Lost And Found

In today’s Gazette, I talk to Roy Porterfield who found a Bible in the middle of First Avenue East in Cedar Rapids on that unlucky Friday, June 13, at the height of the flood. That’s when the Cedar River hit its crest, when it flowed through thousands of city homes and businesses sweeping whatever lay in its path [...]

Kilroy was here

In today’s Ramblin’ column in The Gazette I mention that Linda Ferguson found ”Kilroy was here” graffiti behind a wall at her flood damaged northwest Cedar Rapids home.

I’ve always liked this little guy and knew that he evolved during World War II. But, I never really knew the story behind him.
If there’s anywhere to find out, it [...]

Pink Houses as Popular as Brad Pitt

When I check my blog statistics, I’m amazed to see that an old entry has become the most popular, moving past one about Ashton Kutcher making a surprise visit to Cedar Rapids. It’s the one about Lucille and Larry Pulvermacher’s pink house in Central City posted March 21, the day my column about them and their [...]

Criticized For Receiving FEMA Check

A handful of people have weighed in about my column in today’s Gazette about receiving a FEMA check for damage to my basement after my sump pump failed. They have called me names, said I have no right to accept such a check and tell me to give it to people who really need it.
I’m [...]

Survived Flood and Tornado

Jenny Hayes, 50, has now survived a flood as well as a tornado.
Jenny was in fourth grade back in 1968 when a tornado roared through Oelwein. Her parents’ house was a rock she told me as we chatted at the shelter set up at New Creation United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids. The staircase in the middle [...]

Flood Damage Gawkers, Pro and Con

My Gazette columns about flood damage gawkers that ran Wednesday (June 25) and Friday (June 27) hit a nerve. In the first, I talked to flood victims who resent people driving by to look at and photograph their homes and the damage rather than getting out to help. They feel a loss of privacy. In the second, I talked to people [...]

Two weeks since the flood

Two weeks ago today Cedar Rapids received more than an inch of rain, the Cedar River rushed to its crest of more than 31 feet and the word “flood” took on new meaning for 25,000 people evacuated from their homes.
After I returned to work the following Monday after a week of vacation, I ran out [...]

Cedar River tranquil in wake of raging Red River circa 1997

With the recent comparison of the 2008 flood in Cedar Rapids and the 1997 flood in Grand Forks, ND, I can’t resist running this Ramblin’ column I wrote for the April 29, 1997, Gazette. It ran with the headline “Cedar’s serenity a welcome contrast to raging Red River”
The Cedar River is a whisper to the Red River’s [...]

My Sump Pump Has Finally Stopped Running

After 3 1/2 weeks, my sump pump has finally stopped running. This is the first year in seven that it has run even once. I had to buy extended drainage tubing so it would drain in the street. I know it was a wet winter and it’s been a wet spring, so that doesn’t surprise [...]

Motorcycles and Sidecars

After taking a ride with Tom Pribyl of Cedar Rapids in his classic 1935 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with sidecar (See today’s Ramblin’ column in The Gazette), I just had to do some research about motorcycles and sidecars.
Wow, there’s a lot out there. Some things you might like to see if this is up your alley:
This brief [...]