I just wrapped up several days covering and photographing area youth at the Poweshiek County Fair. It is one of the highlights of my year.
     I am sunburnt, tired, my feet hurt and I am ready for an extra nap. But I’m not hungry thanks to the Crazy Granny’s Kitchen at the fair. They kept me well fed and happy.
   This is my 23nd Poweshiek County Fair to take part in and my 26th overall since moving to Iowa in December 1997.
     I take great pride in playing a part in the lives of area youngsters through my camera, pen and paper and photography judging work. I also take great pride in encouraging area youngsters and congratulating them on their hard work.
     That is what the fair is about, at least to me, giving youth a chance to learn and grow through their 4-H and FFA projects, both livestock and indoor judging.
     In addition to my work at the county fair, I have served as a 4-H photography judge since 2012. I have judged every year but one during that 11-year span.
      I have judged in Poweshiek, Mahaska, Davis, Washington, Warren, Marion, Iowa, Benton, Johnson and Linn counties. I also judged 4-H photography at the Iowa State Fair in 2019. Every photo that advances to the state fair is judged a second time. I have also been the open class photography judge in Poweshiek County for about 10 years and twice in Iowa County. I enjoy working with 4-H’ers.
     I’ve received my share of awards and honors through the years, but the best honor is being a difference maker and helping youth grow and go on to do great things in this world.
     When I look back on my life, I am amazed what God has done. He’s been so good to me. I could share so many stories of working through challenges and having a “can do” never give up spirit to see projects through to the end.
      I’ve shared this story before, but it is a good reminder that opportunities still exist in our world.
     It was in my second semester at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I was working nights for the postal service as a temp employee and going to school during the day. It was a challenge.
       Anyway, MU had hired a new chancellor, Dr. Charles Kiesler the previous summer.
     Many students were complaining that he got a car and other benefits and that it raised their tuition. Money has to come from somewhere, but I don’t know the connection.
       I decided to write Dr. Kiesler a letter and thank him for the opportunity to be a student at MU. I told him I came there to earn a degree. I also said that I think students don’t understand that he was in their shoes one day years ago.
      I sent the letter off and about three weeks later, I received a personal response from Dr. Kiesler. He wrote to invite me to his office in Jesse Hall, the main administration building on the MU campus, to visit. He wanted to try and help me.
     You can’t get any better than having the university chancellor write you a letter and offer to help. Here I am a city boy from Tulsa, Okla. attending college in my 30s and I had an appointment with the university chancellor.
      I remember my advisor calling me when he heard about my meeting. “Do you know that the vice provost of extension services can’t even get a meeting with the chancellor,” he said.
       I think he was amazed.
      All I did was write a letter.
      It would be another six weeks before I could get an appointment to the chancellor.
     I remember the day. I believe it was a Tuesday. I wore my jeans and pullover shirt and carried my backpack with me.
      I stepped into his office. He offered me a cup coffee, which I kindly declined. He asked how he could help me. I told him a needed a job and that I had applied at the university before.
      “You have the employment office send me your file,” he told me.
       I had applied for jobs before at the university and they kept a file on me.
      So, I stopped at the employment office and made the request. I think the fellow behind the counter that I was some kind of nut.
      I don’t know what happened, but somehow the chancellor got my file and it wasn’t long when I was hired to push a broom and clean toilets. I went on to hold that job for more than four years while working toward my degree.
      I always said that I swept my way through journalism school.
     Whatever it is that you want out of life, go for it. Turn off the television and quit listening to the naysayers. You have what it takes to see your dreams fulfilled.
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

     It was a hot July 4 afternoon and Debbie and I were rolling along the Farmhand Road south of Grinnell on our way to the parade.
      I was noticing how tall the corn was getting and somehow it made me think about my dad.
     “If my folks lived in Iowa, my dad would enjoy watching the corn and crops grow,” I commented to Debbie.
      She agreed.
