H.A. Larson's Blog, page 5

Twelve Years Later

The first post I ever wrote for this blog was on April 16, 2012. I originally started this project because blogging was a thing then - at least more so than now - and because I wanted to find my place in the world. It wasn't an exciting post, by any means, but rather a recipe for easy funnel cakes. I didn't post much because I didn't know what to post about. 
That changed when I started writing in late 2013/early 2014. I repurposed the blog to become a way to promote my writing. Along the way, I realized that only blogging about my writing produced few posts so I started incorporating other aspects of my life: homemaking, frugality & money, traveling, hiking, etc. 
It's wild to think that twelve years have gone by. In fact, as I'm writing this it is April 16, 2024 - twelve years to the day. Coincidence that I thought about my blogging career on its anniversary? Maybe. 
Over the years, I've developed a loyal (albeit small) reader base that has been here with me throughout it all. You were here during my married years, the tumultuous years when everything seemed to go wrong, all my book releases, my day trip adventures, vacations, single life, moving, and everything in between. 
Over the years, there have been a few times when I thought about scaling back or hanging it up altogether. I even rebranded one time, before changing back not too long after. 
Now, twelve years later, I'm still doing what I originally set out to do - promote my work and create blog posts that connect my readers and me. 
Thanks for being here, and for those of you who've been with me for years, I'm glad you stuck by me.





 

Summer Vacation 2023: Wildcat Den State Park

Good morning! I've got my cup of coffee (just like the good old days) and I've been editing photos for the long-delayed final posts from my Summer 2023 vacation. As you know from the previous posts in this series, the kids and I spent the tail end of my vacation in Eastern Iowa. When I proposed to the kids a trip to Eastern Iowa they were like, "What's in Eastern Iowa?" While I'm sure you'd think that, too, trust me when I say that Eastern Iowa is a gorgeous and pleasant surprise for anyone who's not been there before. Western Iowa has the majestic beauty of the Loess Hills and the mighty Missouri River, Eastern Iowa has its majestic cliffs, rock formations, and the even mightier Mississippi River.
On the third day of our four days out there, we made a trip to Wildcat Den State Park. It was incredibly difficult to pick a small amount of the numerous and fantastic photos I took, so I included as many as I dared. Enjoy! 


Right inside the entrance is an old school, so we checked that out first.



School's back in session for these two.



Right down the sidewalk from the school is the Pine Creek Gristmill which is on the National Register of Historic Places.






We started on the main floor, obviously, which has a lot of museum-type pieces scattered amongst the intact mill workings.

This mill ground various grains into flour.






This neat illustration describes the process of turning grain into flour.






Looking out one of the old windows gives you a view of Pine Creek - the driving force behind the Mill's power.



You can ascend these stairs to the second floor.






And yet another set of stairs takes you to the third floor of the Mill.



This is a diagram of how the Mill was set up inside.



The third-floor windows were home to some bats (and spiders, too). We also visited the basement after we went back down to the first floor.
We then left the Mill to hit the trails for some beautiful nature.






While not quite as impressive as our time at Maquoketa Caves, it was still impressive nonetheless.



My daughter stands at a wooden overlook into the heart of the park.



The caves weren't as massive as Maquoketa, but they were still amazing. Since we were there at the end of June/beginning of July, everything was so verdant and green.



Frank Roth wanted you all to know he was here on August 15th of 1890. I had to take a photo of it.



So beautiful!



Can you see why it was so hard to choose the photos for this post?



There were many of these footbridges crossing the creek that meanders through the park.






This was the biggest "cave" we saw on our hike.



Kids for perspective.















Man, I could put a house right here and look at this view all day.



After our hike, we begrudgingly left but drowned our sadness in a picnic lunch before heading down the road to the Old Stone Church.



That's Wildcat Den SP in the background.



While we couldn't go in, there were a few signs that talked about the history of the church.

As you can see, Eastern Iowa is nothing to scoff at. Its natural beauty would wow any nature lover. We sure enjoyed our time admiring it.
There's still one more post in this series, which I will get out next weekend. It's a post about our time in Davenport, a fun excursion we did at the campsite, and a few places to have a drink or two. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.



