Got Snow?

Remember the milk campaign of a few years ago showing famous people with a white milk mustache? That was on my mind when in Clinton, Iowa today I spotted this sculpture of a catfish sporting remnants of Thursday's blizzard in its mouth. Each of this downtown block' s corners features different animals of the region - just a block from the Mississippi River. And yes the entire eastern Iowa region still is reeling from the storm that deposited the first measurable snow of Winter 2012-13 in this portion of the state.

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40 Years Ago - Apollo 17’s Ron Evans Took a Walk in Space

Forty years ago today, the last NASA manned mission to the Moon was on its way home. At that time, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans made a one hour six minute space walk to retrieve film cassettes from Apollo 17’sexterior cameras. Those photos captured the crust beneath much of the lunar surface. In mission imagery this photo of Ron outside the service module bay was widely used. It also stands out as the furthest walk in deep space still on the books since no one has returned to the moon or ventured further since December 1972. Evans also holds the record for most time in lunar orbit.

Fifteen years later I wrote to Evans, than a retired astronaut busy with a variety of work. I asked him several questions that he answered and signed several magazine pages of the mission that I had sent him. Ron wrote this spacewalk was the highlight of the mission for him being near the moon’s vicinity on the return to earth. He told me on January 2, 1988 “what a ball this was” to walk in space. Ron Evans died of a heart attack on April 7, 1990.

In 1996 I met Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan when he came to town to help dedicate a portion of the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library. He signed a photo that I had brought him of a very tired looking mission commander inside the lunar module on the moon’s surface after EVA-3.

Apollo 17 also produced a very famous image of the full earth where the continents of Antarctica, Africa, Europe and parts of Asia can be seen. The photo was long used as the earth image from 1972 until perhaps a decade ago when more full earth images from satellites and interplanetary probes were released.

Evans said of the round earth image, “it is truly round.” He also shed some light on which crew member took that famous photo. He wrote me, “I took that one, but Jack (Schmitt) will also claim credit. Ha!”

Someday I will contact the third member of the Apollo 17 crew, Jack Schmitt and learn more firsthand about that mission and who took that famous photo.

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Moline's Seasonal Rest

Warm autumn weather has given Iowa farmers time to finish the harvest and condition their fields. I found this older (some say antique) Moline-brand tractor and rusted pull plough positioned on a field's edge. Together they finished field preparation and await more warmer weather for beginning spring planting in about four months.

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Black Hawk War Era Fort Stands at Sinsinawa Mound

You usually don’t associate the word “fort” with the American Midwest, let alone the upper Midwest. Sure they exist, even in Iowa; places like Fort Madison, Fort Atkinsonand Fort Dodge. These fortified structures provided a place of safety, collection of a garrison and exerted regional control over the expanding territory as the United Statespushed over the continent.

We learn about the major events in our country’s history in school but rarely does the material detail the Midwest’s fortified history. How many of us are better versed in forts associated with the American Colonies and Old West? Even here in Iowa the historical subject matter of westward expansion rarely mentions local forts (in school books) and their importance to the area.

So it’s little wonder that while traveling just outside of Iowa near Sinsinawa, Wisconsin (an unincorporated community just a few miles east of Dubuque, Iowa) that this structure sticks out oddly as does the mound it rests upon.

Extreme southwest Wisconsinconsists of rolling prairie hills. Prominent at Sinsinawa is a conical hill that dramatically rises off the landscape and is topped off by a crown of trees.

Early settlers farmed and raised livestock in the area – much like the practices today. Lead was mined and smelted on the mound. When Sac (Sauk) and Fox factions threatened the well being of settlers a fort was constructed. Local resident, later one of the first two Iowa Senators, George Wallace Jonesbuilt this structure.

A display sign at the fort reads, “In the spring of 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, I built a log fort or block house for the protection of my family…and neighbors.”

While I have not fully investigated the stone structure, it is obvious that the building was recently preserved with concrete flooring and column supports. The interior displays old lead mining equipment.

I have marked this as a subject to more fully explore. To make it even more fascinating is the fort’s assimilation with the buildings of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary. The site is motherhouse for 600 sisters who conduct educational training and spiritual relationships – just steps outside the fort.

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Who is this U.S. Navy Sailor?

At a consignment store in Iowa City this afternoon a photo of a World War II era sailor was purchased. There is no information about him except for the Anamosa, Iowa photo studio name. Yesterday was the 71^st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Perhaps this sailor enlisted because of that event or was there himself, or served at another time. Maybe you can identify this person? Let me know. Read further about photo detective work with images found at antique stores, auctions, or consignment stores by going to the Forgotten Old Photos blog site.

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Controlled Burn at Farm House Near Sandy Hook, WI

A controlled fire southeast of Sandy Hook, Wisconsin brought in several area fire departments in addition to people investigating the tower of smoke. The home was purposely set on fire while crews practiced various spraying methods of containment, then allowed the structure to completely burn. A portion of the second story of the old farmhouse can be seen falling on the left. This is yet another example of keeping a camera with you especially as you tour the 42N latitude.

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UFO Landed in Sinsinawa's Valley of the Dinosaurs

Travel over the Highway 151 bridge from Iowato Wisconsin (over the Mississippi River) and take the first exit in the Badger State east to Highway 11. Along the scenic rolling hills near Sinsinawa is a massive tree topped mound which served as native, mining, Black Hawk war, and spiritual centers. Save all of that for a future 42N blog post.

Continue east of the mound about a mile and you will notice a slight rise of a hill on the highway. As you crest the hill (still east bound) you will plunge into an alien world of dinosaurs and an UFO. There’s about eight metal dino sculptures in a pasture greeting you unexpectedly. New to this mixture of creatures is this UFO craft complete with a green faced alien at the controls. 

While photographing these objects of art I parked along the shoulder of the busy highway. I walked outside of the guard rail to get closer to the dinosaurs. Not surprisingly the ground was littered with discarded containers of energy drinks, beer, fast food wrappers, and miscellaneous plastics, broken glass and paper. Oddly no cheese wrappers were found despite being within a few miles of curd central, Shullsburg. Friendly Wisconsinites even blew their horns as if I cared to look at them zipping by at 55 mph rather than observing the herd from Jurassic Park, plus one alien. 

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