     He’d like to drive the countryside and look at the crops, the farms, the cattle and soak in God’s beautiful creation called Iowa. I’m sure he would want to stop and visit with the farmers and maybe ride in the combine during harvest, or watch as they planted the soil in the spring months. He would enjoy every minute of it, too.
      It is hard to believe that it was 12 years ago that dad died on July 10, 2010. I was there and watched as Jesus slipped in the in the room and took him to Heaven.
     As for my mom, it will be 13 years since she passed on Sept. 27, 2009. Just more than nine months between the two.
        My dad knew no strangers. Everyone was a friend waiting to be met.
       It didn’t matter if we were at a fishing hole, eating at a restaurant or stopped at a store, my dad would strike up a conversation with anyone who had an ear to listen.
      He had the uncanny ability to find someone with a connection to his upbringing in the Verdigris River bottoms east of Tulsa or the old Oak Grove School, where he attended through the eighth grade and spent part of his boyhood days.
       He loved going back to the home place and visiting with the good folks he grew up around. I’d drive and he’d tell me where to go.
       Every place we stopped, I always found a comfy chair while dad visited. It never took long and I was fast asleep. Dad would wake me up and off to the next family we’d go.
       I remember the story he told me about the time the river got out of its banks and knocked the corn down. They had about 40 acres of corn near the river.
       The river went down and came back up a second time.
       “It only knocked the stalks down, not the corn,” he told me.
       He and his brother, Charley, picked that farm by hand and sold the corn, making enough money that my grandfather bought a used Allis Chalmers tractor and a plow. I think I have the receipt for that tractor in some of the things I inherited from my dad.
      I also have a set of harnesses that his dad used on a team of horses during the WPA days helping build roads in Oklahoma. 
    We also took several trips together including visiting the Chalk Pyramids in western Kansas, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore and a movie set in southeastern Utah.
       I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the many family vacations we took through the 1970s to places such as San Diego, Calif., Nashville, Niagara Falls and may trips to see family on my mom’s side in Southeast Missouri and the fishing trips to Greenleaf Lake in southeast Oklahoma.
       Life gets busy for all of us. There is always going to be something vying for your time and attention. There never seems to be enough money or time to get it all done.
      I encourage you to take time every now and then to do something fun with your family. It’ll pay bigger dividends than an hour or two of overtime or another meeting or deadline or whatever else comes along in life.
       And it’s a great way to make some memories to store away in your heart.
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

       I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Fourth of July.
    I hope you took time to attend a parade, enjoy a cookout with the family, go swimming and take an afternoon nap. I love naps!
      Now that we have celebrated our many freedoms, it is time to get into fair mode.
    The Poweshiek County Fair is a week away and in about five weeks, actually a little sooner, folks will be packing their campers and headed the Iowa State Fair, which is slated for Aug. 11 – 21.
     As anyone who has followed me in this column knows, the ISF has a special place in my heart as it was there that I met Debbie in August 2003. I just happened to walk by the Tindle family camper while doing a story on state fair campers from the Montezuma area and there was Debbie. 
     The story idea was a last minute move on my part. I think there was divine intervention in my decision to attend the fair and do the story that year.
     I had visited the campground by mistake my first year at the fair in 1998 when I got on the wrong tram, thinking I was headed to the parking lot. Of course, I didn’t have my hand stamped at the first gate as I thought the tram would eventually get me to the parking lot.
     I got to the second campground gate and almost had to pay to get back into the fair so I could leave the fair. Thankfully the ticket seller let me back in so I get back out. I ended up hitching a ride to my vehicle on police golf cart after asking for help.
     The next year, 2004, I found myself camping at the fair, and have done so every year since.
     Having grown up in Tulsa, I enjoyed the annual 11-day Tulsa State Fair, which kicks of the fourth Thursday after Labor Day. This year’s fair is slated for Sept. 30 – Oct. 10.
     I grew up about two miles from the fairgrounds and typically attended the fair with a friend and also with my family. I lived close enough that I could hear the fair in the evening if I opened my bedroom windows.
     Back in the day, all Tulsa Public School students received the first Friday of the fair out of school and a free ticket to the fair. 
