#iowa

#Birds #BackyardBirds #PurpleMartins #iowa

...and they're here!

This morning, I heard the joyful gurgling song of the purple martins, and there are 6 or 8 of them checking out the accommodations.

@lillyfinch

#Grassley has been in the #Senate for 44 years. He must have a boatload of cred from his GOP colleagues. He could make a difference in any one of these issues: #tariffs #deportations #separationofpowers #ruleoflaw.

If he won’t use his accumulated powers in this situation, there is no reason for #Iowa to keep electing him.

#Flowers #Pollinators #Bees #Orchard #Iowa #bloomscrolling

Honey bee on an apple blossom.

Senator Chuck Grassley faced constituents in a small room for his “town hall”, but couldn’t avoid facing very direct questions from a veteran.

I don't know his name but that gentleman could probably run against Grassley and be a real threat.

#Iowa has entered the chat.

https://youtu.be/cUtfcoMsVDM?si=z_PG_N6K4m-UTN_U

#Grassley #Republicans #DoYourJob

Senator Grassley gets an earful, and when he starts pivoting to try and blame the Democratic Party (at 2:30) he gets booed and laughed down. #Iowa

https://youtu.be/aUXSEjccqs8?si=AvpLEozicY4geSR4

#Republicans #Congress #DoYourJob

Old white #GOP people in #Iowa pissed off at #Senator #ChuckGrassley for not doing anything about #USA concentration camps in #ElSalvador

"Attorneys for CHI and MercyOne argue that “finding an unborn child to be a ‘person’ would lead to serious implications in other areas of the law.”

Remember people, to Catholic doctors an "unborn child" is a person only in the case of abortion.
When a Catholic hospital kills an "unborn child" by lack of proper care it's only a fetus.

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/04/09/aiming-to-limit-damages-catholic-hospital-argues-a-fetus-isnt-the-same-as-a-person/

#abortion #birth #woman #religion #healthcare #health #child #iowa

"Turning away people who have come here for asylum is one of the most shameful things we are doing right now."

-- Iowa resident to senator Chuck Grassley yesterday

https://youtu.be/GSZXUNvkw9E

Some powerful moments as we wonder what is going on with Abrego Garcia, as we face this Constitutional crisis.

#AbregoGarcia #Iowa #news #USA #USPol

#BackyardBirds #Gourds #Flowers #Orchard #Iowa

It’s #Wrensday, and I’m still waiting for the wrens to return. I made a couple more nesting gourds this week and hung one up in the orchard.

#USPol #Iowa #ElSalvador

"When are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?"

Today's town hall with Sen. Grassley took place in Fort Madison (the town where I grew up). The earful that Grassley got about Kilmar Abrego Garcia is what should happen to any member of Congress who ventures out in public.

That part of the video starts at the 2:00 minute mark. Grassley tried to weasel out of any role, but the people would have none of it. Bring the heat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSZXUNvkw9E

Senator Chuck Grassley grilled at Iowa town hall over ‘shameful’ Trump policies

The Republican, 91, was confronted by attendees angered over mass deportations and executive overreach..#Trump..#GOP..#whitenationalism..#Iowa https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/chuck-grassley-town-hall

#ThickTrunkTuesday #Trees #Bloomscrolling #Flowers #Redbud #Iowa.

This is truly a very large Redbud Tree.

#ThickTrunkTuesday #Trees #Sycamore #Cats #Baseball #Iowa

This tree was planted 31 years ago as a 3-foot bareroot sapling. My son and I used to play catch beside it. Later, I would throw pop flies over the tree. Now, there's no room for playing catch...

Edit: Corrected date of old photo. It was the year 2000. My son -- 10 years old -- had asked the barber for an NBA haircut (probably a fade, but he got a bowl cut).

Ledges State Park

Boone County, Iowa, USA; traditional territory of the Jíwere–Ñút’achi Máyaⁿ (Otoe-Missouria), Báxoje Máyaⁿ (Ioway), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ nations / Original 360° photos at https://www.SouthernMinnesotaGuy.com

#Insta360 #tinyplanet #photography #Iowa #spring #nature #hiking

#Birds #BackyardBirds #Aves #Flowers #Iowa

Looking a little splotchy this morning. I'm pretty sure this is a Male American Goldfinch in the process of molting.

#Bloomscrolling #Flowers #NativePlants #Iowa #Missouri #poetry

Wild plum trees in context.

From poet Ardyth Bradley’s “Oklahoma, April” (but it fits Iowa and Missouri, too):

“The wild plum trees are everywhere—
next to fences by neglected fields,
white in ditches along the road,
blooming like kites in blackjack thickets.”

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
-- G. K. Chesterton

#Wisdom #Quotes #GKChesterton #Rights

#Photography #Panorama #Rainbow #MississippiRiver #Iowa

Spent Thursday and Friday at Univ of #Iowa where I'm an adviser to the #journalism school. Got to meet some amazing students and see their accomplishments. Here's an overhead shot of the scholarships/awards announcements on Thursday. #UIowaSJMC #Photography

More photos: https://technewslitphoto.smugmug.com/Travel-photos/Iowa-City-2025

#SilentSunday #Iowa

Southwest Iowa Pastoral

#FrankZappa #Iowa #Rural

Yes indeed, here we are!
At the Benton Community Pancake Supper…

(Not to be confused with St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast)