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Campers Must Be Optimists

6/24/2019

Otherwise, they would look at the forecasts and never leave home. We arrived Friday at West Overlook Campground on Coralville Lake only about 30 miles from home. The forecast for Friday (the first day of summer) was midday heavy rain and possible severe storms that evening. We waited until after the rain to travel and set up. Due to the wind and chill, our group decided to head for pizza in Iowa City. But we did manage ice cream and cake outside later at the campground.

Saturday dawned with more rain, which was forecast to continue all day. However, the rain stopped by mid-morning and in the afternoon we attended the open house for the U of I Air Care equipment---Butch hates to pass up anything flying. By evening we enjoyed supper outdoors and a beautiful sunset.

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And Horse Thieves Too!

6/8/2019

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A beautiful day in the park yesterday, and we took advantage of that to do some exploring. One of the most popular attractions is Horse Thief Cave--so named because two horse thieves used the cave as their base in the pre-park days. And they were not the first to use it. When the land was being turned into a park, workers found the remains of nine 4000-year-old human skeletons in the cave.

Running through the park is a sweet stream called Dutch Creek. There are several picnic areas along the creek and arched bridges cross it, built by those prisoners years ago.

Hale bridge, an 1879 iron bridge over the Wapsipinicon is on the National Historic Register. We also took a drive over to Stone City in Grant Wood territory. We finished off the day with a fine feast and campfire. As I mentioned before, the campground is desperately in need of refurbishing. It has probably the worst shower house I've seen, which is a detriment especially to all of the tent sites available. But the park is well worth a visit.

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Prisoners in the Park

6/7/2019

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Not us, but the people who built this place. Wapsipinicon State Park, just outside Anamosa, Iowa, has a unique history. It was created when citizens of Anamosa, concerned about logging on this beautiful piece of land, raised money in 1921 to purchase about 180 acres and donate it to the state to create a park. It has about doubled in size since then with interesting trails and caves which we intend to explore today. During the Thirties, when a number of Iowa's parks were being improved by the Civilian Conservation Corps, prisoners from the state penitentiary in Anamosa built the roads, bridges, and shelters at Wapsipinicon.

This was a spur-of-the-moment trip when our camping friends decided to camp here this week because of a granddaughter's softball tournament tomorrow. Although the campground is small, there were plenty of spots available. This is no doubt because the campsites are desperately in need of improvement. Level is not a word used on any of the site descriptions on the state park website. There was much gnashing of teeth yesterday as we tried to achieve that condition with blocks, jacks, etc.--not totally successful. Roger Rabbit was here to greet us and supervise, although I'm sure he was thinking if we were content to dig a burrow in the ground, we wouldn't have to worry about all of that leveling stuff.

The scenery is beautiful and one would hope as the centennial of the park approaches, the legislature would release the funds necessary to improve the campground. The Ranger tells us that there was $30,000 designated last year for such work but it was snatched back before it could be used.

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Everybody Needs a Porch

6/1/2019

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Our current front porch

We bought our first house in 1967 for a whopping $11,500. That got us three bedrooms, a bathroom the size of most bedrooms, a minimalist kitchen, and an enclosed front porch. The porch was paneled with knotty pine paneling and had windows on three sides.

My husband was taking a load to the town dump one day, and someone had just brought in a wicker hideabed. Butch paid the dump overseer $1 for it and brought it home. I spray painted it and recovered the cushions. Since the $11.5K did not bring us central air conditioning, many hot nights our family slept on that hideabed. We also had lots of social gatherings on that porch, especially after fast pitch softball games.

Our next house did not include a porch and we sorely missed it. A couple of years after we moved there, we added a deck on the back and couple of years after that, screened in that deck.

We lived on that porch from April until October. The house had hot water heat so the cost of installing AC was prohibitive. We just moved to the porch. It was furnished with used pieces and hand-me-downs. Fresh paint and cushion covers sort of tied it together. We ate every meal out there, played games, read, and napped--all approved porch activities.

Next we built a house in the country that included a large deck and screened porch. When we were getting estimates from builders, one suggested we could cut costs by leaving the porch and deck off. We said we could leave the house off but we needed the porch and deck. Studies show that spending even a short time outdoors relieves stress and all kinds of ills. Maybe on a porch you are only halfway outdoors but to me the results are the same.

About ten years ago, we bought a one floor bungalow to flip. It not only had a great enclosed front porch complete with a wicker swing, but also what was known as a sleeping porch off one of the bedrooms in the back. I had a lot of fun decorating that porch and added some stenciling around the top conveying why I love porches.

Which brings us to our present home. It is a 1910 Craftsman and came with an enclosed front porch and a large deck on the back. The deck was added by the previous owners and is huge. We spend quite a bit of time out there but then there's the bugs.

The porch is not heated and I generally clean it up good in the fall but decorate it for Christmas and if we have overflow from Christmas dinner (like the grandchildren) a space heater makes it usable.

After Christmas, it sits unused for about three months. Late March or early April, I wash all of the windows, remove the spider webs, and generally make it ready for summer. It's actually one of my favorite cleaning jobs--if such a thing exists-- because it's a sign of spring. This year, circumstances prevented me from this task until this last week. But as usual, it was a huge boost to my spirits, Opening all eight windows is breath of fresh air, not just to the body, but also the soul. All of the green out of every window brings renewal. I think there should be a law that all homes have to have a porch.

Our current back deck.

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Campers Must Be Optimists

And Horse Thieves Too!

Prisoners in the Park

Everybody Needs a Porch

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