    I have lots of great memories of walking the midway with a friend, riding the rides, attending a show, touring the Expo Square, an 8.1 acre column free building on the fairgrounds that first opened in 1966 and was used for oil expansion shows at the time, and just being a kid.
    When the fair wasn’t going on, myself and a friend would sometimes ride our bicycles to the fairgrounds and ride through the horse and cattle barns. We’d go in and out of the maze of animal pens and had a blast.
And for years, Bell’s Amusement Park was on the westside of the fairgrounds. The park first opened in 1951 and featured Zingo, the iconic wooden roller coaster, the log ride, the Phantasmagoria, and the Himalayan. There were two miniature golf courses, a Ferris wheel, the wildcat and much more. A visit to Bells was an evening full of fun.
The popular Tulsa attraction, which was owned by the Bell family, lost its lease in 2006 and closed after 55 years. There have been efforts in the years since to bring Bells back, but nothing has developed. Lots of great childhood memories.
I leave you with this. Folks are busy these days running here and running there. There is all kinds of stuff going on in this crazy world to cause worry and concern. My advice, something I need to listen to myself, slow down, take it easy every so often and don’t forget about those dreams.
No matter what is going on in the world, there’s still a place for dreams and a place for peace from above. Today is the day to make a step in a positive direction and see your dreams come to pass. Keep walking and keep believing.
Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

      I once shook hands with Elizabeth Dole, a presidential candidate in the late 1990s, and interviewed another one, Fred Thompson, during a campaign stop in Montezuma in December 2007.
    I’ve interviewed various state senators, representatives and gubernatorial candidates through the years.
    I’ve covered tons of high school sporting events, attended numerous homecomings, proms, graduations, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day services and community parades and celebrations through the years. 
    I was run over by two different football players in the first half of a football game between Montezuma at Wapello in the fall of 2000. I broke my camera in the process.
I’ve covered state football and basketball. I was courtside when Montezuma won the 2021 Class 1A State Championship at the Wells Fargo Arena.
     I once climbed a grain bin to get a better photo of farmers combining. I drove in an ice storm to take photos of an overturned semi filled with hogs that were roaming about the highway. I made it home alive and the photo won a state award.
     I’ve written hundreds of feature stories, my favorite, about every day Iowans doing what they love. And I can’t forget about my column, “On the Road Again,” and the many folks who have told me how much they enjoy reading them.
     On Saturday, June 11, I was in Brooklyn where I witnessed the dedication and unveiling of the Harold “Pie” Keller monument at the town’s Avenue of Flags.
     It was a day that I will never forget and one of the many highlights of my journalistic career.
     “Pie,” as he was known, was one of six Marines who carried the American Flag to the summit of Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945 during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima. The iconic moment was captured by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.
     Hundreds of people from all walks of life came together to support and honor “Pie,” a humble, yet great man who at the time was just doing his duty to the country he loved.
      “Pie” was born, raised and went to school in Brooklyn and was the father of three. He loved Brooklyn where he worked in the dairy business, served as the town fire chief and coached little league baseball after the war.
     To see and photograph his two living children unveiling the monument and shedding tears of joy in remembrance of their dad was touching. The military and members of American Legions from all across Poweshiek County and the state of Iowa were there showing their support for one of their own.
     The parade, which took nearly an hour, was filled with a military presence and people lined Jackson Street to witness a moment in time that will live forever.
      The prayers, the singing, the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance were all part of the festivities. 
       As one of the speakers said, “This is the America we once knew.”
       Well done, Brooklyn!
     Thanks for allowing me to be there and take photos and tell the story of Harold “Pie” Keller.
The America we once knew
       Sometimes I wonder what has happened to the America many of us remember?
A time when things seemed simpler.
       It’s not like that today.
     Taxpayer money is being sent all over the world and wasted on witch hunts. Political parties are pointing fingers and blaming each other. There is major chaos and rioting in our cities. High gas and grocery prices and supply shortages are causing families to struggle and are weighing heavy on many businesses and communities. There is so much going on in this country causing division. I’ll not list them as most know the hot topic buttons.
