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.