Day #1: Welcome to Iowa

Welcome to the Middle of Nowhere. Just in case some of you city slickers don't know, these are cows. Two of these old gals didn't know what to make about the crazy lady taking their picture. I took this photo from my aunt's backyard.
Can you say moo?





I made a new friend today. His name is Darwin. He has a museum in Villisca, Iowa. Here's a picture of Darwin and my mom. Darwin is a modern kind of guy. Notice the the cell phone clipped on his bib overalls. Yep, people living in Iowa are high tech.





Here is the inside of Darwin’s museum. He said he opened it a long time ago because he didn’t want these historical relics deteriorating out in local barns and garages. As you can see, Darwin has some really cool stuff.







Infection control nurses, please take note. This is an old whooping cough quarantine sign. Thank goodness we haven’t had to use these in a long time.





This painting is in Darwin’s museum. It was painted by a local artist. It’s a picture of the Villisca Ax Murder House. On June 12, 1912, eight people, six of them children, were bludgeoned to death with an ax while they slept. The murders were never solved. Darwin said he bought the house in 1998 and is currently restoring it to its original appearance. He also mentioned that the house is haunted. Darwin gave us a tour of the place after he ate lunch.



Darwin gave us the grand tour. Here is a picture of a room where two little girls were killed. The bedroom was very creepy.










Here’s where the parents were murdered.









Darwin said that people hear children laughing in the house and that there are cold spots in this corner of the kitchen. Darwin rents the place out for sleepovers at $250 a night, but Darwin said that a lot of people leave the house before the night is over. Can you guess who his biggest repeat customers are? Nurses, of course! Go figure. I guess that proves that most nurses are a little crazy. I gave Darwin my name and email address and asked him to pass on my contact information to the nurses that keep coming back to the house. I hope I hear from them because I’d like to ask them what draws them to the house.


See, I told you we know how to have a good time in Iowa. Come back tomorrow for more Notes from the Middle of Nowhere. In the meantime, start typing up your posts for Change of Shift. I'll be hosting Change of Shift on June 14th. Please send your posts to nurseratchedsplace AT yahoo DOT com. The deadline for sending in your submissions is June 11th.