Fleabags

It is a beautiful, clear night in Iowa. Today was a crystal-clear September day. All around, the colors are beginning to change. The soybean plants, which a week ago were dark green and bushy, are turning golden. The corn plants are drying out and turning light brown. Soon, the combines will be out in the fields, gathering the corn and beans into huge trailers, and then into the grain elevators. The weather here is absolutely perfect right now. After a rainy week last week, it is sunny, with warm days and cool nights. I really do like fall in Iowa, I'm just not ready for winter yet. I just finished giving our two dogs flea baths. Yes, indeed, our dogs have fleas. Libby turned out to only have three or four fleas, sort of like an "away team" on Star Trek. By contrast, Rosie was like the Starship Enterprise of fleas. (I needed to throw in a little Star Trek reference for my Trekie wife of almost 5 years.) Anyway, Rosie had an absolute cavalcade of fleas. I put a flea collar on her last night, and the fleas simply staged an orderly exodus to the back half of the dog. I haven't had much experience with fleas before, but I can now say with confidence that I do not like them. Libby endured the bath patiently, climbing in the bathtub on her own, and calmly standing there while the Pine-Sol scented lather did its job. Rosie, however, was a blur of snarling, biting, thrashing, lathered rage. As soon as she was out of the tub, she took off at full speed. For several minutes, she tore around the house, shaking off a cloud of piney mist. Yesterday, I had to make a trip to the county seat (Adel), to register the new wagon. One thing that has been a nice surprise about Iowa, at least in our county, is the relative lack of bureaucracy. Any business you need to take care of with cars, taxes, or houses, just requires a quick visit to the appropriate office. Last year, I had a list of things to take care of, and just went from desk to desk meeting with the appropriate people. Registering a car and getting the plates and tags takes about 5 minutes, with no inspection and no time spent in a stinky, noisy waiting room, watching an indecipherable sequence of numbers flash on a screen (sorry, I had a flashback to the South Salt Lake DMV). Anyway, it is a breeze in Dallas County, and the people are actually friendly. I think you can even bring your plates back if you sell a car and get the remaining taxes for the year refunded. If you have a truck you only use for harvest, you can give the county the plates back for the rest of the year, and only pay the taxes for the time you use the vehicle. Amazing!