Greetings
Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. I hope you’re doing well. The photo above is of a deer near our yard on 24 June 2026. Another photo of the deer is below.
Catching Up
This July newsletter is being written on 1 August 2026, and as with other newsletters, it’s intended to cover the previous month, which would be June 2026. So, as I’ve begin August, you can see I’m about two months behind on these updates. That’s an indication of how busy it’s been for me.
My June newsletter, posted yesterday, covering the month of May was a fairly full update. You might find it interesting. [Read June Newsletter]
An Open Journal
These newsletters are my own way of journaling, where I summarize the memorable events from each month. I make the journal publicly available for transparency and to welcome feedback or insights from others. It’s also a way for family and friends to keep up with my life. Overall, it is a good exercise that gives me an opportunity to keep my writing skills exercised. With free blog platforms available, anyone can start their own online storytelling journal.
Woodland Creatures
Living between urban and rural areas, surrounded by plenty of greenbelts and habitats, there are frequently animals of various sizes in our yard, or just beyond our backyard fence. The birds, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and deer are like outdoor pets. We’re rebuilding our property slowly to become a habitat for wildlife. I appreciate the animals who still come to visit, despite us being in the “pardon our progress” phase of the rebuilding process. Dying trees have been replaced by new more resilient ones. Clusters of struggling volunteer trees were crowding others. So those have been replaced to prepare for something new. Below is another photo from 24 June 2026 of the deer shown at the top of this newsletter.
Second Car
On earth day, about 20 years ago, I drove my three cylinder car to the junk yard. It had about 230,000 miles on it and one of the cylinders was scratched. So, with only two fully functioning cylinders, the original 60 horsepower was probably down to about 40 HP. I really liked that little subcompact hatchback. From that point forward, I would use bicycle, bus, taxi, or rental cars for my transportation. In the years from 2003 to 2009, I lived in a tiny 140 square foot house. Using a bicycle complimented that minimalist lifestyle.
Shortly after getting married, I moved to a home with running water. It was a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Iowa City. Apartments I lived in before had been ‘one-bed-room’ (efficiency) rather than one bedroom. So, the 360 square feet for the two of us seemed spacious. Being downtown, we could both walk to campus for work and the co-op was a block away for groceries. For the occasional road trips, we could easily rent a car. Eventually we moved to an apartment on the west side of Iowa City. Outside our door, there were numerous bus routes for Iowa City, Coralville, and the free university bus system.
For years, I provided on-site tech services year-round using my bicycle for transportation. I learned the bicycle trail system in the area, and could reach most destinations faster on bicycle than by car. Eventually the demand for my services grew beyond what I could provide on bicycle. Picking up desktop computers and delivering them to rural areas was too much work on bicycle. I tried to find and train independent tech support providers for different neighborhoods, to help me stay closer to home, but I wasn’t able to find enough people to fill in.
Having an all-wheel drive vehicle is helpful during the months of extreme winter weather in Iowa. When someone needs me on-site, I want to be there regardless of the weather. The all-wheel-drive vehicles with room to haul equipment typically don’t have great fuel efficiency, but that’s what we’ve had since they tend to work well as multi-purpose vehicles for single-car families.
In June we decided to get a new (to us) car. I’ve been doing some research on electric cars over the past 15 years. The two categories of EVs have been: (1) electric cars from established manufacturers, and (2) electric cars designed by relatively new manufacturers. Companies entirely focused on EVs may have some innovations that aren’t initially available from traditional automotive companies. However, well-established automotive companies have production facilities, dealerships, service centers, parts suppliers, and big data for ownership and vehicle reliability.
I was drawn to cars from the newer EV-only manufacturers, but the desirable long-range affordable models are always “just one year away.” As of 2026, broad EV availability and affordability is still somewhat limited. To ease the purchase process and have greater support, I decided to pursue an EV from an established manufacturer.
One of the best known EVs in North America that’s been around for the longest time is the Nissan LEAF. That would be available locally at a relatively low price. Other mainstream options such as the Ford F-150 Lightning or Mustang Mach E would be too expensive for a secondary low-miles vehicle that would be parked outdoors. So, a used Nissan LEAF seemed like an ideal option. However, none were available.
I widened the search to include any EV from any brand among the over 4,000 vehicles available from local dealerships. There were 15 available, but some of those were $70K or more. There was one used EV, but not something that would serve our needs.
We ended up getting a small traditional gas-powered sedan. I’m leaving out some of the make, model, and year details here since knowledge of those specifications are similar to a social security number with today’s identity verification systems. It’s a vehicle with 81,000 miles that gets about 30 to 40 MPG and sometimes over 50 MPG depending on driving conditions. For a non-hybrid, it’s impressive. So, that makes it satisfying to drive.
Having a second car has really proven to be helpful — with four people having doctor appointments and errands to run, as well as our dog who needs occasional visits to the vet and trips to nearby parks.
With the car, and having moved into a home that offers more space than the apartment, I hope soon to be more available and productive for family, friends, and the people I serve in our community.
Below is a photo by Bruce Thayer from a 3 Jul 2006 sustainability event that I organized in downtown Iowa City. In the photo, through some photo magic by Bruce, I’m in two electric cars at one time. The manufacturer brought those in from Colorado for the event to show the state of electric cars at that time.
Writing Topics
I’ve not yet resumed the topic reports found on the Resources For Life dot com website. I’ve not had the time for the long writing sessions they require, but I may get back to that in the future. The list of past reports can be found on the What’s New Page. Adding incrementally takes very little time since the post and related context are already present. So, I hope to start that practice up again.
Tech Writing
If you’re interested in the latest tech-related guides and articles I’ve posted, you can visit the Posts Page on the Iowa City Tech website.
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Thanks
Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.
Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 26 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith/philosophy), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and public interest efforts. This is based on the Life Map presented on the Resources For Life website. [View]