Swimming around Des Moines 2009

Lookin’ for a place to swim? You have lots of choices: indoors; outdoors; chlorinated and not. If you have never heard The Swimming Song, check out this YouTube video with Loudon Wainwright III (who wrote the music and lyrics). My favorite version is the somewhat quicker version by Kate McGarrigle.

Here’s a pretty good list of municipal pools, or in the words of The Swimming Song,

salt my wounds, chlorined my eyes
I’m a self-destructive fool, a self-destructive fool

• Altoona
• Ankeny
• Carlisle
• Clive
• Des Moines (Ashworth Pool, Birdland Pool, Nahas Aquatic Center, Northwest Aquatic Center, Teachout Aquatic Center)
• Indianola
• Urbandale
• Waukee YMCA
• West Des Moines Holiday Park Aquatic Center
• West Des Moines Valley View Aquatic Center and
• White Water University in Pleasant Hill

Maybe you would rather be in some of the natural waters. There are several. You can check the water quality (bacteria) in some through Iowa DNR but not Saylorville. Water quality seems to be better this summer than last.

• Big Creek State Park
• Lake Ahquabi just outside Indianola
• Saylorville Lake

photos by flickr by Northfield.org and peasap

Des Moines and San Francisco: a subjective view

Last month I visited family in the Bay Area of California – plenty of time to see some differences between Polk County in Central Iowa and San Mateo County just south of San Francisco. In the earlier post, more objective, quantifiable data were compared.

While some of the differences can be easily compared, it is harder to quantify other differences, such as

• food, gardening
• travel, commuting
• baseball, activities
• stress

Grocery shopping? California may have a big edge here.

• CA has New Leaf, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s, natural food stores where you can get everything you need; while the prices are a little higher on some items (especially the meat), the produce is ripe and fresh – likely because it doesn’t travel far.
• The only places like that in IA are the farmers’ markets: Des Moines Farmer’s Market, and other local markets; Iowa City’s New Pioneer Food Coop; Ames’ Wheatsfield Grocery. In contrast to CA, Des Moines-based New City Market and Campbell’s Nutrition are quite small by comparison.
• When it comes to the commercial chains (except for the produce) IA’s Hy-Vee and Dahl’s compare favorably with Safeway in CA.

Home gardening? This will get your attention! There is a wait of 4 to 7 years to get a 100 sq ft garden plot in the Fort Mason Community Garden. That is a plot about the size of a very small bedroom. We’ve had picnics at Fort Mason more than once, and it is a beautiful spot as you can see on the right; but it’s easier to find a spot to garden in Iowa.

Food, in general? My impression is that

• Iowa wins on beef and pork
• California wins on fruits and vegetables

Driving? I find it easier to drive in the Bay Area, but enough said about that.

Cars? This is a strange experience. I drove my sister’s hot rod Lincoln for 4 weeks, and you wouldn’t believe what I have seen and have not seen.

• I saw only ten 2009 Chevrolet Impalas in 20 days
• instead? Toyota, Mercedes, Lexus, Hyundai, BMW, Acura, Honda, Volvo and a few Ford cars and Chevy trucks

Public Transit? The Purple Wren and I stayed in a coastal California community about the size of Grinnell, Iowa and took lots of public transit too.

• twice to San Francisco and back (SamTrans bus and CalTrain)
• once to Oakland and part way back (walked a block to SamTrans buses then BART right to the Coliseum)
• around San Francisco (Muni)

Baseball? Definitely a lot of winners here! Whether you live in the Bay Area or Des Moines, you can see good professional baseball: San Francisco Giants; Oakland A’s; Iowa Cubs. I saw the A’s and the Tigers and my favorite Tiger Curtis Granderson (shown left), but the best part was spending the afternoon with my nephew John who rode BART from Berkeley. We had great seats, but you know, it’s hard to beat an afternoon in Principal Park right here in Des Moines!

Activities? There is more to do in both places than I can ever get to.

Stress? I am not sure that stress is the right word – intensity might be better. The pace is faster, and the crowd is larger in CA. It is a line-up kind of place, and longer lines – at the movies, banks, grocery stores, restaurants, traffic, bus/CalTrain/BART stops. It’s all exciting and intense, but it creates a little more stress. When the Purple Wren and I moved back after a year in CA 10 years ago, I said, “I could live in CA, but I wouldn’t live as long.” I’ll stand by that.

