Baker's heartbeat

Steve and I at lunch, outdoors, in Clinton, Iowa August -- yet another month of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic -- featured a quick trip to see our baby granddaughter, but most days were at home. Recall that after our family matriarch, Carol Baker, passed away in May, the Bakers have seen each other on a regular, ongoing basis. This was a silver lining to what was a sad occasion. We try to see baby Myla Adelyn about once a month, and in August, it was for four days and included an outing to Saylorville Lake. We pack a bunch of face masks for such trips and use them, faithfully. We returned home to host three of my girlfriends from Tipton, Iowa: They came out to float on our small pontoon boat, and later, to have lunch. I don't usually pilot the boat and had trouble with lotus plants in the water, but we paddled our way out of the muck. Lunch was outdoors, on the deck. The next week had another family gathering, to say goodbye to granddaughter Hailey Hansen,

The envelope for one of the absentee ballot request forms. I never was too excited with voting by mail. We moved to rural Scott County, Iowa, about 27 years ago and I never quite forgot being a "city girl."  This would include voting, which I've been doing since ... Well, quite a long time. Years ago, decades ago, my parents would take me to vote in suburban Minneapolis. This would be after supper and I'd be the little kid watching all the excitement. Both of my folks worked on President Kennedy's campaign in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and my mother founded the Democratic League of Women Voters there. My first vote was in person, in 1976 in Cedar County, Iowa. After that I voted regularly in person, most recently at the McCausland, Iowa, city hall. This spring, however, we Iowans who are registered to vote got a ballot request form from our Republican Secretary of State, Paul Pate. It was for the June 2020 primary election. Pate reported that he to