- H.A.








 

Sometimes It's Just Like That

Life has gotten in the way of me posting these last couple of weeks. Work, specifically, has been quite frustrating. Not only has my office been short-staffed every single day, but I've had a couple of crazy situations that ended up being complex, long, and not really being things I needed to be involved in. Throw in having a bigger than average workload and you have a recipe for job exhaustion. But, sometimes it's just like that. 
At least the adjoining weekends have been noteworthy.



The first weekend of April, I drove down to Missouri to spend the weekend with my friend Audrey. She had gotten us tickets to the KC Ren Fest's Kegs 'n Eggs event. It's an adult Easter egg hunt. I got about 8 eggs, 7 of which held candy. One egg, however, had a prize ticket in it. I won two wine glasses in this green bag.
There was also live music playing and you could get all the free booze samples you wanted. Booze samples came in these:


LOL Which is great except when you want to sit down and watch a band play with a full glass of a drink. So, my tactic was to get a shot (which is what the size of these samples really was) and then get a second one. I'd pour the sample into my prize wine glass and wander around getting samples that seemed like they'd mix well together and repeat.



So, I ended up getting three glasses altogether. Funny story: the first time I did this, I had the wine glass still in the green bag and the bag was taller than the glass. A woman saw me pour my sample into the bag, but not the glass. She stopped and asked, "Are you pouring beer into your BAG?!" I explained what was happening and we both had a good laugh.



I headed back home Sunday morning, making it back before noon. My bestie, Rebecca, picked up my daughter and me, so we could hike out at Hitchcock, one of my favorite spots. 



We took a hard trail, my first in a long time. Back on my healthy life path!



The next weekend, which was the past weekend, I took the kids to see one of my favorite bands from the 80s/90s - The Urge. Man, did they put on a hell of a show!
Sunday, we slept in, packed camp chairs, an outdoor blanket, snacks, and drinks, and headed to my local park, Elmwood Park. Like many city-dwellers, on a nice day, we gather in our green spaces to enjoy being outside. The kids laid out in the sun and I spent a long time with my bare feet on the ground.


Afterward, we drove through the old neighborhood and saw Not-My-Cat. It was a nice, 30-minute reunion.


Things have calmed down at work, and I have a few free weekends coming up, so I'll have those long-awaited posts up soon.

Until then, have a great week!








 

The Ghosts of Seven Sisters Road

According to urban legend, one evening in the 1900s, a father snapped and hung each of his seven daughters from the limbs of seven trees along a country road in Nebraska. Another version is virtually the same except this time it's the angry son who hauled each of his seven sisters after a heated argument, one by one, out of the house and hung them on the seven trees that sit atop the seven hills on the road they lived on.

Whether the story is true or not, the legend has persisted for over a hundred years and while the hills are either gone or eroded over that time, the road is still very much there. It sits about five miles south of Nebraska City and is now officially known as L Road. Local lore states that screams and/or groans of the sisters' disgruntled spirits can be heard in the otherwise quiet darkness, and the dimming of car lights - or cars simply stalling - while traveling on the road is common.
Because I'm an amateur ghost hunter and happen to live fairly close to Seven Sisters Road, I had thought about doing a proper investigation there for the past several years but had yet to get around to it. That changed last year when on a cold, dark, October Saturday night a few weeks before Halloween, I drove down in my car while my friend Jayne and her friend drove in a separate car. Why separately? Remember the stalled car part of local lore? Well, we weren't going to tempt fate that night.
At any rate, we made it there. It was cold, rainy, and dark...just the kind of evening you could expect for a ghost hunt. Unfortunately, my old GH equipment - like my EVP recorder - no longer works so I used an app that worked like a spirit box. I've taken screenshots of the words I received down below. They start from the bottom of each screen and work their way up.



The first thing I asked was, "Is there anyone here with us tonight?" to which I received the reply "Quiet." I'm guessing they didn't want us to talk.



For the most part, the answers didn't really jive with the word salad I was given and when asked about the words, I got more word salad.



I have to admit that I don't think this app is legit. But, it was worth a shot.




