Sally Ride Science

           Here is the original transcript of the interview questions I answered:   Information About Me...   I am a 49 year old, single man living and working in Iowa City, Iowa USA. My full-time day job is as a dispatcher and field trip coordinator for the local school district's bus service. I started as a part-time school bus driver in 2007, but have worked as full-time office staff since 2010. It can be a very demanding and intense job while I am there, but one I can leave at the door and it affords me generous time off and a modest living. I have a dog, named Laffy Taffy, who I brought home with me from the local animal shelter nearly five years ago. She is a great companion and makes her home in my studio, which is what would otherwise be a living room for most, in my small 565 square-foot home. Built in 1900 as railroad lineman's cottage, it is only a few hundred feet from the railroad tracks that form the south end of my property line. ...

Every year around my birthday (July 10), I attempt to find what we used to call "summer apples," typically a Lodi.  This year I found them at Stringtown, an Amish grocery just north of Kalona, Iowa.  The apples are yellow-green in color and are much more tangy than fall apples.  My paternal grandmother, Nannie, was known for her cooking.  Her house always smelled of something delicious.  Nannie and Papa raised chickens and had a "summer apple" tree that grew up over the chicken house.  The chicken egg yolks became the best homemade noodles ever, and the egg whites, Angel Food cake.  The fallen apples provided a nice treat for the chickens.  Every summer I looked forward to Nannie's summer applesauce and count it as one of my all-time favorite foods.  It's easy to make.  The only special equipment required is a food mill.  I found mine as a freebie give-away on someone's curb at just the time...