white out

These are just a couple of pictures that I took from the blizzard that came our way last week and dropped around 16 inches of snow on us in one night and gave me a day off of work. Who would have thought that grown ups get snow days? The only bad part was in the process of digging out the cars I hurt my back and was sore for a couple of days, I guess I need to work out my back muscles more. In the exciting news department over the weekend Lexi and I were invited to the Christmas celebration at our local VFW bar which I think only the regulars are welcome at, so that is fun in Iowa.

blizzard sneak peek

I am lazy so it will take some time to put more pics up but they are coming...

cornbread

last night I made some cornbread in a skillet to accompany some frozen chili from my mom because the temperature has decided to drop drastically in iowa. The cornbread was good but it took a lot more work than a box of Jiffy cornbread would have and wasn't as good, although frying it for a second in shortening did make a nice, crunchy crust.

xmas decor

Here are some pics of the christmas decor that lex and I have displayed in our apartment for the holiday season. Des Moines is a very festive place this time of year as shown by the horse and carriage rides going by my window as I type and the fact that most people had there decorations up weeks before thanksgiving. Every thursday in december Valley Junction, my hood, has a christmas celebration and I am contemplating on checking it out tonight with my roommate.

Thanksgiving

So last week I went home for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time with my family and friends (see above), it was nice to be home and have more than one friend within a 100 mile radius.

miniappleless

So last weekend lex and I went to minneapolis to go to the Ray Lamontagne solo show at the State Theater and it was an amazing time. First we walked to get some coffee at a local place called star something and then we decided that we arrived to the restaurant too early for our reservations and we went to some bar decked out in UFC regalia for a drink. It just so happened to be this bar's happy hour and during such time they flipped a coin to see if you had to pay for your drink, i won and lexi lost however i still lost because i had to pay. Then we went next door to 112 eatery (and no it is not owned by the band, lexi stole this joke from me on her blog :( ) and it was phenomenal. I had a pasta with foie gras meatballs and loved everything about it, so if you are ever in the twin cities I would recommend going there. Next was the concert which was also phenomenal, probably one of my top 5 favorite shows. The next day we went to Ikea and bought many decorations which you can view over at lex's new blog. Thanks for listening.

randoms

So I know I haven't been the most consistent of bloggers and for that I apologize, I really haven't been up to much that is worthy of blogging. Here are some photos from the past month. At the top are two pics from a trip to Columbia and the bottom two are from the snow day a couple weeks ago when Lex and I visited the state capitol building. If anyone is interested in Des Moines here is a cool article brought to my attention by my friend john who lives in austin texas. You may notice the sculpture in the article is also in my blog header.

happy halloween!

Good News! The people of Des Moines tell jokes on Halloween just like in the good ole STL, this makes me very happy because I was most likely going to make children tell me jokes if they came to my door and now I don't have to feel like a weirdo. Lexa and I carved some pumpkins for the occasion, hers is the heart/peace sign on the left and mine is the better one on the right. Hope all are having a lovely holiday where ever they may be.

Snow!

So me and lexi woke up this morning and the first thing we did was look outside because snow was predicted in the area and we weren't totally convinced that the weather people were right because since when does it snow this early in the year? Well boy were the weather people right because it is snowing outside, just a light dusting, but so much for our plans to bike ride today...

new bike

I know I have not posted in a while and for that I am sorry, I have not been up to much lately even though it seems like I have. Netflix has consumed my life now that I discovered the watch instantly feature and bought a cord to connect my computer to my tv. Anyhow, these are some poor pictures of my new bike that I just picked up tonight. While riding this bike home with my new helmet, because it did not fit into my car, some 12 year old in his mom's back seat verbally harassed me twice because I was dumb enough to say I could not hear him the first time. The sad part is that I think his mom was laughing, oh well. So now that I got this bike I am planning on riding in ragbrai next year and just hope that I can get in shape by then.

