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Steve Throssel

@swthrossel

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Old football player and outdoorsman. Amateur archeologist, retired businessman and author.

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It’s that time of year again in Iowa. The annual Spotted Salamander migrations are on. They’re predicting frost tonight, so it’s over for this year. These night time prowlers are like frogs and can’t get dried out, so they move at night or morning when the dew is on the grass. They do hibernate and are frequently frozen in the mud of shallow ponds all winter long, only to thaw out and start laying their eggs in the spring. Since fish, raccoons, skunks and birds all love to eat salamanders, they are reclusive and grouchy by nature. This little fellow was one of six or eight that were scurrying across a gravel road up by Alden along the river. We have no idea how they communicate. They’re known to make a clicking sound at night in the forests but so far we really don’t know how they understand to congregate and to migrate, en mass. A mystery for the next generation to solve. taken in Iowa River by @swthrossel

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20 hours ago

The Sea Caves and lighthouse on Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands in Northern Wisconsin. I came up to Musky fish and last year Popcorn and I decided that the next time we did that, we would drive up to the big lake and see the caves by boat. We took a three hour cruise. There was a full boat as it’s their busy tourist time. We sat on deck up on top and got pretty chilled by the end of the trip. It was a nice way to end our week in the back country. We went from a log cabin to a four star hotel in Bayfield, Wisconsin. by @swthrossel

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4 days ago

My favorite fall mushroom, the Shaggy Mane. I trim off half the stem and rinse them gently, they are delicate. These were growing along the bike path along Lower Pine Lake. I left a few as my wife doesn’t eat wild mushrooms. They are the Iowa equivalent to a French Truffle. After rinsing them I dust them with flour, then sauté them with diced green onions, celery, and a little garlic if I have some. The base is olive oil or butter with a dash of brandy or cooking sherry. Don’t let them burn and stick, the flour dusting helps keep the mushrooms intact while sautéing. It only takes about five minutes to cook them and spoon out the chunks of celery and onions and whatever olive oil you want on it and it absolutely melts in your mouth, very very different than a Morel. They’ll be out for two weeks then you will have to wait until next year. They generally grow on trimmed or grazed grass with a mixture of sun and shade. They don’t come back in the same place every year but often it’s close by. by @swthrossel

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20 days ago

I visited Kent, Ohio where I graduated from KSU in 1978 and took this photo. I went back to attend my 50th anniversary of playing my last rugby football season, 1976. I lived upstairs and unlike the Eldora, Iowa house, I didn’t have to share a bedroom with my brother. I am proud of my father, a Depression Era baby with no father growing up in rural Iowa poor as a church mouse. The house I grew up in was a Sears and Roebuck prebuilt house my dad bought after it was put up during a Farm Field Days outdoor exhibition. At the time we lived next to farm fields and today there are a hundred homes in area that was all fields. Dad worked for Questor Corp. after selling them the Infanseat Company that developed the child carrier and car seats. Questor’s corporate headquarters was in Ravenna, Ohio, just a few miles east of that gorgeous brick house. Atta boy, Dad!! The rugby reunion was wonderful. I liked getting back together with the old gang of giant athletes. We told stories of games, parking lot fights, and Buc-ees moving into Ohio and Iowa, along with our various medical issues. We vacillated between being retired old guys and tough former athletes. I managed to do the first bar, the Venice Cafe in Kent, with the gang before I hit my alcohol limit and had to head back to my hotel room. Time is a relentless hunter. by @swthrossel

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23 days ago

When you have had as many surgeries as I’ve had you do a lot of sitting. I’ve felt trapped in my Lazy Boy in the past and I’m sure I will feel that way again in the future. Right now things have been going well. To keep myself occupied while sitting, I taught myself to play the dulcimer and the banjo. I read and write and scroll my phone way too much. These zoomorphic creations are small fragments of freshwater clam shells that I find on sand bars in the Iowa River. To qualify for becoming a piece of my artwork, the fragment must include the heavy shell ridge that is located at the hinge of the clam shells. Then it has to look like something. I have to see an image in the piece. I then use a Dremel tool to bring out the image more clearly, in the same way that the Zuni effigies are made. There are four birds including an eagle, a seagull, a Green Heron, and a whimsical fat little seabird. There are three otters and one fish. Two of the shell effigies have adornments, a feather on one and a small crystal on the other. Those are two of the stylized otters. The fish is a brownish Largemouth Bass in the upper right hand corner. It’s turning, so the tail is on the front as the bass turns to strike. It beats making wallets and moccasins. by @swthrossel

