Iowa State Fair

These are the pictures from the Iowa State Fair. Its a really big fair and everyone we ran into just raved about it. So we packed a bunch of water and sunscreen last Friday and went to the fair. We printed off a map and directions. When we made it to Des Moines however we discovered the directions had a wrong turn listed. Where it said turn left we really wanted to go right. Luckily the fair grounds are huge and there was a lot of traffic headed that way so we were able to find it. Daren decided that he didn't want to pay for parking so we ended up walking about 15 blocks to get to the gate, only to find that parking inside the grounds was still open for only 7 dollars. By the end of the day he was wishing he would have parked closer and paid a little money. All in all the fair was a lot like Idaho's just lots!!! bigger. We were really impressed with the world's biggest bull. Although I felt sorry for him tied so tight not able to reach his water, not to mention the effort it took him to stand up and lay down. The biggest pig at the fair wasn't quite so impressive after seeing the bull. The pumkin/squash thing almost wieghted as much as the pig. In another building we found the worlds smallest cow and her calf. If you can't tell by the picture our old dog Bear was lots bigger than this cow. The sheep next to it were bigger than it. When we were walking through the buildings there was this huge crowd of people by one pen, and since we'd already seen the biggest pig and cow and the smallest cow we were excited to find out what this crowd was about. Only when we got up there it was just an elk!!! Domestic or ranch raised elk is really popular out here and you can find elk meat in the grocery stores in Des Moines. We also caught a grizzly bear show. It was an okay show. Daren was picking on me during it. I was a little annoyed the way the handlers kept saying the bears were just like pets at home, they enjoy getting love, attention, and treats. All I could think of are all the stupid people in Yellowstone who get out of their cars to get closer. I was glad at the end when they did a spill about wild bears and how not to feed them in the wild because then they become problem bears and are destroyed. After that I had a little more respect for the bear show. It was a pretty fun day. Everyone at work told Daren he had to try a deep fried snickers but by the time we found the booth we were to tired and to full to care. So next year we'll have to get that booth earlier. Oh, and the random old rotatillor was for Daren. There were lots of buildings with antiquets and pioneer stuff. When we came across the rotatillor Daren wanted to take a picture to send to my mom showing her how crapy gardening could have been. The only other really exciting thing that happened was that I found some old Louis LaMour books. I got 11 of them for 30 dollars. I was really excited about that and Daren was even more excited when I didn't make him carry them all day. The other picture is off the butter cow. In one of the buildings they had a case displaying ice sculptures and another one displaying butter sculptures. All of them were very cool...strange...I'm not sure, but they had the first moon walk, a tv, and this cow all made of butter. I thought it was weird and Daren wanted proof we'd seen it, so there you go.

Reiman Gardens

We went to Reiman Gardens on Daren's day off last week. Its a garden here on campus that grows all sorts of native and cultivated plants. They have a butterfly room with over 800 butterflies in it. The butterflies are all exotic and mostly come from South America. Daren wouldn't let me stay to take pictures of all 800, but here are some of the ones that held still for me, including a huge moth that was the size of both my hands. It was a lot of fun and we hope to go back this spring to see the different flowers in bloom then.

Peterson Park

We went to Peterson Park yesterday. Daren spent the day fishing. I went hiking, swimming, and read part of a great book. There are a ton of trails there with a lake for swimming and lots of river for Daren to fish. After hours of fishing Daren only caught a bull frog, so we'll have to try again on his next day off with some different bait. Out of all the days we've been here, yesterday only got up to 77 degrees so it was great for hiking, but not so much for swimming. At least on the next 106 degree day we'll have a shady place to go swimming.

Evening Walks

There is a river just a quarter of a mile down the road from our house. Daren and I have been trying to walk down there a few nights a week. We've had a lot of fun catching frogs and watching a beaver swim around. After it gets dark the fire flies come out. I tried to take a few pictures of them flying in the corn field, because it was really pretty. As you can see from the picture though they just come out as little white/yellow blurs.

Our New House!!!