        Sometimes I stop and shake my head and ask myself, “what the heck is going on?”
         I remember growing up when America was different.
       My mom was a Republican and my dad was a Democrat and a union man. They learned to get along. They voted and that was it. They didn’t talk about it and they didn’t go around our neighborhood telling everyone who they voted for.
       They did their duty and they worked hard and did what was best for their family. I miss that.
       I hope we can get back to a simpler time where neighbors are neighbors no matter the color of their skin, the church they attend or who they voted for.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

       I’m quite familiar with folks from the south being called “Rednecks.” I’m also aware of Oklahomans often referred to as “Okies.”
       John Steinbeck made the term “Okie,” a household name in his book, “The Grapes of Wrath” a book about the Tom Joad family’s travels from Oklahoma to California during the Depression of the 1930s. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you do.
      I was scrolling through the Internet the other day and came across a news story on National Bubba Day, which is celebrated on June 2 every year. It peaked my interest to learn that more than 50 million people in the world are referred to as Bubba.
       That’s a lot of Bubbas.
     The news story noted that Bubba is a US Southern slang word for a younger brother. It may also be a name given to someone with limited education who is rather poor or an overweight man.
     “While people use it as a term of endearment, sometimes it is also used as a term of ridicule,” the news article noted. “National Bubba Day was created to address this. It is all about positivity and it should be seen as a name that shows appreciation.”
     The late T. Bubba Bechtol, a comedian and former state and national president of the US Jaycees, which happens to be headquartered in my hometown of Tulsa, founded National Bubba Day in 1984 to celebrate everyone who is called Bubba.
     While he was with the US Jaycees, T. Bubba was featured on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethons and numerous other national television and radio shows.
   Ironically, Debbie and I were backstage guests of T. Bubba Bechtol at the Grand Old Opry on our honeymoon on Friday, Oct. 1, 2004.
     When we learned earlier this year of T. Bubba’s passing on Dec. 19, 2021 at the age of 76, we were both surprised and saddened.
      When planning our honeymoon, I saw that T. Bubba was a featured comedian at the Opry the evening we planned to attend. I wrote him an email and told him we would be visiting the Opry while in Tennessee.
      He promptly wrote back and asked if we would like to be his backstage guests. Heck, we couldn’t turn that offer down. What a treat!
     While backstage at the Opry, we met and got autographs from the now late Porter Wagoner, Little Jimmy Dickens and honky-tonk singer and songwriter, Jean Shepard. Also featured that evening was Ricky Skaggs and Chely Wright, who we also got autographs from.
     Prior to our Opry visit, we were asked to send copies of our Social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses to T. Bubba’s home in Pensacola, Fla. so he could send them on to the Opry. I suppose for background checks. Between the time we sent him the items, Hurricane Ivan struck Pensacola and destroyed his home, his belongings and our paperwork.
      He never turned our names in to the Opry and as a result, we almost weren’t allowed by security to enter backstage as our names were not on the guest list.
      We arrived at the Opry and made our way to the famous artist entrance only to learn that we were not on the guest list. I was pleading our case with the security guard, but it didn’t seem to do any good. It had to be a move of God as all of sudden, he decided to call the receptionist and we were given the OK to enter the building. All the receptionist asked was that we have T. Bubba come check in and let her know that we were his guests.
      When we told T. Bubba what had happened, he chuckled, saying “I never have guests, so that is probably why they let you in.”
    According to his obituary, T. Bubba worked in finance and later got involved in the US Jaycees, as mentioned above, before getting involved with the National Speakers Association, where he earned his professional designation as a Certified Speaking Professional.
       The syndicated columnist and humorist Lewis Gizzard heard T. Bubba speak at an event and they became friends. T. Bubba joined Lewis’s management team and his second calling as a stand-up comic took off.
