Iowa Flood Thoughts

It has been a hectic couple of weeks here at the Salmon shack. The flood of course has disrupted the normal flow of summer for most people to some extent but I would like to take a few minutes to jot down a few disjointed thoughts before it all becomes just a distant memory...

One theme that I hear time and again from the people that were hit by the floodwater's was the fact that despite the warnings they never in their wildest dreams feared that their homes would be under water. I called my aunt on Tuesday night and offered to bring over the truck and move her out but she felt sure they would be all right. She left with her dogs and literally the clothes on her back thinking they would be back in the morning. By Wednesday she had five foot of water in her living room. Of the 10-12,000 people in the flood zone, less than a thousand had to be evacuated by authorities. More proof of the 90-10 rule. Ten percent of people cause 90 percent of the problems.

I have been thoroughly impressed by the reaction of the city officials in dealing with this catastrophe. The evacuation and return to the areas has been orderly, well controlled, and organized. There of course was some grumbling by folks waiting in line at the checkpoints when they began to let residents back in but again the 90-10 rule applies. FEMA, The Red Cross, the National Guard, and the hundreds of volunteers have all been outstanding. There were no deaths in Cedar Rapids and only a few arrests. Someone did break into my cousins house and stole a generator but reports are that looting has been rare which I believe is a reflection on the people of this community.

A sense of humor is certainly needed to deal with the destruction.

As I drove down F Avenue toward the river last Wednesday I was struck by the fact that you could smell the destruction before you could see it. The stench was overwhelming in the flooded area. As we entered my aunts house I can only say that her home looked like someone filled it with mud and turned on a blender. We recovered what we could that first day but the idea that her little house could ever be repaired seemed out of the question. It was later confirmed that the house would have to be demolished.


On the bright side. The determination of the residents to get into their houses was amazing. Of course while their are those that will probably just walk away, the majority of residents were in there removing a lifetime of belongings and beginning the process of recovery. By Saturday it was nearly impossible to find a place to park with the army of friends, family, and volunteers that descended on the area to help the residents with the monumental and heart wrenching task of hauling everything you own to the curb. It is hard to descibe the feelings of sadness at the losses and the the overwhelming task of cleaning it all up while at the same time feeling pride in our neighbors for the job they were doing it trying to make it right again.




The city has made a herculean effort to remove the tons of debris to the landfill as people began to strip the walls and floors of their homes. I spent Saturday at my cousins stripping plaster and lathe and flooring and woodwork from her house as they are determined to rebuild while many of the houses around here with structural damage will surely be razed.

Sunday we were to meet FEMA at my aunts house and I took some time to drive downtown to survey the damage there. Having spent the last few days in the Ellis Blvd. area it was easy to forget the scope of the damage. As I drove down 6th St once again I came face to face with the devastation and of course the majority of the people that lost so much are the ones that have so little to begin with. Downtown looked like a war zone as an army of workers try to restore the businesses that were lost to the floodwater's.


The shear power of the river was unimaginable. The pilings that had held the railroad bridge over the river at 8th Ave. were literally rocked from their foundations by the force of the river. The amount of debris plastered to the face of all the down town bridges was equally astounding. Particularly the hundreds of blue plastic drums from the houseboats that broke free of their moorings in Ellis park boat harbor



While our little world revolves around Cedar Rapids there was of course devastation along the entire length of the Cedar River. In Charles City one of my fondest childhood memories is crossing the swinging bridge that was built across the Cedar in 1906. I took my daughter there just last month when we attended Aunt Toni's funeral so she could see where her dad used to play as a kid. Sadly, the Swinging Bridge in gone.


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THE ANTI-THESIS OF KATRINA:
The people of Iowa have suffered greatly in the past week as their rivers have over-flowed their banks, and as town after town after town has been put under historically deep, stinking, brown water.

And the people of Iowa will smile; they will shrug their shoulders; they will not complain that the government has abandoned them; the will not rush to the over-passes of highways and hold screaming press conferences decrying the Bush Administration; they will not wonder where the National Guard is, for they do not want the national guard there. They will instead shoulder their burden; wait for the waters to recede; pick up their brooms, their shovels, their hoses and buckets and rags and get to work cleaning up after the nation’s “attack.”

They will not rant; they will work. They won’t scream; they will work. They won’t call down the heavens upon the government. They will work. They won’t look to Washington, or even much toward Des Moines; rather they will look to each other and they will work.

