My First Year in Des Moines! (Saylorville, Gray: house, tornado, live)

[Meemur]

For my 2000th post, I hope you'll help me celebrate my first year in Des Moines. Yes, on this date last year, I signed the papers for my house and officially became a resident.

Overall, it's been a really good year. My bank account is happy, and two more of my friends are moving out this way: one to IC and the other to Twin Cities. At this rate, there won't be anyone left in Ohio that I care about visiting, which is fine. I'm really not homesick . . .

. . . except for shoo-fly pie. Maybe I'll find some in Iowa's Amish Country.

Iowa has the best beef, pork, and chicken, however. And the farmer's market downtown on Saturdays is truly awesome. And I've had a great time getting to know the city, plus there are more places on my list than I have time to visit right now.

I hope that this winter will be a little warmer. I was told we had a Zone 4 winter and D-M is Zone 5.

I'm still looking for 80 gram Thinsulate gloves, just in case.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by Meemur

For my 2000th post, I hope you'll help me celebrate my first year in Des Moines. Yes, on this date last year, I signed the papers for my house and officially became a resident.

Overall, it's been a really good year. My bank account is happy, and two more of my friends are moving out this way: one to IC and the other to Twin Cities. At this rate, there won't be anyone left in Ohio that I care about visiting, which is fine. I'm really not homesick . . .

. . . except for shoo-fly pie. Maybe I'll find some in Iowa's Amish Country.

Iowa has the best beef, pork, and chicken, however. And the farmer's market downtown on Saturdays is truly awesome. And I've had a great time getting to know the city, plus there are more places on my list than I have time to visit right now.

I hope that this winter will be a little warmer. I was told we had a Zone 4 winter and D-M is Zone 5.

I'm still looking for 80 gram Thinsulate gloves, just in case.

Congrats.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Meemur

I hope that this winter will be a little warmer. I was told we had a Zone 4 winter and D-M is Zone 5.

I'm still looking for 80 gram Thinsulate gloves, just in case.

I recommend LL Bean gear also, The USDA plant hardiness zones are a funny thing as the areas by the South are zone 6 (near Kansas City and St. Louis). However, one very cold winter season can readjust the hardiness zones back further south because they base it on the absolute coldest temperature that can occur. Winter 03-04 in Wisconsin was actually colder than many areas of southern Canada. Northern Wisconsin had lows of -35F even in March, so they must be back closer to a Zone 3 winter. If you pull out a map, one of the observation stations I check, Rhinelander, had an average temperature of 4F for the entire season. That was the coldest since records have been kept there, but not reversing the overall trend toward milder winters overall.

[Meemur]

I took the hint and bought Zone 4 berry bushes.

Gloves are coming in, but they are the fleecy type right now. Too early for ski gloves, I suspect. I'll watch for LL Bean.

[smpliving]

Congrats on your 1-year anniversary and best wishes for year #2! I always look forward to your contributions on the Iowa forum.

[Meemur]

Thanks!

[hunterseat]

I love the positive tone in the DM area forum. I may be interviewing for a job there. It would be a promotion so I really hope I get the offer. Not much water there, eh? We love being near water. Another possible job is in MD about 20mi outside of DC. Close to water and grand kids but that's it.

[Meemur]

That's true, it's not like being in the Great Lakes area where there are opportunities for island hopping, but at the same time, there are a lot of small lakes and rivers around, so there's certainly lots of fishing and boating on a smaller scale.

I haven't had a lot of time to explore Saylorville Lake, but it looks pretty cool. Here's a link to the marina. Depending on where you are in the metro, it's a 20 minute drive or so. There's a photo gallery at that site.

Saylorville Lake Marina

And then there is Gray's Lake in the city:

https://www.dmgov.org/Departments/Pa...ActEvents.aspx

I frequently grab dinner from China Express at HyVee (a grocery store) and have a picnic there.

There's also bike trails along the river, and I'm told there is a canoe livery around, but I haven't had time to look into that.

So, it's not like being in the middle of the desert. One plus: there is a lot more sun here in the winter because there's not enough water for lake effect to have an influence on the weather.

[hunterseat]

Great stuff! After hearing a tornado analogy I wondered if storm cellars are common? It would be a great excuse to build a root cellar.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Great stuff! After hearing a tornado analogy I wondered if storm cellars are common? It would be a great excuse to build a root cellar.

Basements are extremely common in homes in Central Iowa, plus there are a few "root cellars" (aka bomb shelters) here and there, leftover from the 1950s.

Home gardens are also quite common. Overall, the soil is very good here. I read about cities or HOAs in other places trying to ban gardens. If they tried to do that here, there would be a riot over that issue. People love their heritage tomatoes and other veggies.

I lost my potatoes, but that was my fault for not having enough sand in the raised bed. My tomatoes, pea, beans, herbs, and berries have been the best ever.

Oh, and the farmer's market downtown over the summer is just wonderful! I can't say enough good things about the local produce and meats. Seafood is a joke ("jet fresh" catch) but the beef, pork (BACON!), and chicken is to die for.