We continued Sunday on the Hubris N' Handbags tour with our esteemed photo colleague, Mary Calvert. Didya know she looks like Nicole Kidman? It's true. Anyhoo, we headed out to the fabled "Field of Dreams" where it was lovely and amazing and so cold it made us hurt. Man, we hope to earn extreme weather pay or something like that. Shoeless Joe Jackson is no doubt huddled up in a Hyatt with a nice California cabernet waiting for the corn to grow. Burrr ... we wanted to hit some fly balls, but we feared frostbite. Plus, the gift shop was closed. But the house, the white one in the movie, yep, it's still totally there. Way cool, even at 14 degrees.

In other big Iowa news: What's up with this convenience store chain Kum & Go? They are all over the place and better still, they have t-shirts. We picked up a few because we felt like they made a great holiday stocking stuffer (i.e. shirts we only wear to the gym). You know who you are people. They are in the mail.

Near as we can tell, this place is chockful of journalists and TV folks and political operatives of all stripes. They outnumber the citizenry. While we enjoyed a nice after dinner cocktail, one burly dude drew close to the bar, wrapped his paws around us both and whispered: "Ron Paul. Vote your conscience." It was so funny our Bailey's Irish Creme came shooting out of our nose. The guy looked a little like Grizzly Adams, but wearing L.L. Bean apparel. Ya gotta love it. Everyone's a pundit out here in the Heartland, at least until Jan. 3, when the carpet rolls up, the journos scamper to New Hampshire, and the cows again become king.

More later when we thaw.

PS: We found a Target!!!!!!!!!! Tar-jay. Such a comfort.

-- Andrea Billups, The Washington Times