Nothing like being tricked. I ….
Nothing like being tricked. I was already thinking ahead to early copy for Thanksgiving Day and now they have sprung Veteran’s Day on me. Well, I’m a veteran, so if they are going to do something nice for me I’d better get with it.
It’s not that I hadn’t been thinking about it. Well to be truthful I was really thinking of Armistice Day. That’s what we observed when I was a kid. That’s all there was to celebrate back in 1940. Who had ever heard of World War II or the Korean War.
Actually it was kind of new, officially named in 1938, as a legal holiday.
It just soon became known as the Armistice Day Storm of 1940, which not too many of us remember anymore.
Over 150 people in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, died as a result of the blizzard that developed. Probably one reason to blame for the high death toll is the weather forecasting system in place at the time. You might say there wasn’t much, a report from Chicago, at four and ten in the morning and again at four and ten in the evening and night.
The bad weather actually started on the 7th when high winds destroyed a swinging bridge in Tacoma, Washington. Normally such a storm would blow itself out in the mountains, but instead increased in volatility.
It not only resulted in human lives, millions of cattle and an estimated million and a half turkeys perished.
The day had started out very mild and many hunters, thanks to the new holiday, had the day off. They took to the Mississippi River where hunters described it as a hunter’s paradise as ducks trying to escape the storm by flying south were taking to the marshy areas along the river. It was a hunter’s delight and because of the mild weather they were only dressed in light jackets.
A special section printed in one of the Twin Cities newspapers recorded many of the scenes. I think it might still be in a box of things I have collected over the years. I’d have to see if Savanna still has it in the basement. One of the pictures appeared on the computer site when I looked it up. It showed a number of cars and only their rooftops showing.
The storm also took its toll in Lake Michigan, where three ships sank, killing 66 sailors.
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Tuesday, when I drove to Loyal, a few farmers were plowing, still some liquid manure was being spread and I noticed a few corn pickers or a cloud of dust where they were picking. When I got to Loyal and drove by Northside Elevator I guessed there must be more than a few pickers going judging by the lineup at the scales, then on the other side as they waited to dump their loads in the huge bins.
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This nice weather is making it hard to find new places to drive to every day. Sometimes I have resorted to my good math to come up with a solution. It’s like adding two and two together and a new place pops into my head. I was talking to someone about Dale’s North Mound and that became part of my trip. Seems Dale, besides North Mound, was on one of the county committees. I believe it was their business to find ways handicapped people were being hurt.
He had commented he has trouble getting in the court house in his wheel chair. To which some thoughtless county board member had said, “he just has to wait and someone will open the door for him.”
Anyway, thinking back to North Mound, took me back to June of 1969, when we had just added ownership of the Greenwood Gleaner to the list to complete the TRG. Abbie Neuenfeldt took me on a ride one day to show me around. As we came to the near end of Rock Creek Road we started down that little hill with the curve in it. I was astonished to see such a beautiful sight.
Since we were out driving around, the next place to visit was Willard.
There I would meet Mary in Mary’s Store and kindled a liking for the tiny community. If nothing else, just to drive out to see the Willard Park, which I think came about for their centennial.
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Isn’t it odd how things seem to pop up all at the same time? The other day I’d gotten a thank you note from Sharon Kobs for the memorial gift I’d sent for Jerry. She mentioned getting a tip from Florence about the recipes being printed for Spencerama. Florence had told her to always mention butter instead of margarine. That very same afternoon the contestants on Jeopardy were asked, what food in Wisconsin can only be served unless the customer asked for it. The answer was margarine and none of them knew.
This morning someone on Facebook wondered how many restaurants actually keep margarine on hand–just in case.
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If you watch any professional football at all, you probably noticed something unusual. Lady officials. One of them is easy to pick out. That’s Sarah Thomas, who has been around since 2015, and her blond ponytail hangs out of her official’s cap. Then there is Marie Chaka who became an official last year and Robin Debrenzo who just started this year.
Football games have been really getting dragged out with all the stopping play for an “official review” now. Sometimes I still think they might have made the wrong call.
