Along Our Way Randy Bunkers, co-owner with his wife Phyllis of the Bunkers Dunkers Bakery on the east side of the courthouse square in our county seat town of Jefferson, has just turned 60 years old. On Saturday, January 14, the Bunkerses celebrated with free ''donut holes'' – the little balls punched out of their famous glazed donuts – and free coffee for much of the morning, and the place was packed. Everybody was telling their favorite ''Bunkers Dunkers'' stories. [FOR A STORY & THE PHOTOS IN IN LARGER FORMAT, CLICK HERE.] A conversation LIVING WITH CANCER with the Offenburgers Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins follicular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, had six months of chemotherapy & started a maintenance program. Carla Offenburger underwent surgery on April 26, 2010, for removal of a jaw tumor which was found to contain adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. She underwent six weeks of follow-up radiation in June and July, 2010. Since then she has returned to good health, but she continues to have close medical observation. Two days after Carla finished radiation, Chuck noticed a pain in his left hip, and within days, a small mass near his tailbone was diagnosed as more aggressive large-cell lymphoma. In the fall of 2010, he underwent intensive chemotherapy, and had a stem cells transplant in November, with follow-up radiation in January, 2011. Since then he's been doing well, too, but continues to have regular check-ups. We post updates frequently here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers. “Chuck, in the past year, I’ve seen you with long hair, no hair and now this short hair. This is best.” FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE. 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 Chuck Offenburger's latest book on sports legend Gary Thompson ''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. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS Our Partners & Patrons 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	For newspaper and magazine editors Want to reprint one of Chuck Offenburger�s columns, or other columns and photos appearing on this site? Newspaper and magazine editors often ask if they can reprint the columns I've written on this Internet site. The answer is ''yes,'' if you get my permission first, pay a modest reprint fee, include an editor�s note mentioning that this story is featured with other current work of mine at http://www.offenburger.com on the Internet, and promptly send me a tear sheet of the piece after it appears in your publication. Fees: If your circulation is below 10,000 subscribers: $25 per column If your circulation is above 10,000 subscribers: $100 per column Other work of mine on this Internet site -- including the biography of Bill Krause, the history of the Wolfe Clinic and the 1998 columns from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald -- cannot be reprinted or excerpted. Small quoted passages can be used from those, at no charge, if proper attribution is given. Christie Vilsack's columns appearing here can also be reprinted, for a fee of $100 and with mandatory attribution that they appeared first on this Internet site. Chuck Offenburger handles the arrangements for reprinting her work. Guest columns appearing on this site belong to the authors, and you must contact them individually if you want to reprint. Generally, you will see their e-mail addresses at the conclusion of their stories. Photos by Don Poggensee appearing here can also be reprinted, with Don himself handling those arrangements, but there must also be attribution that the photos have appeared on this Internet site. You can contact Don by e-mail at donpog@netllc.net Inquiries and payment can be directed to me at: Chuck Offenburger 1516 310th Street Jefferson, Iowa 50129 (515) 386-5488 chuck@offenburger.com Thanks for considering!