This is our new place!!! Its a two bedroom and two bath place with a huge living/dining area. As you can see Daren has wasted no time digging out his tools and getting started on projects. We're going to do some yard work this weekend and put a little garden in around the back of the house. It even comes complete with a good sized shed that Daren has dubbed his project area or his man cave. The deck is really nice, we can't wait to do some BBQing on it this summer. We're almost settled in. Daren has a three day weekend so we plan on finishing up the odds and ends we have left this weekend. We're really excited for our starter place here. After talking to the other students in the area, this is the way to go. We actually bought the place from a 4th year vet student. These houses tend to just pass from senior to freshman and so on, so the chance of selling it when the time comes is pretty good. The previous owner has done a ton of work to the inside, so we have new carpet and dry wall in all the rooms except the bathroom. And my favorite part about the whole house (other then its mine) is a toss up between the yellow living room or the huge garden tub in the master bathroom. So bring on the bubble baths!!!!

Our Iowa Wildlife Encounters (So Far)

Well, things are progressing and seem to be falling into place on our house. We're hoping to move in by the end of the week!!! Here are some pictures of the animals we've seen on our little walks around the river. There is also a lake out on the edge of town that we found while looking for the church house. A few days ago we took a trip there and walked around the smaller half of the lake. There were geese everywhere and lots of people fishing so Daren thinks he's found a spot that he can go to almost every evening for fishing. I told him that was okay, but I'd probably take some bread and feed the geese instead. Also here are some pictures of the cotton tails I was talking about earlier. They are everywhere, these ones were just in an empty lot by a parking lot. The place we're moving into has them all over so the first thing on my list to do is bunny proof the flower beds so I can start a garden. So stay tuned for more exciting wild life, with my husband I'm sure there will be deer and turkey on the agenda as soon as he can get an Iowa hunting license. I want to go walk around the river again so I can get pictures of the big bridge we crossed (and will be re-crossing to get pictures) and there were raccoon tracks in the mud so hopefully I'll get to see one. Also the school has a themed garden that changes the theme yearly, and this year is dinosaurs so when we finally get settled Daren said we could go walk through it too. Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you guys!!!

Our First Week in Iowa

Well, Daren had a few days off here and we have reached a point in house hunting where we're waiting on other people now. So we went and did a little bit of playing. We went on a walk through one of the many gigantic parks in town. This one was kind of like the green belt, but had so many trees and wild plants growing that you couldn't see very far. We walked half of the trail before we found our way back to the pick-up and didn't feel like walking the other half since we weren't sure how long it was. On our little adventure we had to cross this huge railroad tie bridge. The ties were spaced about four inches apart and in the middle of the bridge you are about fifty feet above the river and trees. It was really pretty and I was enjoying myself quit a bit until Daren had to point out that the gaps were big enough you could slip your foot through. Then the rest of the way across we had to go much slower!!! We also found a sports/outdoor store that we had to stop at. We also had our first shushy of the season and Daren was glad to find they are the same in Iowa as in Idaho. They even had his favorite flavor. They were huge though. It was like 2 dollars for a small and we couldn't figure out why, but then when she made them, we knew. There was 4x the amount of ice stacked on top as what fit in the cup. That was also why they sell drip cups for an extra 50 cents. We went to the laundry mat today and stopped at a pet store for some furry mice toys. Echo's been kind of bored in the hotel and has taken to radomly attacking you even if you're just laying/sitting there. Hopefully the mice will help with some of that. Well, I'll keep everyone posted. We're having an inspector come tomorrow to look at the trailer we're hoping to buy. If all goes well we'll be signing papers tomorrow also. If not we still have our second choice, so we'll still probably sign papers tomorrow anyway. Just keeping our fingers crossed that our 1st choice doesn't have any broken pipes and the furnace and water heater work after sitting vacant all winter. Oh, and I almost forgot, there are these crazy rabbits all over the place. They look like cotton tails but with really short ears. They are every where though. They run through the town, parking lots, and yards like squirrels do back home.