Well, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you tie. I’m happy to be here; I was happy to be there.

Des Moines and San Francisco: factual differences

The changing face of Iowa: wind turbines

It’s windy in Iowa. (I didn’t have to tell you, did I?)

It’s hard to miss Iowa’s new wind turbines. They continue to spring up in Western Iowa along Interstate 80 in areas including one called Windy Hills. The turbines are on both sides of I-80 in Adair , Cass , and Pottawattamie Counties. 

Today we find that Mid-American Energy has over 100 turbines in Pottawatamie County alone where many of the pictures above were taken at the Walnut Wind Project.

Money is blowing in the wind.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists each turbine will net the landowner $2,000 -5,000/year in royalties. That’s great news in counties where the average farm is near 440 acres and the crop value per harvested acre has been running between $205 – 225/acre.

How are we doing in terms of absolute capacity compared to the rest of the country? We’re doing well; currently we are even with California in absolute capacity. DOE puts us 3rd in the nation; citing Dirk Lammers Yahoo says 2nd, where Texas is first. 

•  Iowa has 2862 MW of capacity (with our population of 3 million that’s about 1 kW/person)
• California has 2868 MW with their population of 36 million
• In Iowa we’re producing 10% of the nation’s wind power. I’m impressed!

Resources for further information

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (US DOE)
• energy matters (Australia)
• Wind Power A to Z
• You Tube videos on wind energy

photos by James G. Lindberg

Thomas Friedman at Grinnell College

Good message!

Become the generation that will be called the Re-Generation.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times world affairs columnist and prolific author, gave the commencement address at Grinnell College on Monday May 19, 2009. You can hear the entire address (in 3 installments totaling just under 25 minutes) courtesy of YouTube.

In his initial remarks Friedman related several issues cited by fellow journalist Kurt Andersen in his recent Time magazine article, The End of Excess.

Continuing, Friedman then focused on a generational theme, first on the The Greatest Generation (that of his parents and grandparents – the generation that survived The Great Depression then fought in World War II). He cited the qualities that characterized the greatest generation:

• hard work
• delayed gratification
• achievement oriented
• focused attention

Those were my parents too and I would add to that list

• frugal
• humble
• accountable

Friedman contrasted the Greatest Generation with his own generation, the baby boomers (post-WWII babies) and named that generation the Grasshopper Generation – eating through the fabric of the nation like hungry locusts. He credited the grasshopper generation with such dubious qualities as

• excess (over-consuming, over-building, over-borrowing, over-lending, over-eating) and
• dumb as we wanna be (delaying the solutions to Social Security, health care, energy, environment, and immigration).

He cited the subprime meltdown in particular as illuminating a decline in basic values, risk management, accountability, and ethics.

Friedman then challenged the Grinnell graduates to become the Re-Generation

that could restore the basic values of

• hard work
• accountability

and added that the graduates should carry with them

• ethics
• uncompromising idealism
• unbending convictions
• principled behaviors

and that they should create value through

• invention
• innovation
• imagination

all in order to do real engineering of materials, of services, of societal movement that fulfill needs, both seen and unseen.

It was great advice to the Grinnell College Class of 2009.

Friedman also told an interesting story with several Iowa connections. While studying in London in 1975 and dating wife-to-be Ann Bucksbaum, daughter of Carolyn “Kay” (a Grinnell alum) and Matthew Bucksbaum (an Iowa alum), Friedman (not a journalist at the time) was so stirred by the politics of the day that he wrote an op-ed piece. Ann carried it back to Des Moines. The piece made its way to The Des Moines Register editorial page editor who published it. Friedman received $50, and he was hooked as a journalist. Thus, Friedman’s exceptional career has a strong Des Moines connection.

If you’d like to read two recent Friedman books try

• The World Is Flat
• Hot, Flat and Crowded.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Lilacs in Ewing Park

With lilacs, timing is important. They bloom in spring and early summer, and they are just beginning.

When I got home on Friday, I saw that our lilacs were beginning to bloom in the backyard, and I knew that it was the perfect weekend to go out to Ewing Park and the Lilac Arboretum. I have been there many times.

