Don't Drink the Water!

So, obviously, I am terrible at keeping a blog. But I do have something odd that happened to me the other day...

Because so much of Iowa is farmland, we're a state at risk for high levels of nitrates in our drinking water. A friend of mine who is a nurse was warning one of the ladies in our Bible study (who is pregnant) against drinking Winterset tap water because of its high level of nitrates.

"I drank bottled water nearly the whole time I was pregnant," she said. "I mean, if you run out every once in a while it's not a big deal, but in general you should drink bottled water."

One of the other ladies said that her family buys the gallon jugs of distilled water from Fareway, refilling them at the distilled water station inside the store.

All this talk of nitrates was making me feel somewhat iffy about drinking the tap water, and a few times I considered buying distilled water or bottled water for myself and Ian. After all, if it's so harmful for fetuses, what's to say it isn't somewhat harmful in the long run even for adults?

I hadn't gotten a chance to buy any bottled water yet, so when I was at Fareway on Friday, I asked my friend Jordan in the meat department to point me toward the already-filled jugs of water. He did, and as I stood in the aisle considering whether a gallon of Fareway-distilled water was worth 69 cents, a low voice reached my ear.

"I wouldn't buy that if I were you." I turned to see a short, middle-aged woman with long, crimped blonde hair, a serious face, and slightly askew blue eyes looking up at me. "Aquafina's the way to go."

"Oh, really," I responded, waiting to see if she were joking or not. I had never seen her before.

"No, for real," she said. She was already standing inside my personal bubble, and now she leaned even closer and placed a hand on my forearm. "My husband works at the water treatment plant, and based on what he says... I would never, ever buy that water. Seriously, Aquafina is the best." The warning tone of her voice and the intensity of her facial expression told me she was not joking.

"Oh, I see," I said. She continued to stare at me with at least one of her slightly-askew blue eyes. "That's good to know," I responded, because I wasn't sure what else to say. I started to step away, and she stepped back to her cart.

"No, seriously," she said as she started to push it away, her voice beginning to quaver slightly like someone telling a ghost story. "Don't buy that." Her pitch got louder. "Not if you care about your family!"

And then, like a guardian angel who had appeared just in time, she turned the corner of the drink aisle and was gone. I stood there in the aisle and laughed to myself.

I am not making this story up.

Only in Winterset.

Iowa State Fair, part 1

So, Ian and I went to the Iowa State Fair last Friday, one of the largest fairs in the United States. It was a fun day, with a lot of walking, and we were pretty tired when it was finished. There were many very interesting elements, so I took some pictures to let you all know some of the things you can see at the fair.

That's right, folks: it says "Hot Beef Sundae." Mashed potatoes with meat and gravy over the top, and cheese sprinkled on top of that. Ian had one, and it was actually quite good. Reminiscent of shepherd's pie, of which I am fond.

This large fellow was advertised by a large sign outside his barn that said, "SuperBull," complete with the Superman logo and everything. Of course, after seeing that, we had to go inside and take a look.

And here are his stats. He must have terribly strong knees to do much of anything at 3400 pounds. Also, it's true that there is a town in Iowa named What Cheer.

I thought this reindeer was pretty exciting. Look at his antlers! (I almost typed "horns," but Ian is always on me to be more precise with my language.)

Ian and I like to show our support for Iowa and pork whenever possible.

Ian makes some new friends.

The draft horses were amazing! I don't think you can really tell from this picture just how huge they are, but up close they are very scary. Well, at least to someone like me, who has no idea how to control horses.

Anyway, apparently one of the things the ISF is known for is the variety of food you can find on a stick. They have chicken on a stick, pork chops on a stick, salad on a stick, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate on a stick (the Bluths, anyone?), and other things on a stick. They also have the usual fair fare (ha ha!), including deep-fried Snickers and Twinkies.

Our tour guide was a girl from our church. She is very involved in 4-H, has horses, and her dad teaches agriculture, so she knew a lot about the various reasons for why animal owners would groom them in certain ways for judging purposes. Apparently it's good for sheep to have a completely straight-across back and large hindquarters (indicating strong muscles) and for cows to have a bit of a peak at the top of their tails before they hang the rest of the way down. I was glad she was there because there is nothing like having an expert with you to increase your appreciation for completely foreign territory.

More pictures will follow soon!!!

This Is What Love Looks Like

When Ian picked me up at the airport on Tuesday evening, I noticed right away that he had cleaned my car. Upon arriving at home, I discovered that the house was neat and these were waiting for me on the kitchen counter:

(The roses are self-explanatory; notice the popcorn is the caramel-flavored kind and not the butter toffee.)

My man knows just what I like!

Madison County Fair

The air outside our house smells faintly of dung, and Thursday morning I woke up to the sounds of cows mooing, horses neighing, goats bleating, pigs oinking, sheep baa-ing (is that a word?). I felt like I was living next door to a farm. So what was it?

The Madison County Fair! The fairgrounds are only a few blocks from our house, and I don't know if it's because Iowa is so flat, or maybe it was just that the wind was blowing the right direction, but that morning I could hear all the animal sounds, and often the air around our house smells a bit like a farm.

The fair reminds me of those movies where people in the 50s go to a little county fair, and they see the quilt and baking entries, and walk through barns and look at all the horses and cows and pigs (I discovered this week that a barn full of pigs smells TERRIBLE-it made me never want to eat pork again). The only thing is that it's not the 50s, and there is no old-fashioned ferris wheel, only other carnival rides that look unsound.

I did enjoy watching the 4-H kids demonstrate their horsemanship, although I was a little out of the loop on some of the 4-H jokes. The announcer would say something, and the crowd would burst into laughter, while I had no idea what was going on.

Sadly, I did not have a chance to go to the mud run, the rodeo, or the demolition derby. I was somewhat disappointed, but those were extra money and I did not feel like paying. Maybe next year this will change. I feel like I shouldn't let my cheapness keep me from experiencing Iowa.

Too Long

Yikes!

It's been so long since I posted. So, just to catch everybody up, here's what I've done in the last two months.

MAY: My parents and brothers came out for a visit. We had a really nice time, eating a lot of good food, watching good movies, hanging out, and enjoying all the fun that Madison County has to offer. Speaking of which, I did not realize how exciting the Madison County Historical Museum would be (I am not being sarcastic, I actually like museums. Ian says it's the homeschooler in me). And we saw all the bridges of Madison County, because my mom is goal-oriented and likes to be thorough.

Then, we spent two weeks playing parents. A couple in our church took a mission trip to Uganda, so we watched their house, three kids, and two dogs. One of the dogs ran away for three days (some might say that I lost it), so there was much searching, praying, and tears, at least on my part. I think Ian only participated in the searching and praying. No tears.

JUNE: Ian went to Reno/northern California for almost two weeks. I would have been lonely, but I had Abbie and Kimi, the two summer missionaries (who were teenagers here back when I was a summer missionary) to hang out with. Petey became very attached to Kimi, and we wondered if he thought she was the new Ian. I did miss my husband, though.

When Ian got back, we participated in running a day camp in Des Moines at the Friendship Center, an inner-city ministry. It was fun, but very tiring. I liked getting to know the kids and discovering that I had retained many of my basketball skills, in spite of not playing at all for the last three years.

Also, I've been doing a lot more freelance writing and a lot more fiction writing, which is fun but resulted in my letting the poor blog go by the wayside. But now I'm back! Hopefully for good.