You must be an IOWAN if..." *You've never met any celebrities. *Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway. *"Vacation" means driving through the Amanas or going to Adventureland *You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular. *You measure distance in minutes. *Down south to you means Missouri. *You know several people who have hit a deer. *You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Moines". *You know the answer to the question, "Is this Heaven?" *Your school classes were cancelled because of cold. *Your school classes were cancelled because of heat. *You know where all the Yoders live. *You know what "Hawks" and "Clones" are. *You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way. *You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. *You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better." *You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July. *Stores don't have bags, they have sacks. *You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. *You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year. *You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with." *All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit or vegetable. *You can locate Iowa on the United States map. *Detassling was your first job. *You've ever been on a "Geode Hunt". *Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and accompanied only by ketchup and a dill pickle slice *You say catty wampes instead of kitty-corner. *You learn your pickup will run without a muffler. *You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked. *You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. *When asked how your trip was to any foreign, exotic place, you say, "It was different." *Being a bit younger, you remember Terry Branstad as governor the whole time you were growing up. *You consider being called a "Pork Queen" an honor. *People from other states love to hear you say "Iowa" and other words with "Os" in them. *You carry jumper cables in your car. *You drink "pop." *You know what the numbers I-80, 280 and 380 mean. *You know what "cow tipping" is. What year was missing ten days in October? ****** In 1582 Pope Gregory decreed that October's dates would skip from the fourth to the fifteenth, dropping ten days. The reason for this seemingly strange act had to do with the calendar system that was in use at the time. Unlike our current system, the old Julian calendar had a leap year every four years without exception. Because a year is really a fraction shorter than 365.25 days, tiny errors began to accumulate. By the time of Pope Gregory's decree, the calendar was adjusted by ten days compared to Earth's solar year. When he issued his decree, Gregory also fixed the leap year rule, so that leap years do not occur on century years (divisible by 100), unless the year is also divisible by 400. There is one other exception: years divisible by 4000 are not leap years. For example, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 is one.

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