Snowed Out

EEP! Look at all that snow!!! Okay, so this picture doesn't make it look that bad, but what you don't see is that Winter Storm Linus was bad enough to cancel all flights into Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the day. So when I did finally get there a day late the worst had passed. I did see a lot of the aftermath though which always makes me nervous. You count the cars in the ditches lining the highways... 13 I think. There wasn't any one on the roads either outside of ______ other than semi trucks so that didn't help my nerves. At least I had Serious XM radio that I could turn up really loud if I wanted. Which I didn't want. :-)

Ah, so Garner, Iowa. It is a small town. And when I say small I mean so small that there isn't a stop sign (let alone a stop light) on the main street. Very cute one way in one way out kind of place with one restaurant that serves just about everything and one grocery store that well, doesn't. The funny thing is that the main street deadends at the County Building that looks like a CIA black box with tinted windows, square black walls, hidden parking around back, and a flat roof. I'm not sure who designed it but they must have been going for "modern".

Anyways, this post I want to take a break and talk to you about what I do. I install new 21st century software in Recorder and Clerk offices. Every county in every state has an office that is responsible for keeping record of deeds and liens, and marriage certificates. Iowa has 99 counties and California (for perspective) has only 34? I've learned a lot about how pieces of land are defined and it puts owning property in a new perspective. Every piece has a history and these are all public records so you can just go down to the county office and search maps and documents for who has owned those square inches of land over time. This is really cool if you own something or are doing a geneology project. You can go visit the house that your great-great-great grandmother grew up in if you knew where to look. Isn't that neat?

So even though Garner, Iowa is small, it is still worth a visit. I had a wonderful time in this town because the people were so jolly. They cooked lunch for me every day for 2 weeks. We had chili, and chicken casserole, and tortilla soup. They made these things called "________" which were a whole new level of not-good-for-you sweets. They were pretty much every childhood memory wrapped into one! It is essentially a peanut butter cup rice crispy treat. Yummy! Here is the recipe that they gave me in case you want tot try it! That is my take away from this trip: a family recipe and some mid-west lingo. 

Garner, IA

Butler County Office