My friend's friend used a different app that uses the same kind of software that the Kinect uses. We could see a figure near the car for quite some time and my friend, Jayne, had one that really liked standing next to her. I'm adding a video I took of the app in question. I hope it shows up below.



All in all, while the vibe was spooky, the apps we used left much to be desired. Since I rarely do a GH, I just don't see the need to buy equipment. However, having said that, I think I will purchase another EVP recorder as I find the technology to be the most legitimate and has been my only real evidence in past hunts.

So, this wasn't the most exciting hunt I've ever shared with you guys but I didn't want to NOT share it with you either. I've been thinking lately about trying to put together another GH trip but with being a single mom and prioritizing travel with extra funds, it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. But, you never know, right? 

 

Healthy Life Update: It's Been Awhile

Well, hello again. There was a time when I made Healthy Life updates fairly regularly, but now they are very few and very far between. The reasons for this were covered in my last update when I discussed getting back into a healthy routine at the beginning of 2023. 
How did 2023 go? Overall, alright. I lost 35 lbs and was keto most of the time. While I was doing better than the few years prior, I was still farther from where I wanted to be. I had some areas that I really wanted to address:

* Diet
* Exercise
* Sleep
* Addictions
* Aging well


I was two days away from my 52nd birthday when I took another one of those long, hard looks at myself. I want to live a long and healthy life so I had some tough decisions to make. I needed to make changes and there was no time like the present. So, here's what I'm doing and my plans for the future.


* Diet: I've been back on the Keto bandwagon for a while now. It works for me and I feel better when I eat like this most of the time. I say most of the time because I do allow myself a "treat" here and there. Allowing myself a treat helps me not to go completely off the rails. At the beginning of March, I also started doing Intermittent Fasting (IF) again. The combination of Keto and IF does wonders for me so I was determined to get back into this routine.
* Exercise: I'm fully back into hiking. I hike at least once each weekend and walk during my lunch break at least twice a week, but often three. 
* Sleep: I struggled to either fall asleep or stay asleep. While some of that did resolve once I hit menopause last Fall, it wasn't until I learned about grounding that things really improved. I bought a grounding mattress topper for my bed and my sleep quality is amazing - which makes me feel amazing.
* Addictions: I quit smoking cigarettes after a 26-year addiction back in January 2014. In 2021 with all of the stress I was under, I had almost convinced myself to buy a pack of cigarettes. Instead, I bought a disposable vape. Thus began a two-year addiction to nicotine, albeit in a different form. I put in the work and quit the nic...for a second time. It didn't take long to notice the health improvements from quitting.
* Aging well: Diet and exercise can go a long way to helping you age longer and better. I wondered if there were other things I could do to help. Grounding isn't just good for sleep but for this, as well, so I was making headway, but was there anything else? I found out about a supplement called Urolithin A. While it doesn't work for everyone, for the people it does, it can make a huge difference. I started taking the supplement just recently, so it's too early to tell, but I feel something.


How will this all play out? Only time will tell. In my 5-Year Plan, I specifically made a deadline to get my proverbial shit together this year. I'll definitely update you as we go along. In the meantime, if you're interested in anything I've mentioned, I've provided links below.

Intermittent Fasting (IF)
Ketogenic Diet
The Importance of Sleep
The Benefits of Physical Activity
What is Grounding?
Keto Documentary: Fat Fiction
Grounding Documentary: The Earthing Movie
Urolithin A
Urolithin A - second resource


 

Weekends are for Living

When Friday creeps up each week, the excitement starts to build and the possibilities of what one can do with a few days of freedom loom large. This encapsulates my experience with nearly every weekend in my life. I have banker's hours which means I work 8-5 M-F and I wouldn't have it any other way.
My bestie, Rebecca, and I have a standing Friday night friend date. We get together at either her place or mine, cook a meal, eat some hours d'oeuvres, and enjoy some drinks while listening to pleasant background music. It's a fantastic, fun, and economical way to kick off the weekend. By the time the day has wrapped up, I smile knowing that I have two days before me to do what I wish.