    He made several appearances on Crook and Chase’s “Music City Tonight.” He was hired by Opryland Production to host “Boots, Boogy and Blues” at the Governor’s Palace Theater in Sevierville, Tenn. Then his first performance on the Grand Old Opry was on Oct. 24, 1998. He performed on the Opry more than 200 times. He was twice awarded Comedian of the Year by the International County Gospel Music Association due to his family-friendly style of comedy.
      What a treat and memory for Debbie and I to meet this man and be his backstage guests at the Grand Old Opry.
      Some years after meeting T. Bubba, we sent him a photo taken of us and him at the Opry. He signed it and sent it back to us. It’s a nice keepsake.
      T. Bubba Bechtol leaves behind two boys, Bubba Jr. and Little Bubba, and a host of other family members. 
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

​      I can still see my mom sitting at the kitchen table painstakingly making Memorial Day wreaths. She didn’t like the store bought kind and always made her own, at least two dozen or so of them.
     Every year she’d stop at Rathbone’s Flair Flowers in Tulsa and TG&Y 5 & 10 store to purchase Styrofoam, fake flowers, labels, glue and the such to make her own wreaths. They featured names such as “daughters,” “father,” “mother,” “brother,” “sister,” “uncle,” “aunt,” and “friend.” She’d glue them on the wreaths and was so proud of her work.
     We’d load the wreaths and decorations in the truck of the family sedan and spend Memorial Day driving around Tulsa and the suburb of Broken Arrow visiting and decorating family graves. It usually meant a stop at a family member or twos home for a visit.
       And some years we’d get to eat out, which was a bonus.
      I  have some family members who served in the military including my dad’s father, James Parker, who served in the 72nd Artillery, CAC during World War I and his step-grandfather, Glenn M. Reib, who served in the US Army during World War II. My dad’s brother, Orval, served in the Korean War. 
        My mom’s brother, Carroll Horton, served in the Army, and her brother, Leon Horton, also spent time in the military. There were several others on my mom’s side who served our great country. In fact, I have a photo I garnered from my parent’s estate of a family member holding a rifle and wearing a military uniform. I have his name written down, but don’t know a lot of about his service. A few years ago, I learned through another family member that I have a family member who served in the Civil War. I need to find his name and look into where he served. It is fascinating to look into family history.
       My mom started a family tree many years ago. I have it in her papers and have thought about trying to update it and post it on-line. It’s probably one of those retirement projects down the road.
          Since becoming a community journalist, I have covered many Memorial Day services in communities such as North English, Millersburg, Deep River, Montezuma, Brooklyn, Victor and more.  Taking the time to reflect on the service and dedication of our military is something none of us should take lightly.
          Thank you to all the veterans who served and those today who keep the American Legions and V.F.W,’s alive and well. 
        Veterans all across this country fought and died for our rights and freedoms in various wars. None of us should take the US Constitution and Bill of Rights for granted or become lazy in supporting them in this country. Once our rights have been swindled from us in the name of safety due to the action of a few or some other bologna, they are gone.
           You can take care of that business at the ballot box. No matter what side of the fence you are on, I hope you voted in the primary election. I hope you get out and vote, period. It makes a difference. You make a difference. Change happens when people get involved in their neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities. 
           Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

      Our nephews often stop by to visit, grab some snack food, drink a Pepsi or just sit on the couch to talk. They are always welcome.
       The other day I sent my oldest nephew a text inviting him to join me on a garage sale hunting excursion at Lake Ponderosa on Memorial Day weekend.
      He stopped by that evening and said he would not be able to go for some reason. I went last year and snatched up some nice finds, including a Disney doll house from the 1960s – 1970s with some original furniture. I don’t collect doll houses, but the price was right.
      Anyway, our oldest nephew loves to talk about his goats or share the latest on the  Johnny Deep and Amber Heard trial or some other hot news topic of the day.
         Somehow the topic of vintage came up and he was talking about the 1980s now being vintage. 
           My goodness, I’m thinking, the 1980s are now vintage?
          Maybe he is right. I did buy my first new car 38-years ago, a 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier hatchback with a 2.5 liter engine, front wheel drive and a five speed transmission. I loved that car and about drove the wheels off of it.
