It still feels like summer
The weather this year is holding in there with plenty of bugs and green grass still hanging around.
We are almost to November and we've had to mow the grass this week at the newspaper office.
It looks like we might be in for a little change of weather starting today and this weekend with the thermometer reaching down into the 40s and 50s for highs instead of in the 70s or 80s. The rain this past week has also helped the cause after a long summer of not seeing the wet stuff!
I wonder what winter is going to bring us this year.
Vote
We are only 12 days away from Election Day. Tuesday, Nov. 6, is voting day for most of America and also the last day we will have to watch all those darn political ads on TV.
I don't know how many billions of dollars were spent on ads this year, but I'm ready for some "regular ads" again like the one's for my favorite cereal or cleaner!
Go out and vote if you haven't already.
Time
Here is an early warning that daylight saving time ends Nov. 4. Turn your clocks back an hour Saturday night before you head to bed. You'll get that extra hour back you gave up back in March. You should be more rested on Sunday morning.
Holiday
The annual Creston News Advertiser Holiday to Holiday event will take place Monday at the SWCC gym. The evening is filled with a lot of food and fun.
The local show is always a good time with our friends from the radio station challenging our own Dennis Kuyper in a cooking showdown.
Tickets are available in advance at the Creston News Advertiser. There are always lots of great samples and things to see at all the various booths.
Nice honor
The folks at SWCC paid Rita Schroeder (retiring volleyball coach) a nice honor by naming the volleyball floor after her.
Rita has been around SWCC for 28 years as a coach and administrator. She has probably spent more time on that floor than anyone over the past three decades.
Rita plans to go onto new adventures after this season.
Holiday GiveAway
Creston Chamber of Commerce will again be doing the Holiday GiveAway this year. Last year, more than 400,000 tickets were given out. This represents more than $4 million of purchases during the two-week promotion.
If any of the prizes remain after the first drawing, a second-chance drawing will take place this year. That means more money and more chances to win!
New numbers
The unemployment rate sure took a dip in Iowa last month. It's kind of a double-edged sword with the unemployment rate coming down, but there are fewer people working than there were last year at the same time.
The state of Iowa rate is down to 5.2 percent with the national rate at 7.8 percent.
Union County unemployment is down to 4 percent, which is high compared to the 3.8 percent in Taylor County. Adams County comes in at 3.5 percent, Ringgold County is 3.8 percent and Decatur is at 3.8 percent. Adair County is at 3.5 percent, Madison is at 4.6 percent and Clarke is the highest in the surrounding counties with a rate of 5.1 percent. It seems like the unemployment rate in central Iowa has been pretty low for quite a while. Our part of the state has survived the "recession" much better than most of the country.
Beacon
I read where the weather beacon being taken down in Des Moines this past month has a story in the Wall Steet Journal this week.
It looks like a lot of people miss the colored lights on the downtown tower. It was kind of the poor man's Internet for the weather!
Thought for the week: The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other. — Will Rogers
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