This month's weekends have been a blast so I thought I'd share some of it with you. 



The first weekend in March, I went to Rebecca's like usual. Saturday was pretty lazy so I was ready to get out and about. I called up one of my other besties, Libby, to see if she wanted to hit up a few wineries. She was game so we started at Soaring Wings and ended up at Cellar 426 where we got a nice assortment of ciders.



I tried a few and just wasn't that impressed. I am a huge fan of ciders so I felt a bit disappointed.



Still, we had a helluva good time so no complaints!
The next day, Sunday, was house cleaning and food prep day. While not exciting, it is good to get those things done when you have the time.



The second weekend of the month rolled around and Rebecca came to my house. I made cornish hens, roasted green beans, and a simple snack board. Saturday, I made my way up to Libby's. It was nice enough to sit outside so we lingered long after the sun went down and our coats came out. She found some James Arthur Vineyard's Sleigh Bells wine at a local grocery store and bought several bottles. JAV is a local winery that we love and this wine is a seasonal blend that we absolutely adore. She rounded it out with a delicious charcuterie board adorned with a few random pieces of pizza.  LOL



Sunday was absolutely gorgeous and I was ready to get outside. So, my daughter and I headed to a perennial favorite: Schramm Park SRA. We walked around the fish hatchery ponds and took pictures of the geese on crystal clear water.






We were there to hike, though, so hike we did.






After our hike, we drove to Ashland to meet up with my son at Glacial Till Tasting Room. It's halfway between our homes so is a good place to meet up.



My daughter had a coke while my son enjoyed a glass of wine and I a cider. I've talked about Glacial Till before but for those of you unfamiliar, they started off as a cider maker but later built a winery about 40 minutes south of here.
GT closed an hour after we got there but my kids weren't ready to quit hanging out. Since I homeschool my daughter, I suggested she just head home with him for a few days since his weekend is Mon and Tues. 



It made sense then to meet back up at GT on Tuesday to exchange my daughter again. I grabbed a cider flight while I waited for them to arrive.



The third weekend (last weekend) my daughter and I met up with my Dad in Iowa, about halfway between our respective homes. The three of us took a short hike at Whiterock Conservancy to check out the River View.
There is a dedicated post coming for this day trip so I'm not going to share too much.



After our time at Whiterock, we ended up here. More on that later!



Sunday was breezy and chilly, but gorgeous. My daughter, Rebecca, and I went out to my favorite local hiking spot - Neale Woods. 



From the trail, we spied a ginormous downed tree with turkey tails growing on it, so we hiked down to it.



My daughter peeking out from under it.



Since it was St. Patrick's Day and I had a brand new bottle of Templeton Rye, I invited Rebecca over for snacks and drinks. I put out cheese, crackers, bread, and fruit. My daughter's snacks are in the background.

What a great month it has been so far and there are still two weekends left. This weekend, my daughter and I are Lincoln-bound to spend it with my son. The plan is to start chili in the crockpot, do some hiking, hit up a winery, and then come home happy and exhausted to a warm meal waiting and ready. We'll probably end the day watching a movie and enjoying some drinks (not my daughter, obvs).
 Weekends are for living so I hope you live yours to the fullest.
Cheers!






 

Summer Vacation 2023: Mississippi Palisades, Illinois High Point, Wisconsin, and Dubuque, Iowa

Sooo, I'm a little behind on posting, obviously, but better late than never, right? The day after the kids and I visited the beautiful and impressive Maquoketa caves, we set out to take on the Illinois highpoint before backtracking to Dubuque, Iowa, to do some touristy things there. There are a lot of photos in the post, so be forewarned. Having said that, though, it was a big, fun day so the photos are worth scrolling through.



We crossed over the Mississippi River on Highway 52 to Savanna, Illinois. On our way over, we stopped at Driscoll's Island, which is just a small bit of land. 



We were able to spot these guys leisurely moving down the river.



As well as this guy.



We got back on the road and connected with Route 84. To the left of us rose tall bluffs covered in dense, green foliage. It wasn't long before we spotted a sign that said, "Mississippi Palisades State Park" so we stopped. We drove up to the top where a viewing platform was conveniently located.



