An Icy Iowa Welcome
One way to wake up after spending time in a stuffy airplane cabin is to step out into a chilly Iowa night with icy pellets hitting exposed skin. Such was my experience late yesterday. Then this morning I woke up to snow on the ground in Des Moines!
When I left New York in early afternoon there were a few sprinkles of rain and a nippy breeze. But there were also magnolias blooming along with daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. When I went outside in Des Moines this morning I noticed a few more inches of growth on plants, some new shoots above ground, and still only a few buds on trees. Some people may choose the size of Des Moines over that of New York, but for me there are many other factors to consider, such as when flowers bloom.
It was for a new but traditional revenue-generating endeavor that I was in New York for the past several days. With daytime hours unavailable for sightseeing, I found I was unable to visit most museums and was too tired to attend literary readings in the evenings.
I was able to step into the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian. This is in the old Customs Building near the southern tip of Manhattan. The current installations are James Luna’s “Emendatio” and a group show, “Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast.” Perhaps because I had been expecting more historical education and not modern artistic interpretation, I was disappointed in the exhibitions. One of my new colleagues said he thinks the New York portion of the NMAI is geared more towards school children than adults.
The taste of water is a delight in New York and I enjoyed every sip. There was no musty taste of decayed leaves nor was there need to filter out excess ntirogen and other farm runoffs.
The number of people gathered on the train from the airport and at Penn Station was a shock at first. It took me only a couple days to forget about the crowds, though. They do not exist everywhere in the city nor at all times. Even the lack of large trees alongside most streets was not missed as I became reacquainted with the numerous parks and other places to enjoy nature. There’s not really any place in Iowa to use as a comparison for the New York crowds. The Iowa state fair may have sufficient people in one space at one time, but I don’t recall the moments of privacy that can be found in a city park nor the congestion of bodies at subway stops.
The flight attendant on the trip back to Des Moines had a two-day layover here. This is her first visit to the city and she was looking forward to doing some shopping. I wish her a fun stay in Iowa.
M.R. Field writes for AroundDesMoines.com. 

DMWW monitors the amount of bacteria in the river. When there is a snow melt, the amount of coliform bacteria can increase, but no such increase was noted this week. Thus, the chlorine was needed only to neutralize the musky characteristics of the river water. As the ice began to break up on the Raccoon River, DMWW was able to switch back to drawing water from the Des Moines River. Some ice had formed on the Des Moines but it disappeared once the Corps of Engineers increased the amount of water released from Saylorville.
There is one benefit to this seasonal cold. Three ponds in the city are now open for ice skating. A green flag means skating conditions exist; a red flag means the proper conditions do not exist. You can skate at Greenwood Park, MacRae Park, and Gray’s Lake Park. The first two are open sunrise to sunset. Gray’s Lake is open 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
If you are tired of watching ice and snow fall from the sky, the
a celebration of Christ’s birth or it may be given and accepted as a seasonal thank you. If there is a drawing for Secret Santas, though, you’re on your own.
words, and with a numeral. The single-word version is what the city uses officially. The creek starts in Boone County, runs for 26 miles, and has a drainage area of 92.7 miles. In the graphic to the right, Fourmile Creek is shown in orange. The creek curves down from the northwest (not shown), starting at a point roughly north of the arm jutting off of Saylorville Lake. As the creek heads towards the Des Moines River, it runs through Pleasant Hill from University to Scott Avenue.