God Bless these people, for this is America at its best. This is the Midwest where we grew up, and our friends grew up, and our (children) go to school. This is not Katrina. This is Katrina’s anti-thesis.
(Author Unknown)

The satire of Iowa Hawk "Flood Ravaged Iowans Idiotically Move On"

"So there you have it: a 500-year, gold plated, biblical grade flood, and all I have to show for it is a sore back and a basement full of soggy rental stereo equipment. This tragedy has been brought to you by a negligent government and an indifferent media. And most of all, my neighbors: 3 million stoic, self reliant, hard working morons who can't figure out a million dollar opportunity when they're waist deep in it.. And they wonder why they call us "Idiots Out Walking Around.""

Save Water. Make a Rain Barrel

UPDATE 6/15: The rain barrel project worked beyond my expectations. An early morning thunderstorm dropped about 1 inch of water on this already drenched city and the rain capturing contraption accumulated about 500 gallons of water.










Cedar Rapids citizens are being asked to reduce water usage because of the reduced capacity of the municipal water department affected by the flooding. Below is a simple and cheap water collection system that you can use to collect rainwater over the coming weeks while the city deals with this disaster.

The parts are available at Thiesens in Cedar Rapids for a minimal cost. Downspout coupler. $2.50. 3" drain pipe $.40 / foot. They will sell 3" pipe by the foot but 4" pipe is only sold by the roll.

Attach downspout and pipe to gutter and run into a suitable container. Trash can, barrel etc. We are using our daughters swimming pool. Total cost for this dual downspout system was around $20.00. To capture any gutter debris I requisitioned a pair of the wife's nylons for the end of the drain pipe. While this water is good for toilets, dishes, and washing but I probably wouldn't drink it without boiling.

The city has asked that residents should use water for drinking only and to curtail showers laundry and dish washing for the duration of the emergency.

Do your part. Save water.

Cedar Rapids Flooding

Mays Island in downtown Cedar Rapids has never been breached by the waters of the Cedar River until now. Four thousand homes have been evacuated and one of the cities two hospitals has been evacuated. The entire downtown area is underwater and the Quaker Oats, Cargill, and the Penford plants have been shut down. On Thursday one railroad bridge loaded with rail cars filled with gravel meant to help stabilize the bridge against the power of the river collapsed. All the auto bridges but the I 380 overpass are submerged. The city is under a water conservation order as workers battle to protect the one remaining city well still operating.

More Photos Courtesy of the CR Gazette

Iowa Company Produces Flatulance Containment Device

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette: (E-edition registration required)
The biggest order in the five-year history of Cedar Rapids-based Flat-D Enterprises will help employees in an anonymous Midwestern city’s public safety dispatch center breathe a little easier. The order, for more than $1,000, was for seat pads that absorb flatulence odors — enough to cover the seats of an entire department. At a retail price of $25.95 each, that’s more than 38 pads. “They got them for the whole department because it wasn’t right to point a finger at one or two people,” said Frank Morosky, Flat-D vice president and co-founder...

About 70 percent of the company’s flatulence deodorizing pads are sold to women, and most are designed to be worn inside undergarments. Morosky said the company’s newest product, the FlatM, was introduced this week to improve sales in the male market. The diamond-shaped undergarment pad is designed to accommodate the male anatomy better, Morosky said. “It’s black and manly,” Morosky said, adding that sales of the $14.95 product have started out strong. The company gets about 2,000 views per day on its Web site, http://www.flat-d.com/

I never imagined that such an important or inovative product was even available. I learn so much on the the internet. Women fart? Who Knew?

Freedom Rock 2008 Is Underway

Iowan Ray Sorenson has spent the past nine Months of May painting patriotic murals on a Rock two miles south of I 80 at Exit 86 west of Des Moines. The Memorial Day unveiling has become a local tradition in western Iowa and a tourist destination for travelers.

Pictured: The Rock 2007

See Past Rocks here.

Rays Web site.

Iowa Destinations.

Last week we hooked up the camper and spent 4 beautiful days at a little out of the way Iowa campground. Central Park is located about 10 miles off of Hwy 151 near Anamosa and is one of the nicest well maintained campgrounds we have visited in this state. It has a 25 acre lake with a beach, several playgrounds for the little ones, a nature center and several types of camping areas. From full hook ups for the motorhome set to primitive sites for the tenters. There is a "nature trail" but I found the walk around the lake much more enjoyable.

Located within the park is a preserved Bow style bridge dating from the late 1800's that was once part of the Military Road, now Highway 151, that ran from Debuque westward.

The park is also a short drive to picturesque Stone City, the area made famous in the artwork of Grant Wood.

Trouble In Iowa City.