From downtown drive out Indianola Road to the southeast; continue southeast past SE 14th St until you reach Easter Lake Drive then turn right (between the Ewing Park pillars) then park. (map) You will immediately see the lilacs and smell them too. You will see a few crab apples too (but not as many as in Water Works Park).

The Lilac Arboretum in Ewing Park is a welcoming place.

• it’s open and expansive
• it’s a good place for a picnic
• dogs are welcome
• kids can run
• grandma can walk
• Jim’s Johns are available

For Ewing Park the Lilac Arboretum is just one event. More happens throughout the year.

• frisbee golf
• the soap box derby
• BMX racing
• shelters and grills
• playground equipment
• playground

Des Moines is a great city. You will get to know another piece of Des Moines when you visit Ewing Park. The timing is right; the lilacs are just starting.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Neighborhood cleanup days 2009 (SCRUB)

Has anyone ever told you, “Clean up after yourself?” or “Get that thing out of here!”? Lately?

Want to get rid of it free? I have just the information you have been waiting for!

SCRUB Days are times and places that you can drop off stuff that you (or your loved one) want to be gone. It could be

• old furniture
• trash containers
• tires (off the rims)
• TVs, computers
• even old appliances like refrigerators, air-conditioners, stoves, microwaves, furnaces, freezers, water heaters, etc.
• check out the list of what you can and can’t drop off

The eagerly awaited SCRUB days calendar has arrived. The City of Des Moines posted it as of April 3, 2009! I’ve been waiting, and I know you’ve been waiting too so here are the days and locations by neighborhood:

April 18, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Drake University parking lot (24th and Forest – Carpenter and Kirkwood Glen neighborhoods)
• Bell Avenue Business Center (1901 Bell Avenue – Southwestern Hills and downtown neighborhoods)

May 16, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Central Presbyterian Church parking lot (39th & Grand – North of Grand, Arbor Peaks, Greenwood Historic, Sherman Hill, and Woodland Heights neighborhoods)
• Capitol View Elementary parking lot (320 E. 16th – Capitol East and East Village neighborhoods)

June 20, 2009, 7 am until noon

• State Fair parking lot (E. 34th and Dean – Laurel Hill and Valley High Manor neighborhoods)
• Hoover High parking lot (4800 Aurora – Meredith and Merle Hay neighborhoods)

July 18, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Southridge Mall parking lot (1111 E. Army Post – Somerset, Magnolia Park, South Park, Watrous South, Hillsboro, Ewing Woods-Evergreen, and Easter Lake neighborhoods)

August 15, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Prospect Park parking lot (Prospect Road north of Hickman – Mondamin Presidential, Chautauqua Park, Drake Park, and King-Irving neighborhoods)

September 19, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Hy-Vee lot, 3221 SE 14th, east of the building (Indianola Hills, McKinley School-Columbus Park, and Pioneer Park).

October 17, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Polk County Office Building at Oliver Plaza (2339 Euclid – Lower Beaver and Beaverdale neighborhoods)
• north parking lots at Roosevelt High School on Chamberlain St. (Waterbury, Ingersoll Park, Linden Heights, Salisbury Oaks, Waveland Woods, Waveland Park, and Westwood neighborhoods).

Where else and when can you get rid of these nonhazardous materials other than the SCRUB day sites?

You have to haul it to a different site, and it is only open and free to you on those Saturdays listed above from 7 am until 1 pm.

• MWA Transfer Station at 4198 Delaware Avenue

What about yard waste?

Some of you may remember the time when you could drop off yard waste. Well, you can still do that free too but not at the SCRUB days sites. You have to haul it to a different site, and it is only open and free to you on those Saturdays listed above from 7 am until 1 pm.

• MWA Compost Center, 1601 Harriett St (near SE 15th and Harriett)

What about toxic and hazardous materials? I have just the right information for you! Check it out.

• MWA Regional Collection Center. Read about this in Around Des Moines.

There were SCRUB days last year too. You might remember the 2008 post.

photo by flickr by epcrossing and bisonbison

State Historical Museum of Iowa

And a good time was had by all.

The State Historical Museum of Iowa is a wonderful place. Visit frequently

• by yourself
• with your children
• with your grandchildren

Use any excuse.

They are quite pleased to tell you that they are open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s a credit to them; they serve the public first.

The museum has permanent exhibits and changing exhibits, and they are all very well done. One exhibit that seems to be a sure hit traces the history of people in Iowa and their connections to our natural resources. That’s where the buffalo above is found, along with loons, foxes, raptors, and other Iowa creatures.

