Presidential Candidates - #15 Hillary Clinton

December 4th, we traveled to Ft. Dodge, Iowa to listen to Hillary Clinton speak at Iowa Central Community College.  

Thirty-five minutes before the scheduled start, the local campaign manager took the stage to speak about why he plans to vote for Hillary Clinton.  After that we all waited till 5 minutes after the scheduled start when Labor Secretary Thomas Perez arrived with Clinton.  Perez spoke for 20 minutes, and then handed the meeting over to Secretary Clinton.

Presidential Candidates - #14 Martin O'Malley

My family and I had other engagements in Cedar Falls, Iowa on November 15th, so we were only able to make it over to see Martin O'Malley just as he finished his speech and started visiting with the audience.  

O'Malley was friendly.  I told him I'd watched him on the Democratic debate the night before.  "Was that fun?" he asked.  "Yes," I told him, "I'm a Republican, but I think if Democrats are smart they should vote for you because I think you'd do better in a general election than the other Democratic candidates."  O'Malley agreed.  (At the time, I thought he should have been doing much better, since Clinton has so much baggage and Sanders is polarizing.)

Moonlit Eve, Foggy Morn, & Family History

As I've mentioned before, my family and I enjoy excursions around lakes and on trails in the area.  We have three runners in training  (best time so far: one of my sisters ran a 5K in a little over 24 minutes).  Those of us--including myself--who don't run, like to ride along on bicycles.  Below you can find an assortment of photos from various trips.

The trees above are in Deer Park.  For many years the city kept a herd of real reindeer in this park; the past couple years though, Santa has had to look elsewhere to replenish his herd.  

Presidential Candidates - #13 Ben Carson

The first time I met Dr. Ben Carson was at a book signing at Barnes & Nobles in Waterloo.  I bought a book for about $20, stood in a very long line, had the book autographed, got a picture with Dr. Carson, and left.  You can't tell very much about a person from that, so I was very happy when Dr. Carson returned to Waterloo for a townhall meeting.

The meeting was hosted by Concerned Veterans for America.  Iowa director Flora Schmidt opened the meeting at 1:30, and a retired chaplain led an invocation. Next was the presentation of the colors and the Pledge of Allegiance.  CEO Pete Hegseth spoke about the purpose of the townhall meetings and introduced notable people in attendance.  Carson's speech began at 1:45, and was followed by a question and answer session with questions from Mr. Hegseth and members of the audience.