Ray Rannfeldt.

1. The Reinbeck History Museum is about 90% complete and is open upon request until a more permanent schedule can be established. It spans 1876-1976 and is located at the back of the CEC. It’s free.

2. The flowers on Main Street were beautiful this year. Five watering teams kept them in top form at all times, including Al and Linda Rhodes, Dale Wambold, Janice and Dennis Eckoff, Sandi and Ray Rannfeldt, Patty Richarson and Larry Steiler, and Dan and Sherri Robertson.

3. You may not know it, but tattoos and manicures, plus much more, are available at our Vitality Medical Spa at Main and Blackhawk. Stop in.

4. Trees are beginning to turn, and leaves are beginning to fall. Those in the know say mulching your leaves rather than raking them is best. You may have to mow over them twice to get small pieces, but once done, they add nitrogen to your lawn for a faster spring green-up. Walnut leaves should not be mulched since they contain tannic acid.

5. The Grundy Conservation Halloween Hike is Oct. 24-25. You must register at https://www.facebook.com/halloween.hike. Scroll down.

6. With acorns, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc. covering the ground this year, it reminds us of “nuting time” in the Reinbeck area in past years. People went into the woods and filled gunny sacks with nuts for baking. There were even contests to see who could collect the most.

7. Reinbeck’s Mayor is Jamie Eiffler and Mayor Pro Tem/Council member is Dale Wambold. Other Council members are Elizabeth Bueghly, Dan Johnson, Brandon Trepp, and Peter Pease. Meetings are the first Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m.

8. You may think we’ve had excessive rain, but in 1929 Boyden, Iowa had 21.7 inches in a single day. Whew!

9. A reminder: Don’t rake your leaves into the street. The city doesn’t pick them up. Haul them to our compost area and don’t burn them.

10. Reinbeck t-shirts will go on sale around 06 October. Watch for sign-up sheets. $20 each, with profits to our CEC for renovations. The shirt is a darker gray with our logo in blue and white. S to XXL.

11. Monarch butterflies are still migrating through Iowa. A good place to watch them is in the grove at the west end of the park by the tennis courts. They migrate all the way to a forest in Mexico.

12. To give your kids a laugh (or moan, as the case may be), ask, “Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot.”

Local author and historian Ray Rannfeldt is curator of the Reinbeck History Museum housed inside The CEC of Reinbeck. His newsletter “Front and Back” is published twice per month with the goal of informing the community and creating conversations. For more information, contact Rannfeldt at rannfeldt@yahoo.com.