When you first enter the museum, you are greeted by a mammoth skeleton. When I was there Tuesday that prompted the question, “Was it really that big?” Mammoths ranged from 9′ to 15′ tall and roamed the Midwest during the Ice Age. Read up at the museum’s site or go see for yourself.

There are also artifacts and modern representations of Native American cultures including a walk through bark shelter. While I went through it four times in both directions, my unofficial 7 year old guide was leading a fast-paced tour, and some of the details have escaped me – a decent docent nonetheless.

If you like local history Patten’s Neighborhood is terrific.

And you can visit a few exhibits on-line.

I went to the museum on Tuesday for the Irish Fest and did something for the first time: I got a green stegosaurus spray painted on my face. I thought it matched my personality.

Keep posted about the goings-on at the State Historical Museum. Until you get there, you won’t know how good it is – so go.

• visit the museum
• visit the gift shop
• use their archives
• use their libraries and special collections
• check out the education resources
• visit their remote historic sites away from Des Moines
• check out their historic preservation program
• read their publications
• volunteer and get involved

You can even rent space!

Or you can read what I said last year.

photos by James Lindberg and the Purple Wren

Eagle watch

We saw more bald eagles near Saylorville Lake on Sunday February 22, 2009. These eagles were mature – white heads, white tails, not thrilled with all the attention.

For a first stop we parked and hiked down to the Lake above the dam at one of the closed camp site roads. It is an understatement to say it was cool and breezy on the shore of the lake. No eagles there. Just a couple of frozen “turkeys.”

We headed over to the Saylorville Lake Visitor Center and took in part of a talk by a ranger. He kept all of the little and large kids entertained with his props and facts. (DNR has more information.)

The ranger shared that the eaglets

• start at 3 ounces
• require early imprinting to survive
• weigh 5 pounds at 3 weeks thanks to fish every waking hour

The stages of development include

• branchers
• wingers, and
• the eaglets need their big talons to hang on to the branches in the nest.
• Even then they sometimes fall from the nest and are lost to the fall or once on the ground to predators like raccoons.

Then we were off to the Cottonwood Recreation Area (open Sunday for the Eagle Watch 2009 ). (Watch out because the map is sideways but) Cottonwood is below the dam where the water is open and open water allows the eagles to fish. Folks from the Audubon Society were set up there with spotting telescopes that gave a pretty good view. I pointed my Nikon COOLPIX through a spotter and got the picture to the right. I tried my zoom and got the thumbnail on the mainpage.

Sunday’s Eagle Watch was jointly sponsored with help from

• U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Iowa DNR
• Polk County Conservation Board
• Dallas County Conservation Board
• Des Moines Audubon Society, a branch of Iowa Audubon.

Watch for the next Eagle Watch, but in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for bald eagles when you are anywhere below the dam and near the Des Moines River. They soar, they’re big, they beat their wings slowly, and you can’t miss their distinctive white head and white tail.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Go see the eagles

No matter where you live in Des Moines, it’s a short trip to see eagles. They live year round on the Des Moines River just east of Principal Park.

You can park south of the Des Moines River near S. E. Livingston and E. 6th and walk onto the E. 6th bridge. Then look east toward S. E. 14th or look up. They are in the trees, they fish, and they soar (like eagles should). It’s always good to get outside, even or maybe even especially in the winter. It’s your big chance. They are bald eagles.

If you are looking for a bald eagle with a white head, you may or may not see one. Many are immature. (Note: you may not want to call a bald eagle immature to its face. Even the immature subadults make a crow look small.) Wikipedia has a pretty nice article with several more photos.

You won’t see an eagle as close as in the photo on the right (taken by Timothy K. Hamilton in Alaska), but they are still impressive.

• really big, even from a great distance (Adults have a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet.)
• a very slow and powerful flapping of the wings

Eagles are known for their keen vision (as in eagle eye), dive speed (would you believe 200 mph?), and sharp, strong talons. It doesn’t even have to reach up to adjust its binocular vision. Bald eagles don’t like to be in populated areas so we are lucky to have them close enough to watch. And when you check ‘em out, remember that they can see you a lot better than you can see them.

photos by Flickr by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton and by James G. Lindberg

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