must ash party

So last saturday bradley came to town to visit with lex and I (which I encourage anyone to do) and we planned on going to a mustache party for which I bought brad a fake one and lex made her own while I grew one myself that at one month old was barely noticeable. Well we drove by the bar that the party was being held at and no one was in there so we didn't go to the party but brad did keep his 'stache on for the whole night and it looked quite convincing and we had fun in iowa.

picnic

me and lex went on a picnic last evening to walnut woods state park just south of where we live, this is our picnic site and all the walnut trees that surrounded us

random happenings at the fair

A random collage from the fair. (clockwise from top left sky glider, award-winning peanut art, flags on concrete, father posing with pork chop on a stick)

plants

Some pictures from inside the John Deere Ag building; the first is the award winning longest ears of corn and the second and third are pictures of some neat flowers and their vases, respectively.

the cow goes moo!

Some pictures I put together of the animals that I saw at the state fair. The first is of a billy goat that I caught looking into the pen of the goat next to him. The highlights from below are the world's smallest cow in the top right and the pig that had too much fun on friday night in the bottom left. This is my first attempt at putting multiple pictures together so I hope it turned out well. Also lexi is now obsessed with bunnies and wants to get a floppy-eared one for our apartment.

super bowl(sp)

The biggest bull, Big Black, an angus weighing in at only 3,404 lbs.

State Fair!

hello all, yesterday I had my first taste of what is known as the Iowa State Fair and here are some random images that didn't fall under any specific category of which I will be putting up more of later. I have been working with photoshop for the last couple of hours trying to figure my way around it so I am tired of being on the computer but here are some images for now. ps the fair was loads of fun, I strongly recommend it if you are ever in Iowa during the week that it is happening.



Above: Slim Allen from West Des Moines in the horseshoes tournament, multiple rounds ended in washes because every throw was a ringer.
Below: Sign on cart in the cattle barn.

cocoon update!

As you can tell, whatever was in the cocoon has left and all that remains is the shell of it. I am quite sorry that I could not be there and take a picture of it so you all could see a cool picture instead of this lame one of an empty cocoon but it is the best I could do.

Also things have been going pretty well up here in des moines, I really enjoy the city so far and am taking advantage of the abundance of farmer's markets and sweet corn (which is amazing), I don't think I have eaten so many fresh vegetables in my life. Right now I am preparing a caprese salad (below) with tomatoes I bought tuesday and a basil plant that I bought today and some store bought mozzarella.





Also I have been keeping busy by joining netflix which I recommend to any and all, it is quite fantastic! Hope all are having a wonderful week and are working for the weekend!

a few thoughts

Here are some of my random first impressions of Des Moines:

• I guess it is because I grew up in St. Louis but it is weird how few small cities and municipalities make up the dsm metro area, I am used to driving through at least 7 anytime I want to go somewhere.
• The radio stations here sure do love their bob marley and "kokomo" by the beach boys, I had not heard the former on the radio in quite some time and now I hear him daily. As for kokomo I have a hunch that the waterpark in town, named kokomo cove, pays the radio stations to play it at least once each hour.
• Des Moines kind of reminds me of living in Columbia MO because you can take one wrong turn and find yourself in the middle of nothing, ie a corn field, in under a mile.

All in all I have enjoyed my first two weeks working in Des Moines and I am looking forward to the state fair which is this week and seems to be the biggest event of the year for most Iowans I have met, I cannot wait to people watch. Hopefully I will be able to get some good pics of the events and have them posted for all you (probably not many people) to see.

-tim

backyard cocoon

a cocoon I found in the backyard, wondering if it will be a butterfly or a moth.

DSM Farmer's Market

On Saturday morning me and lexa went down to the farmer's market in downtown Des Moines and saw these neat looking edible mushrooms and shared a breakfast burrito, below lex is licking the remnants of said burrito off her lips.

Good Tidings from Iowa!

Greetings and welcome all to the Just Havin' Fun Blog, I am new to this process and hope you enjoy this blog about my life in the state of Iowa.