         I sold it in 1992 and used the money to buy four chairs for my oak kitchen table and pay the deposit and first month’s rent on my duplex apartment in Ashland, Mo. when I returned to college at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
         I purchased my second and last new vehicle in 1989, a Chevrolet S-10 pickup. I drove it for 21 years and 260,000 plus miles before selling it in 2010. That was a good old truck, or city truck as Debbie often says.
       And to take this vintage thing a step further, earlier that day I turned on the radio and they were playing hits from the 1980s all day. The song playing was “Long Train Running,” by the Dobbie Brothers. Such an appropriate song for modern times.
     It just happens that my first rock concert was the Dobbie Brothers at the Tulsa Assembly Center in April 1979. My concert ticket was $6.
      It’s scary to realize that I’ve been out of high school for 44-years, the class of 1978, and that my 50thclass reunion is in six years. It was just the other day that I was in kindergarten and graduating high school, let alone going to class reunions.
    I love to go antiquing and buying old post cards. I understand that a postcard from 1940s is old, not the 1980s.
       People and things do get old and how we communicate changes almost daily.
       When I was in school there were no computers, cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok or ordering and paying on-line. However, I did enjoy the comforts of an electric typewriter and talking to friends and family in “real time” person.
      We didn’t have seat belts in cars until the 1980s and I can remember our dial telephone on the wall with a long cord that reached the bathroom. And wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle wasn’t even considered. 
        Of all the social media, Facebook is my favorite. I enjoy posting a funny of the day and sharing highlights of my life while reconnecting with school chums and family. I still don’t understand Twitter and I have never posted on Instagram. I prefer to call people on the phone.
       I don’t have Snapchat or Tik Tok accounts and have no plans to download the social media services anytime soon.
         I do a lot of texting, but thanks to autocorrect, my texts are often a mess. I don’t know how many times I’ve told the wrong person I loved them, thinking I was texting Debbie.
      The other day I was trying to send some photos to a person via text and somehow, thanks to autocorrect, typed the wrong address and they ended up in France. The fellow wrote and said I sent them to him by mistake.
      My dad loved to visit and no one was a stranger to him. I still like that better than social media. Maybe I will make a new friend while out garage sale hunting. I’m sure I will find something vintage from the 1980s. 
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

      I am proud to have received a number of awards and honors through the years for various educational achievements and newspaper journalistic work.
   Some that come to mind include a 12th place national finish in the William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism competition for a photo story I did on a small-town gas station and local hangout in Ashland, Mo. while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. I have also received numerous awards since moving to Iowa through the Iowa Newspaper Association for photography, writing and community service. In addition, I have been honored with the FFA Blue and Gold honor, the Friend of 4-H honor and my most recent, the News Media Award from the Iowa High School Athletic Association. I’m proud to have been recognized with all these honors and more.
      But the most important honors are the personal ones that come along life’s way. That is what happened to me earlier this month.
      I was at the Montezuma High School graduation on Saturday, May 14 to take photos for the CR paper and to watch our middle nephew graduate. At Montezuma, the top five seniors deliver speeches as part of the commencement program.
      One of the seniors, Katie Reynolds, thanked me in her speech for covering events at the school. Hearing my name almost brought tears to my eyes. I was touched that this young lady, who could have mentioned anybody in her life, took the time to include me in her speech.
       I have people thank me for going the extra mile on my day job and others who have thanked me for this or that through the years. It means a lot to me to have someone do that.
      It also reminds me of the importance of thanking others and being appreciative of those who make life easier and more pleasant for all.
    There are a lot of good people doing good things in this world. It is easy to let what others do be overshadowed with the negative going on in our world. That makes it even more important to be appreciative of others and take time to thank them for helping.
      A couple months ago, Debbie and I and our oldest nephew visited Sam’s Club in Ankeny. I like the Gold Leaf unsweet tea and where it usually is in the store was empty. I looked around and found a large pallet of the tea on one of the upper shelves.
