 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  We've had very little snow so far this winter. Saturday morning, January 14, brought a reminder of just how pretty a light snow can be. Just over an inch fell in the wee hours, and the countryside was beautiful at wake-up time. Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series
Iowa Hall of Pride Sam's Barber Shop Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show'' 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 Guest Columns Life at Offenburgers' Simple Serenity Farm --2003-2005 --2006-Now Our Iowa News Digest Along Our Way 
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OFFENBLOGGER
My goodness! Driving to Des Moines, I just saw someone driving a Lincoln Mark LT pick-up. A LINCOLN pick-up? Chuck O at 3/23/2010 3:31:07 PM Did 12 miles on the bicycle today, got sweaty, strained a little into a north breeze, felt great! This was on county roads around our farm in southern Greene County -- some gravel, some concrete -- since we still have a few snowdrifts on the Raccoon River Valley Trail here. Chuck O at 3/21/2010 5:29:47 PM Lots of ol' pals from the Des Moines Register & Tribune gathered last night in Philadelphia for the premiere of a play ''Red-Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins,'' written by former R&T''ers, twin sisters Allison & Margaret Engel. In the crowd: Julie Gammack, Norm Brewer, Jon Van, Steve Seplow, Nick Kotz, Michael Gartner, Dan Pedersen, Lucia Horning, Don Kaul, Ken Pinns, Lad Paul, Jim O''Shea, Jim Risser, Arnie Garson. Wish they''d all come home! Chuck O at 3/21/2010 2:27:48 PM Let's all sing along: ''So give us a yell, ho! The purple and the gold! A victory for U-N-I!'' I really think this win over Kansas is the biggest upset ever by a team from Iowa -- any sport. Chuck O at 3/20/2010 6:25:45 PM I had two thoughts for Register's Old Sportswriters on the firing of Iowa men's hoops coach Todd Lickliter: 1) I feel bad that he'll be leaving without we in media ever pointing out how much he looks like Grant Wood, and 2) if I were Gary Barta the AD, I'd put Dr. Tom Davis in charge of hiring the new coach. Chuck O at 3/17/2010 7:24:20 PM Great time today joining in on the Des Moines Register Old Sportswriters Luncheon at Hunan in West Des Moines. Attending were Buck Turnbull, Dave Stockdale, Gene Raffensperger, with Ron Maly presiding. Special guests Paul Morrison & Mike Mahon from Drake U. Settled lots of things, but we didn't get a new U of I men's basketball coach hired. Chuck O at 3/17/2010 6:22:44 PM Coyotes are back in southern Greene County IA. I've got a ball bat and Dad's old Knights of Columbus sword ready, but probably need a gun. Chuck O at 3/16/2010 8:21:35 PM By our count, Lee Hughes, the radio voice of the Iowa High School Sports Network, called 60 games in the 12 days of the girls' and boys' state basketball tournaments. MVP performance! Chuck O at 3/14/2010 7:20:20 AM Let's see here: A third major state scandal in the last 4 or 5 years breaking now in Iowa, and we've got high school and younger music students showing up at the State Capitol to protest potential cuts in their arts programs, and we've got the Iowa State Patrol telling the kids to quit playing their music in the rotunda. Oh-oh, incumbents, just oh-oh. Chuck O at 3/13/2010 9:19:01 AM The ''Hy-Vee Championship Radio Network'' is carrying all games in the Iowa boys state basketball tournament. Des Moines ''Christian station'' 940-AM is carrying the network broadcasts. Between games, they break for a quick hymn. Today's first one: ''How Great Thou Art!'' Chuck O at 3/9/2010 1:39:42 PM Third electrical outage in last 30 hours at our farm in west central IA, and in the nicest weather we've had in three months. Come on, REC, we'e cheering for you! Chuck O at 3/7/2010 9:08:04 PM Republican state chairman Matt Strawn just fired up all of us at the Greene County convention in Jefferson IA. I keep thinking Strawn should be running for governor. He is a real ''uniter.'' Chuck O at 3/9/2010 3:46:23 PM My goodness! We Greene County Republicans just voted 31-17 in favor of 12-year limits on service of federal & state reps and senators. Hmm, wonder what Chuck Grassley and Tom Latham will think of that? Chuck O at 3/6/2010 10:44:48 AM I know you've heard me say this before, but it's really true now: Saddle shoes are making a real comeback, this spring! The major fashion mags and shoemakers are all touting them! And here is how I