Heirloom tomatoes ready to move to cold frame. Local musicians to get me out of the house.

I posted a self congratulatory post for my #10,000.
Got one response.

seems much of what I loved has been driven out of our state by the divisive politics of the extreme right wing.

First, I do love the seasonal changes, but they are less dramatic and the warm months now seem to dominate and are getting hotter. Winters are milder and shorter. I like cooler weather.

Iowa used to attract business with its educated hard working people. Now we do the same crap as ever other state - bribe businesses with our tax money. We have plundered much of what is good about Iowa in seeking the blessings of business. Now we are no longer unique, nor are we anywhere near what we used to be educationally.

We used to protect our natural resources. Now it's corn and beans as far as you can see unless a CAFO gets in the way.
The CAFOs stink.

We used to care about people, now we are lucky to even meet our neighbors.

I could go on - I started noticing these changes near the end of Branstad I. When he came back as a puppet of the Kochs, it has been downhill fast.

College tuitions and debt among the highest in the nation, rural health care barely hanging on with rural areas just plain dying. All this is part and parcel of the huge extreme right ward turn our politics have taken.

I feel like we have spent much of the past 8 years trying to become the Mississippi of the north.

I have close relatives in Illinois and Minnesota - both of which look much better right now. None of them want to return to Iowa. I am often asked - what happened to Iowa?

sorry to be a Debbie Downer - congratulations on post #1000. Way to hang in there.