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24 days ago

The S.S. Acorn is still running tours and fishing outings as the dog days of summer have us all over heated and looking to escape on the water. It’s a custom made pontoon boat with a 20 hp Honda 4 cycle motor. The Honda came with a much smaller prop than my old 25 hp Mercury, which burned up last fall from all the weeds in the farm pond clogging up the works. The cylinder walls literally melted from the internal heat generated by the prop being tangled up and the water pump being choked off. Even though I’m giving up some speed, with the Honda’s smaller prop I’m liking its ability to keep from tangling so much. I can always swap out to a bigger, faster prop when I take it on big water, like Clear Lake. by @swthrossel

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2 months ago

A Black Swallowtail giving a Giant Thistle blossom a lot of attention. I was riding the Eldora bike trail and there was a spot where there were four different kinds of butterflies. Two monarchs flew into my personal space while I was pedaling. It looks like a good Monarch year. Maybe we’ll see some hanging groups. (bearding) I’m enjoying the River’s Edge Trail very much. The little Fox Snakes come out in the late afternoon, so don’t run over the little guys. by @swthrossel

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2 months ago

I decided to make my own refrigerator cheese. I remembered the cheese my great aunt Mary made in Elgin, Illinois. As a child we weren’t too impressed with soft cheeses, but I found the hanging bags of cheese wrapped in cheese cloth down in her cellar to be very interesting. The cellar had cabbages, squash, potatoes, and jars of pickled vegetables in it. We weren’t allowed to play down there. This cheese is like a Mozzarella, very mild and wonderful with jam or on top of salami in a sandwich. It’s made by boiling a quart of whole milk and a mixture of eggs, salt, and sour cream with a touch of cider vinegar. I made a Tony Soprano, “Gabagool” sandwich with it. It was every bit as good as it looked. by @swthrossel

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2 months ago

My 2026 garden. We’re having a great green bean year and a tough start to tomato season. A couple of weeks ago, the tomatoes were exploding on the vines from all the rain. The Kale is great and the Winter Onions are just now reseeding. The Tomatoes are finally drying out, so we’ve had about ten or so from a dozen plants. The Broccoli gave me one really nice head and the other plants are just forming theirs. Squash and Jalapeño peppers are just now coming on. My garden used to be traditional, but now I use beds, pots, and a gunny sack with Potatoes growing in it. They look pretty soggy and not vibrant. A big Walnut tree branch straddles above the garden and I’m constantly throwing Walnuts out to keep the acidity in check. Today I spread some lime, as this year is a big year for nuts of all kinds. by @swthrossel

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3 months ago

The majestic Mullein Plant. They are biennial bloomers and have a bad rap as a roadside weed. This five foot tall beauty was transplanted three years ago and dropped seeds. Last year it was a low growing plant with no flower spire. This year it blasted off in all of its glory. Sometimes they push out one or two other spires and form a candelabra. The leaves can be picked and dried to make a tea that aids in respiration. I drink it this time of year in place of commercial antihistamines. After you boil the broken up leaves be sure and pour it through a coffee filter to keep the small fuzzy hairs from causing a problem. The beauty and glory of one of nature’s medicinal plants. They continue to live during winter months, as that low growing bunch of succulent leaves covered in fuzz, under the snow. by @swthrossel

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4 months ago

Someone else has a new Trike! My wife is giving up her bicycle and is now the owner of a slightly used trike. For a hardcore bicyclist, the transition was tough. If we want to enjoy the new trail system, we needed a way to do it. Now we’re using trikes and that’s exciting. Tyler at the Spoken Wheel in Iowa Falls was great in helping us to find a workable solution. So a big shout out to Tyler! River’s Edge Trail here we come. by @swthrossel

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4 months ago