       “I’m not leaving this store without a couple cases of unsweet tea,” I told myself.
       I found an employee and asked for help. He got on his walkie talkie asking for help with no luck.
     “This is my third day on the job and I’m going get someone to help,” he told me as he headed to the warehouse.
        And he did.
       It wasn’t too long and a forklift showed up and set the pallet down and I had two cases in my shopping cart. After we checked out, I asked to speak with a manager. There was about a 10-minute wait for her. I shared about how this young man went over and above to help me. The manager said she appreciated me telling her that.
        I hope he got a raise or a maybe a promotion.
        Often times when you ask about a product, the clerk will say, “If it isn’t on the shelf, we are out.”
        That is not always the case. Sometimes, not always, the store will have a pallet or a couple of boxes in the back stockroom. The problem is laziness and unwillingness to help. To me, that is what they are paid for. It only takes a few minutes to check.
        I guess I was raised in a different time zone.
        Life is so much easier when you spend more time being appreciative and staying away from the negative. It’s easy to be negative and find fault. Everyone makes mistakes. Take the high road in life. Say thank you, hold the door open for others, do good deeds and take pride in all you do every day, every hour and every minute.
        That’s the best reward you will ever receive.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

        This coming weekend, seniors at Montezuma and BGM will graduate. Grinnell High School graduation will follow on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
         I direct this column to all the graduating seniors.
         Congrats on reaching this milestone, one of many that you will encounter in life.
        Some graduates will enter the workforce. Others will spend their summers working, saving money and preparing to enter a two- or four-year college in the fall. Others will serve our country in the military. Some may opt to enter a trades program such as welding, pipefitting, diesel mechanic or becoming an electrician.
        Growing up, I had no desire to attend college after high school. I was in a vocational program in high school where I learned the printing trade. The last half of my senior year, I attended English in the morning and then spent the rest of the day at work.
          I worked for a short time my senior year for a company in Tulsa that made wire line used in the printing industry to cut perforations in paper like checks or bills. My second job was at a check printing business where I ran a press that used lead type and printed three-to-a-page business checks.
            I then went on to work as a custodian at a 24-7 large grocery/drug store. I worked at a factory for a short period of time and then in the circulation department at the Tulsa newspapers in the 1980s. I sold furniture for a couple years and ran a lawn mowing service.
Thanks to a weight loss bet with a co-worker at my newspaper job, I not only lost weight, I won a camera in the bet.
            That led me to return to a community college at age 27 to study photography. I went on to earn an AAS degree and then a BS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia at age 38. At MU, I started as a part-time student then switched to full-time two years later. I worked at the U.S. Post Office as a casual temp for a short time then at the MU campus as a custodian for several years while attending classes.
       Leaving my hometown of Tulsa and going back to school was a great experience. I wouldn’t change a thing.
           I got through the challenges of school and work by listening to Bible tapes at night while I cleaned toilets and mopped floors. I always said I swept and mopped my way through journalism school.
          Following graduation, I moved to Iowa where I continue working part-time in community journalism. I met my wife, bought a house, published books here in Iowa and life is good. 
          This is my advice for all graduating seniors.
         If you want to be a success, spend time around people who believe in you and will help you obtain success. They are around. You are probably not going to find them on social media. 
           While at MU, I met a man who was referred to as Mr. C. His last name was Campbell, but the nickname fit him better.
          I was sitting in his office one day in the registrar’s office at the university talking about my struggles with algebra. I had dropped the course twice and was trying again and wasn’t doing so good
            I told Mr. C that I seemed to be scoring just under average on my assignments.
Mr. C, who was originally from Tennessee, wrote 26 on a piece of paper. Do you know what this number means, he asked? I said, no. He said the average ACT score at MU was 26. He said, if you are scoring just under average, then you are in some pretty tall corn.
            Those words of encouragement, my stubborn persistence, lots of tutoring and a touch of favor helped me pass the course with a C.
            Life is full of well-meaning rocks and trees. You will run into them every day in the form of people who have opinions and advice about who you are and what they think you should be doing with your life.
