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Month: March 2019

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Celebrate April Fool's Day!
Which one is real?

It’s April first again.  Much to the dread of the family, I love April Fools Day.  I dish out pranks pretty well, but I don't enjoy being on the receiving end.

A few years ago I decorated a piece of styrofoam to look like a cake.  It looked good enough to eat.

After dinner I asked Cookie to cut the cake for everyone.  Goober, our young son, got forks, napkins, and plates.

He instructed his big brother on how to cut the cake.  He pointed out which piece he wanted.  As cookie was cutting he looked up at me, "The cake is “really tough”.  He cut through the first piece, and  cried out, “It’s a fake!”  Younger son examined his slice, then he burst into tears.  My fatal error that year was that I didn’t have a real cake to backup the fake one.

I still laugh about it.  As a matter of fact, I’ll be laughing again this year.  Cookie is heading back to Vietnam on Tuesday. So, on Monday, April Fool's Day we're celebrating his birthday.

I have styrofoam ready.

“April 1 This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.”  Mark Twain

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They're Back....

NIMBY stands for Not In My Backyard. Well, if not in my backyard, then in whose backyard should confinement feedlots go?

Construction at Walz Energy is starting up again. Energy is a misnomer, it's actually a giant feedlot. They are marketing themselves as an energy company, though. Last spring I wrote about the 10,000 head cattle feedlot in Monona, Iowa. This is a LARGE CAFO facility with plans to feed 10,000 head per cycle, with two cycles scheduled per year.
Public hearings expressed great concern about air quality, water quality, and the impact on neighbors. The Walz family operates a small feedlot at the same location. In the summer the stench is over powering and triggers my gag reflex.
Your right to extend your fist ends where my nose begins...
Believe me, the stench of 10,000 cattle in a feedlot will definitely extend beyond the feedlot's reach and hit your nose.
The liquid manure storage lagoon has a capacity of nearly 39 million
gallons.

  • How Much is 39 Million Gallons?

  • 59 Olympic swimming pools
  • The moisture from a 1 inch snowfall over 14,364 acres
  • 750,000 gallons of water flows over Niagara Falls every second, 39 million gallons equals 52 seconds of water flow over Niagara Falls.
In the fall of 2018 the project was shut down and a fine imposed after water quality in Bloody Run Creek was impacted by run-off.
Remember, Iowa's waterways are some of the worst in the nation. Iowa's creeks and streams are polluted with nitrates, chemicals, and animal waste.
Does the Iowa DNR care to prevent further contamination of waterways in the state?
Despite opposition construction is resuming. This spring Walz Energy will submit a revised nutrient management plan (NMP), The DNR requires that a public notice be published, giving ten days to review the NMP and request a public hearing.
Joe Sanfilippo, supervisor of the DNR's environmental field office in Manchester, Iowa say's he is impressed with the contractor, “I think they will be capable of properly bringing the project forward.”

What Can You Do?

Today this facility is in my backyard, in the future, a similar facility might be in yours.
Express your concern with the DNR, local authorities, and environmental groups.
Money talks, vote with your dollars. Don't support CAFO's.
Stop buying conventionally raised beef, pork, and poultry.
The cost is MUCH higher than the price in the checkout line.
Are You A NIMBY?