Iowa City has a drinking problem. It seems that the cities drinking establishments have a large potential customer base that can't drink because they are below the legal age. Iowa City is of course a college town, the home of the University of Iowa. (GO Hawks!) With a student population of 29,000 there lies a largely untapped market for the local bar trade. Iowa City is now playing fast and loose with the state drinking age of 21 by allowing the underaged to hang out in the bars but they can't drink. And of course pigs can fly.
I came across this issue at Iowa blogger State 29 and I was immediately thrown into one of those deja-vu moments;

On the other hand, and this blog has stated this many times before, if legal adults at 18, 19, and 20 years of age can get married, divorced, have babies, enter into contracts, join our country's military, drive a car, fly a plane, start a business, declare bankruptcy, and go $100,000 debt on a college education, they should be able to walk into a bar and have a drink. Why are we treating them like children?

It was about 1970 at the height of a very unpopular war. Not only couldn't you drink at 18 but you could be drafted into the military and you didn't even have the power to vote the establishment bastards out of office. (Hell no we won't go). Sure you could do all those other things that State 29 mentioned but the government has a hard time regulating stupid, so in the interest of fairness the country said "We are going to eliminate these double standards."
In 1971 the 26th Amendment to the Constitution granting the right to vote at 18 was passed. By 1973 the draft was ended and states around the country began to lower the drinking age. It was time to party like it's 1969! In Iowa it was done incrementally, first lowered to 19 then the following year to 18. Although at 16 I didn't know anyone 21 that would buy us alcohol it wasn't hard to find a willing accomplice that was 19. By 17 me and most of my high school class were getting into several local bars no questions asked.
By the late seventies a trend was apparent that caused the states to rethink their decision. Teens in disproportionate numbers were killing themselves and others which resulted in the formation of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and Drunks Against Mad Mothers. It was found that drunk driving is a skill that most people two years out of drivers ed are just not prepared for. Sure, most teens are reasonably able to keep it between the ditch's, that's the easy part, but there are certain skills that can only come with maturity. Such as being able to drive with one eye closed to counter that pesky double vision thing, or maintaining control as you hurl down Highway 30 with your head hanging out of the window. But it takes years of practice before you can jump a curb and have a trooper follow you for five miles without getting arrested. All these things are best left to the professionals.
So to answer State 29's question it's because in many ways they still are children. The time between 18 and 21 should be a time of learning, an apprenticeship so to speak. A time to sneak out, tie one on occasionally, and by the time your 21 you will have at least mastered that god awful bed spinning problem and perhaps know the best way to get your dates dinner, along with several bottles of Boone's Farm, out of the cars upholstery.

Why 21?

Iowa Destinations.

Artist Ray Sorensen has spent every Memorial Day since 1999 painting a patriotic mural on what was once known as graffiti rock just outside the town of Greenfield Iowa. Each year Ray paints over the last years painting and begins anew, taking up to three weeks to complete the finished work. This year he spared the helicopters from last years painting. While painting last year a group of Vietnam Vets, making a cross country pilgrimage to the Wall in Washington DC stopped to see the rock and asked if they could leave ashes from fallen comrades at the Rock. Ray did one better. He mixed some of the ashes into the green paint and hopes to leave the images of the helicopters on the rock as long as possible.

"Freedom Rock" is located 37 miles west of Des Moines and just two miles south of Interstate 80 on Highway 25.

To see all past murals go to Ray's web site here.

Freedom Rock tribute site.

Iowa Destinations.

If you are traveling through the Hawkeye State, known affectionately as the gateway to Nebraska, take time to check out some of our states many roadside attractions. This weeks stop.....
"Is this Heaven? No this is Iowa." Dyersville, Iowa to be exact. Home of the movie location of the 1989 film "Field of Dreams" staring Kevin Costner.

True to the movies hook "Build it and they will come", nearly 50,00 travelers a year pay a visit to this out of the way Iowa destination.
It is doubtful you will see the ghosts of baseball past emerging from the surrounding cornfields but you are welcome to bring your bat, ball, and glove and play a little ball on one of the countries most famous diamonds.
The field itself straddles the property line of two adjoining farms which touched of a feud between the two neighbors and in Solomon like fashion the site is divided into the "Original Field of Dreams" Open 9AM to 6PM and the "Left and Center, Field of Dreams" Open 8AM to 8PM.

MAP HERE

Iowa Destinations.

If you are traveling through the Hawkeye State, known affectionately as the gateway to Nebraska, take time to check out some of our states many roadside attractions. As a public service we will periodically point out a few of our more interesting destinations. This week.....
Brandon. Home to the worlds biggest fry pan.
Located just off Interstate 380 between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, this eight foot steel behemoth is capable of frying 528 eggs or over 350 pounds of those delicious Iowa Chops.

Map