s staff. “I told this guy, ‘You better tell the governor to turn his back and zip up his pants,’ ” Roberts said. “The staff guy said, ‘Oh, no! It’s those jeans!’ like they have a bad zipper or something.” Carla said she debated momentarily what words to use to tell Richardson about his predicament. “I thought about using the old line, ‘You better check the barn door before the cow gets out,’ ” she said. “But he’s from New Mexico. I wasn’t sure he’d know what I was talking about. Do you suppose they use that expression down there?” Now, as a man who has done a good deal of public speaking, I must admit that this same thing has happened to me once. I’m just grateful there was a podium between me and the audience that morning when I spoke to the faculty of the Fairfield Community Schools as they were having a planning day at the start of a new school year. And I’ve never forgotten what Fairfield Superintendent of Schools John Kelley said to me, first thing, when he came up afterward to thank me for my speech. “X-Y-Z,” Kelley said softly, “and P-D-Q!” I about fainted. As calm as Governor Richardson stayed Sunday evening when he got the word, well, he’s a better man than I am. Come to think of it, this incident may be another recommendation for his candidacy – stays cool in a crisis.  When the crowd was assembling in the third-story courtroom of the Greene County Courthouse for Governor Bill Richardson's presidential campaign event late Sunday afternoon, they passed the gorgeous stained glass dome in the rotunda. You can reach the columnist by e-mail at chuck@Offenburger.com.
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