          Don’t be distracted or let what others say keep you from reaching your goals in life. They are not in charge.
          When faced with a rock or tree, listen then go around like water does when it hits a rock in a stream. Keep walking and keep believing. Your future is bright and your goals are obtainable.
          Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help is not a weakness, but a strength.
         Whatever you do in life, give it your best. Show up at work on time. If you are going to be late, call or text and let the boss know. Stay busy, find jobs do, get involved in work committees and take part in volunteer opportunities.
         Give to others and support causes that build communities and people’s lives. That works in small towns and big cities.
         You’re not the low man (woman) on the totem pole. You have purpose on this earth. Be a difference maker in all you do.
       And most importantly, enjoy life, find a hobby, take time for yourself and your family, when that comes along.
          Again, congrats on all your success. The doors of opportunity await you.
        Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

        I watched a 35-minute video on sleep last week at work. It was interesting learning about the different stages of sleep and how one’s heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature cool down, then rise again just before the REM stage or dream sleep stage.
        The video mentioned the importance of not drinking alcohol or caffeine at least two hours before going to bed. It also spoke of taking a hot shower before bed and getting up when the alarm clock first goes off. It recommended that folks age 19 – 65 sleep from 7 – 9 hours a night.
        It was very informational. What it didn’t talk about was the need for a good mattress.
        If you want to dream good dreams, get a good mattress.
      Debbie and I bought a well-known brand pillow top mattress in 2014. We paid a lot of money for it. What a disappointment. I’d like to throw it out the door and set it on fire.
         My side of the bed is squished and I about roll on to the floor when I get too close to the edge of the bed. Debbie’s side of the mattress has a hole big enough to fill with water and wash the dishes. 
         I spoke with the company we bought the mattress from a few times. They sent a fellow out to look at the mattress, but it was determined not to be bad enough for replacement.
          They don’t have to sleep on it.
          To me, I would think a good mattress would last at least a dozen or so years, not four or five.
         Last year we went to look at new mattress. We looked at every kind of mattress in the book from the firm as a stack of plywood kind to the cooling mattresses, memory foam ones and pillow tops. I don’t know if there is a company that makes a mattress, a plain mattress with springs, foam and soft pad. And I don’t know what’s was more expensive, a new mattress or the down payment on a new pickup truck.
           There are all kinds of brands of mattresses out there. Everyone promises the best nights of sleep. Now they have mattresses in a box that are advertised on social media. I have yet to figure how they work.
          It scares me a bit to spend a thousand dollars on a mattress that is rolled up in a box and shipped to your door by Fed Ex or UPS.
            As one fellow I know said, “You just open the box and blow it up.”
            I like to sleep and do so every chance I get. I’ve been known to sleep half a day. I like to take naps as well. 
          When I come home from work, I usually pour a glass of iced cold tea and take a nap in my red La-Z-Boy chair. Naps last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. It all depends on how many hours of sleep I got the night before and how work went that day.
           Back in the day, my dad would come home from the factory and take a cat nap on the living room floor. He’d just lay there with no pillow or blanket for 20-minutes. He’d then get up and off he’d go outside to work in the yard or mow one of the many neighbor’s yards he cared for.
            We didn’t have an air conditioner until I turned age 10. 
            After getting our Frigidaire window air conditioner, my mom had a rule that it had to be at least 92 degrees before she’d turn it on. It might have been 95 degrees, I don’t remember.
            It ran most days as it was typically 95 degrees on a summer day in Oklahoma. At night, we’d turn the air conditioner off and turn on the attic fan. Attic fans were a common fixture in southern homes. Open all the windows and by morning, I’d be wrapped up in a blanket.
            I’m kind of spoiled these days. When it gets hot, the air conditioner comes on.
            I’m also a little spoiled about having a good mattress. 
We just want a plain mid-range firm mattress that is both comfortable, practical and that we don’t have to take out a second mortgage to pay for it.
          I can’t wait until we get a new one. The old one’s going out the door and on to the burn pile. 
         Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.