It was a great spot as we got a long-range, unobstructed view of the Mighty Mississippi.






After we left the Park, we passed through the tiny town of Hanover, IL. I couldn't help but take a picture of this old bar because of the ancient Old Style beer sign hanging over the door.



The high point in Illinois is called Charles Mound and sits on private property. The owners only allow visitors to the highpoint the first weekends of June, July, August, and September. This fact is what led me to take my vacation when I did. The top of the hill where it all leads up to is the high point. This makes my high point count sit at 9. 


Here I have highlighted it so you can see it better. To go up to it, you have to take a different route on a back road to the right of this vantage point. I left my phone in the car charging as it was dead so I didn't get any photos of the actual spot, but I had enough charge in the phone to snap these photos afterward.



Charles Mound is just a couple of miles south of the Wisconsin border. Since my kids have never been to Wisconsin, I thought it would be fun to take Highway W back to Iowa. My plan was to stop in the first interesting town so the kids could say they'd been to Wisconsin. That town happened to be Hazel Green. Clean and bucolic, it has this cute little Opera House.



It also had True Vine Antiques and Finds, an antique/vintage shop. We did not go in.



After our brief foray into Wisconsin, we continued West until we again crossed the Mississippi into Dubuque.



Dubuque is so named for its first permanent settler, Julien Dubuque. He made an agreement with the local native tribe - the Meskwaki - to mine their land for lead. He was also allowed to mine for lead on Spanish-owned land which is how the Mines of Spain SRA got its name.






The defining feature of this SRA is the tower overlooking the River, which is actually a monument to Julien Dubuque.










The SRA is in a gorgeous area on the River. This is a smaller river inside the park.



After visiting the monument, we headed into the downtown area. Many murals grace the area, so I snapped photos of a few.






My main objective was to ride the Fenelon Place Elevator Co.'s funicular. It has an interesting history that you can read about here. It's $4 for a round-trip or $2 if you want to go one way.



View from inside as we rode up.



A view from the top overlooking Dubuque. 



After the funicular, we drove over to the Shot Tower Historic Landmark. It was used once upon a time to make lead shot.



The sign at the base shows the process.



Our main reason for coming to this area was to check out the Dubuque Star Brewery Complex. 



It's a neat museum of the brewing history of the area.






As well as a place to get a meal, a Dubuque Star beer, or some wine. My son and I tried both.



After our refresher, we walked down the block to the riverfront park.



And got a nice view of the Julien Dubuque Bridge. Like usual, after the day ended, we headed back to camp where we cooked food over the fire, enjoyed a bonfire, and played games by lantern.
I have a few more posts about summer 2023 vacation, and I'll be getting those out within the next two weeks. Until then, have a great week.



 

Motivation and Momentum, a Short Tale

Here I am, for the first time in forever, writing a blog post on the weekend! While this might not seem like a big deal, trust me...it is. My lack of blog posts and new writing (such as short stories and books) has been a source of much frustration, contemplation, and plain old giving up. As you know, life had been difficult for a few years and much of my life had reverted to a past H.A. Larson era where I didn't do much with my life. As I talked about recently, though, life has become good again.
This has prompted me to reevaluate certain aspects of my life that were lacking - and were sorely missed - such as health, hiking, and writing. While I've proffered up many possible explanations, I've finally discovered what the real issue is: motivation.
Losing motivation is a sneaky circumstance that silently robs you of things you love or love to do. This is where I was, at least until recently. Once I realized that lack of motivation was my problem, I've been working hard to get it back. Yes, this means getting out of my comfort zone and forcing myself to stop being so fucking lazy.
I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, I've found my motivation again. Of course, it's not easy to go from no motivation to full motivation, so the momentum is slowly building up. Today will be the second weekend in a row that I've gone hiking, and I took a fun day trip yesterday. I've been walking a few times a week on my lunch hour and this weekend, I dusted off my home computer and started editing the tons of photos I have for a list of blog posts that haven't happened yet.
Tomorrow, I'm going to put up one of two final posts from Summer Vacation 2023 and will be posting regularly on the blog again - for the first time in a very long time. I have so many fun things that need to be shared and I'm ready to write again.