explained it today to my readers in the KMA Advantage Club Newsletter: click here. Chuck O at 3/5/2010 2:43:17 PM That is one fine choir that Morningside College of Sioux City has on spring tour this week. They were fantastic last night (March 3) at Jefferson Methodist Church, sing at Storm Lake Methodist at 7 p.m. tonight (March 4) and at St. Phil' Lutheran in Fridley MN Saturday (March 6) at 6:15 p.m. They have 34 exceptional voices, great dynamics and varied program of classical, pop, jazz and gospel. They do gospel really, really well. Chuck O at 3/4/2010 8:41:36 AM Granted I live out here in the boonies. But am I the last person to know that new computers no longer come with standard programs loaded on them -- that you have to buy those extra and load them yourself? Sticker shock! Chuck O at 3/1/2010 3:39:53 PM Any Iowa high schools ever schedule a wrestling-basketball doubleheader? Chuck O at 1/28/2010 1:41:58 PM Why do most candidates & officials harp on wanting to ''fight'' for us? I'd prefer someone who wants to represent us & even negotiate for us. Chuck O at 1/28/2010 9:39:36 AM Great time in my ol' hometown of Shenandoah Monday night. I spoke at the annual banquet of the Shenandoah Chamber & Industry Association. I was especially flattered that nine of my SHS '65 classmates attended. Lemme brag -- Shenandoah is really on a roll! Chuck O at 1/27/2010 9:43:19 AM The new 42-room Shenandoah Inn & Suites has all three stories up and enclosed in the heart of the business district, with work now moving to the interior. I met the owners/operators Paul & Priscilla Latin on Monday night, and they're solid folks. This is an amazingly visionary and bold project for Shenandoah! Chuck O at 1/27/2010 9:42:09 AM Noticed deer running in big herds recently? Saw two big groups of them, with 15 or more deer in each, in the Guthrie Center and Bagley areas of west central Iowa this afternoon. Chuck O at 1/26/2010 5:41:20 PM What was supposed to be a nice, light snow somehow has turned into four or five inches with winds howling up to 50 miles per hour! We seem to be locked into a winter cycle the likes of which I've never seen. Chuck O at 1/25/2010 8:50:47 AM Word is we have had electrical crews from as far away as Texas and Michigan working our area in these days after the horrendous ice storm. And it was all-hands-on-deck for our local utilities. They've got most of us powered up now. Hope no one was hurt in the dangerous work they were doing at all hours of the day and night. Thanks to 'em all! Chuck O at 1/23/2010 9:49:34 PM Amazing how quiet it is outdoors now in west central Iowa. Since the ice has melted off the trees, they're no longer popping, snapping and dropping like the last three days! It's a mess around here, but worse in our neighbor counties to the west. Chuck O at 1/23/2010 8:48:21 PM We all looked a little dazed at our Republican precinct caucus in Greene County this afternoon. All of us in our precinct are from rural areas, and nearly all had been without electricity at home for two to three days. We weren't our usual debating selves. Still fun, though. Chuck O at 1/23/2010 5:47:31 PM In west central Iowa, it's raining, 35 degrees, a little windy and really ugly -- which means it's a vast improvement over the last three days! Chuck O at 1/23/2010 8:46:04 AM I'm grateful for heat and Wifi at the Jefferson Public Library this afternoon, since we've been without electricity at the farm since 9 p.m. Wednesday. Many in Greene County are without power. Branches are down everywhere. It's dangerously slick. And at 1 p.m. today, the Mahanay Bell Tower's automated carillon played ''Sunny Side of the Street.'' I loved it! Chuck O at 1/21/2010 3:24:35 PM Yikes! A quarter- to half-inch of ice on everything at the farm in west central Iowa. We were powerless when we first awoke, but it was restored (thank you Midland Cooperative, our REC) so now we're just back to being clueless. Chuck O at 1/20/2010 11:43:16 AM Could that be a great horned owl that's looking back at me from the tree top out back of our farmhouse? Chuck O at 1/19/2010 11:42:13 AM Bill Meek of Des Moines was telling me on Sunday that if you're in a room of people anywhere in Iowa, ''at least one of them will be from Greene County.'' 'Course, he's married to one. Chuck O at 1/18/2010 3:41:07 PM You can write the Offenburgers using these e-mail addresses: carla@Offenburger.com or chuck@Offenburger.com.
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