I’m back … for now

This blog’s handful of regular readers know I sort of disappeared for a while.

I’ve heard from some of those who live in Muscatine. “What happened to Brome Hill,” they have asked when I’ve seen them around town.

The answer is pretty simple. Last year, when I really dived into blogging, I was out of work, had time on my hands and plenty of things I wanted to say.

Much has changed in the past year. I am working at Muscatine Center for Social Action and I’ve been busy with a couple of projects. One of those is a fundraiser we are calling Adopt-A-Day and I’ll be posting more about it in the days to come.

Also, worked picked up a little in the past week as I filled in for my boss, Maggie Curry, whose father, Bob Svatos, 84, died on May 17 in Tipton. His funeral was held Monday in Iowa City.

I didn’t know Mr. Svatos. In fact, we never met. But I’m sure I would have liked him. For starters, his daughter is perhaps the nicest person I have ever worked for or with. And there is a reason she grew up to be that way.

The reason I am convinced I would have liked him, however, has to do with his funeral. He was buried in casket made by the Trappist monks at New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa.  The casket was custom-painted John Deere green and yellow by the monks. It was one of the neatest things I’ve ever

seen at a funeral.

But the John Deere theme didn’t stop there. The casket was pulled Tuesday to the cemetery in Iowa City in an old farm wagon by a John Deere M. At the cemetery, a John Deere flag flew at the gravesite, where the funeral director had painted the burial vault in John Deere green and yellow.

No matter their age, it’s the kind of story that appeals to old farm boys.

Speaking of work: I wrote this blog post on the reconditioned IBM ThinkPad purchased for me by MCSA. I wanted to see if I could make the wi-fi work if nothing else. And since it was a rainy morning, Elly’s seemed like a good place to experiment.

I’ll try to get back into a regular blogging routine. But I don’t want to over promise anything because it is bicycling season and I need to keep getting ready for RAGBRAI.

Until the next time …