Hope your weekend has been as awesome as mine has. Tune in tomorrow for a mega vacation post!

H.A. is back. It's about damn time.





 

Ramblings of an overstressed Mom

 

Last week, in true Midwest fashion, I walked out of the building after work one sunny afternoon to a balmy 80 degrees. The next evening, the temps dropped and by the time I left for work the following morning, it was breezy and 10 degrees.
This hot and cold game that Mother Nature plays with us Midwesterners is nothing new. We've been dealing with it forever, but this time, it felt a bit personal. My life has also run the gamut between hot and cold at times, and lately has been no different.
I've been homeschooling my daughter for the past year and a half and I will be holding her graduation ceremony in June. There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with her old public school per se, it's just that they couldn't really help her. Her struggles have been so deep that I lost my own self in the process. I mean, you're only as happy as your saddest kid, right?
At any rate, I took it upon myself when all else had failed to school her myself. She was adamant about not going to college, so we spent our time doing only what was necessary to get her to high school graduation. Then, things changed.
A little over a year ago, the various things I had been doing to help her started to work. She was happier, started taking care of herself, started cleaning her room, got a really nice boyfriend, and smiled more. It was amazing.
Then, this past Fall, she was like, "Mom, I want to go to college." I almost fell over. I mean, I didn't want to dash her dreams so I didn't say anything, but I thought, "Damnit, kid, we didn't prepare you for that."
What has followed then has been a mad dash to study for the ACTs, applying for college, getting old high school transcripts, writing up my own high school transcript - who knew calculating GPA was so damn difficult - and filling out the application for Federal Aid. 
My lovely, kind, and beautiful daughter has been a wreck for three solid months and dragging me down with her. After the billionth day of coming home ragged from work to listen to her have yet another meltdown, I had to tell her the truth. I only have so much of my own mental bandwidth in a day to deal with things. I have my own stress, I work all day, and I need some downtime after work. She and her feelings are important to me, but I can't help her if I am not right myself. She went to her room for a while, then came back out to apologize. We talked about things and I'm so amazed by her ability to be self-aware. 
By the time the cold spell hit last week, I was ready for some peace and relaxation. So, I plugged in my "wood stove", poured a glass of wine, ate a legal gummy, and relaxed. My mind wandered to thoughts of my upcoming return to Europe and felt better than I had in a few months.
Before I know it, she will be out on her own.
Until then, though....time for us to college prep. Wish me luck and, hey, have a drink for me would you?
Cheers.

Gift Giving

I typically only buy gifts for my kids. As a single mom living on a strict budget, it can be difficult to find gifts they'll like, although I try my best. Still, after Christmas this past year, I started thinking about how the money I spent on them for gifts might be better used for something else. 
Over the holidays, I had quietly noticed something about both my children. My son, who works as a server in a restaurant, typically has a smaller income over the holidays and struggled to buy gifts for us over Christmas. My daughter, who is 17 and doesn't work, had no money to buy gifts so spent a good amount of time making homemade gifts for everyone this year - which were wonderful, by the way.
Bearing all this in mind, I talked to both kids and said, "Hey, I've been thinking. Instead of buying gifts for birthdays and Christmas, why don't I take you out for fun experiences?" Without hesitation, they both said yes. I then added, "Don't get me anything either. Save it to use for our experiences." 
With the a-ok from the kids, I started thinking about another fun trip we could do next summer (on a budget and fairly local). Then, I noticed that an obscure band I love is coming to town this Spring. I got into this band when my son was a toddler and I bought their CD. Over the years, I have played the shit out of it on my car stereo so both my kids really like them and when the three of us get together, more often than not, we play the album. I told the kids the band was coming to town and they immediately thought we should go. I bought our tickets and that's going to be one of the fun experiences.
I think providing experiences for my kids will be a lot more fun than gifts. Only time will tell.

(Also, if you're wondering if this fits into my "No Buy Year" - the answer is yes. I have a sinking fund for Gifts and I will use it for these kinds of things instead of physical gifts.)