Real Men and Women Live in Iowa

 My wife Kathy and I just returned from a niece's wedding in Northwestern Iowa.  We woke up the morning of the wedding and it was negative 31 degrees.  The week before they had received two feet of snow.

I am so thankful that the National Tire and Battery workers on Regency Road had discovered my battery was barely functioning.  With new tires and a new battery my car served us well.

I am in awe of people who can survive and even seem to thrive in that kind of weather.  All of the invited guest came to the wedding and the reception.  I never heard even one person complain about the weather.   I was raised in North Idaho where we occasioanlly had such extreme weather but Western Washington and now Kentucky are  comparatively in the banana belt. 

I want to salute the people of the the frozen north this morning.  Kathy and I headed due south as soon as possible.  This morning it is 12 degrees in Lexington, the wind is blowing and it is snowing.  It is cold but almost balmy compared to the frigid Iowa weather.  And to even think about the pioneers who braved that weather without central heat.  Now those men and women were truly MEN and WOMEN!