Notes from Steve

I told people that today, St. Pat’s Day, is my favorite holiday. Because - 1. It’s March, and it’s my favorite month because the weather is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you’ll get (today started at 4 degrees and Saturday is supposed to be 80 - this is crazy). 2. You celebrate by wearing green and drinking beer and listening to Irish music for ONE day (unlike Christmas, which you get at least one full month of Away in the Manger), and 3. See #1 and #2.  

Micki (Disney) said (after a few days in warm Florida) that Iowa weather is too “all over the board.” My thoughts on this are - it makes you appreciate the nice days so much more. I know that if I lived in one of those perfect-weather areas, I would not have the same appreciation for anything in life. The snow in upper Michigan and Wisconsin came in two-foot waves, and they were saying, “No big deal, we’re used to this” … I’m like - nope. I think God planned for me to live here because I can take a little bad weather, but a two-foot snow would send me over the edge fairly quickly. God gives me only what I can handle.  

Because of the blizzard this past weekend, I got to dog sit Henry Elizabeth, the beagle. After he “beagle screamed” for a while, we collectively decided that ham is a good treat. My friend Cheryl said I should get a dog, and I disagreed. I’ll hang for a while with a dog - I like dogs, but at the end of the day - plants and books are pretty much my speed.*

*I adopted a dog from the animal shelter once when I was in South Dakota and took it back after 7 days. We both decided that it was for the best. The people who worked there said I fostered it for a week. This also happened with a cat I named Larry in 2016. Larry was crazy … literally. I kept him for 5 months and gave the shelter a donation when I brought him back. Ask Jordan - Larry scratched and bit me frequently. I still felt a lot of guilt.