Mooses in a Glass Box

Every year there seems to be a sighting of a black bear or moose wondering around eastern Iowa. Iowa's DNR says the large animals are most likely from Minnesota, where they have treked along river, timber and corn fields in search of who knows what down here along the 42N latitude. While the latest sighting of a lone male moose was within the city limits of Cedar Rapids last month, the whereabouts of the northern creature is unknown. Here at the University of Iowa's Natural History Museum, Mammal Hall you can find a whole family of mooses. The display has been here for many years - and so have I.

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Treasure of Iowa

American native bead work, specifically Iowan is rare, detailed and a work of art. Check it out for yourself at the Iowa Natural History Museum at Macbride Hall in Iowa City, Iowa. Imagine how these are made. How do the makers get the beads? How is the pattern crafted? How long does it take to make this? Maybe someone knows.

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A Muscatine Look from Iowa to Illinois

A statue looks across the Mississippi River from Muscatine, Iowa to Illinois.What really makes this scene a head scratcher is the spelling of Muscatine as found on the plaque. 

It reads,"Presented to the City of Muscatine by Musquitine Tribe No. 95, Improved Order of Red Men, and dedicated to the Moscoutin Indians 1926." Take your pick of the city's spelling. My guess is that its probably a progression from Native to French to English.

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Three Cheerful Ys for UNI

Make no mistake, these cheerleaders are athletes. You have to possess strength to lift, jump and tumble, plus be able to smile in both winning or losing situations. This squad is part of the University of Northern Iowa team who performed during time-outs and halftime at the women's basketball game last Sunday. The UNI panthers won 87 to 53 over Southern Illinois. The crowd showed appreciation for the squad especially for their court-length run of backflips.

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Shine a Little Light on Me

What's a college basketball game without some dramatic lighting? Boring. But add some lights with automatic controls and others run by humans, the resultant effects can be spectacular. On Sunday this spot operator did her best to zap people's retinas and provide a winter tan to the pale citizens of the north. That was a welcomed relief after the polar vortex of this past week week reminded us what -23F felt like for hours at a time.

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Frozen Button on the Mississippi River

Muscatine, Iowa's The Pearl Button excursion boat remains solidly ice locked in the downtown harbor along the Mississippi River. This past week local temperatures plummeted well below zero due to the arrival of the polar vortex. But three days later the temps warmed a bit and made some progress in local melting. However except for some water atop ice near shore, the ice looked pretty thick and extended from Ioway to Illinois. The 42N crew did spot several bald eagles along the way especially along the Cedar, Iowa and Mississippi rivers.

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Winter's Dam on the Maquoketa

To begin the 42N 2014 blogging season I traveled a few miles up the highway to the old dam on the Maquoketa River located at Monticello, Iowa. Last year's blog activity saw a ready stream of posts until a self imposed slowdown in November. While I broke my one-more-blog-posting-than-the previous-year routine, the pause did rack up more material that I can blog about this year. So let's get started...

For more than 100 years this structure and its predecessors have provided grist milling,ice and electrical power for the city. Today the area is noted as historical and for its fishing magic just below the cascades.

A historical view of the dam taken in the 1920s shows various units of the power plant configuration during its peak production period. The stone ice house building, closest to the photographer, was for storage of river ice used in households in the community.

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