Whoa, Black Betty

I've been watching my odometer this week because I knew at some point Black Betty – my Honda HRV – was about to reach 6 figures. Wish my paycheck would!

This morning when I got to work, she was officially at 99,999. I had to get gas on the way home and that was exactly one mile away apparently, so I could take a picture.

In my mind she's still a new car. Because when I hit a deer on the interstate and totaled my Honda Accord in June of 2020, the 2019 was still "new" since people were concentrating on surviving a pandemic, not going anywhere, and not buying cars.

It was the "newest" vehicle I ever had in my life. And the HRV is totally a Robyn-sized SUV.

A 2019 model but less than 3,000 off the lot. I remember hubby saying, "Well this should last you 'til retirement." Now I'm like, dang reliable Hondas. 100K miles is nothing. I'll have to work forever! Grr.

I treated her to a car wash on her special day. I mean we almost hit 50 degrees today. I know with the massive meltdown, she'll get all splashed up and dirty again, but it was the least I could do. She's got my back and keeps me going places!

Who's got your back today? Maybe give them a special nod of thanks!

Leprechaun Vibes

St. Patty's Day is over but I'm still feeling leprechaun vibes. Not only am I vertically challenged but so is my car! Still cannot see over piles of snow at most intersections.

And this icicle at work? It might be as tall as me by the time it's fully formed. If it doesn't fall to it's melting death first.

Roads were better on way home but any city side streets are just slushy messes. The temps are supposed the rise the next few days. I was ambitious thinking that when I got home tonight I could shovel out our turnaround area before the melting created Lake Austin.

This little area here is the concrete area I usually back into when pulling out of the garage. I was wrongly thinking that since the snow was fluffier to shovel Monday that today would be same. But no. Warmer temps added moisture and I realized right away my aging back ain't made for this. So I quit that almost as soon as I started!

My leprechaun car is small enough I can back up, make a few tries at a Y turn and eventually get out the driveway hood-first without any problem. So I will deal another day with this First World problem!

Be careful out there!

WTF (What the Forecast?)

When this is the first thing I see when I get home tonight, I am slightly enraged... and slightly jealous.

I'd take a March heat wave warning any day before an ICY forecast on a day when we're supposed to reach 50 here. It's insane.

This morning's commute proved this is far from done. Yes, the roads were plowed. But quality? Meh. Lots of snow-covered and glare ice-covered surfaces. Plus occasional drifts to drive through. Normally takes 30 minutes to get to work and today it took 50.

When I got to Stevens Point, it was obvious they got more snow because they didn't know where to put it. I was mostly concerned at the roundabout by work because the snow bank was so high I couldn't see to my left. I had to inch out super slowly and pray not to get sideswiped. Thankfully, I didn't.

I was so distracted by concentrating on driving after work that I just realized I forgot to stop to get a Shamrock Shake to celebrate St. Patty's Day. That's definitely the worst kind of distracted driving.

If you're Irish in any way, I hope you found a fun way to celebrate! When we were growing up we had an "Irish blessing" of some sort hanging on the wall – even though we're 100% Scandi-Hoovian. So maybe everyone is a bit Irish today.

Sláinte to us all! ☘

Blizzard of '26 :: Round 2 (Ditto)

Blizzard of 2026 first thought this morning: "Crap" and "Thank goodness I work from home on Mondays anyway." Honestly, with the extra 6-10 inches while we were sleeping, a lot of us in Wisconsin were sort of trapped.

This top picture is after the early morning snowblowing effort.

I realized quickly that a clear-ish driveway isn't a victory for long when the street hasn't been plowed. My low-riding Honda couldn't leave for quite some time!

So throughout the day I naturally took pictures. Remember our poor robin yesterday? Look at our poor cardinal! Granted, a solar version, but still a good representation of the overnight additional snow.

Anyone want to join us for a party on the back deck today? I don't want to disturb that 2-foot frosting coverage of the table!

When main plowing was done late afternoon, I realized those of us in shorter vehicles are challenged like in the '70s and '80s when we needed styrofoam balls on the radio antennas so other drivers could see us at intersections.

Official measurements for Wisconsin Rapids are still to come, but we have 20 or so inches here. In my meteorological opinion, that is.

Considering these are more "official" measurements and Plover is pretty close to us, I think my report is OK.

Late this afternoon we could leave the house and travel about on the "best conditioned" roads and they were not the best. Snow covered. But drivable. Just need to be cautious come morning, that's for sure!

Blizzard of '26 :: Round 1

I guess when they suggest on Saturday that Sunday will bring a blizzard... and churches, restaurants, and even bars in Wisconsin (gasp!) are going to be closed Sunday... and that travel was 100% not advised, they weren't messing around. 

The "black roads" in the map above indicated "travel not advised" and I know portions of some of our nearby four-lanes (like Highway 10) were closed. 

Wake-up views gave me a clue why they called it a blizzard and not just a winter storm warning. The crazy wind made visibility a nightmare!

The morning routine was hubby snowblowing us out, then he went to snowblow his dad's driveway, and I shoveled the drifted front deck. The back deck (shown) will not be touched until April at this point!

I realized that the wall calendar in my office doesn't even have spring arriving at all in March. No wonder I saw signs of several seasons today. Here's autumn.

Here's winter/Christmas. Yeah, I'm a little behind at un-decking the halls outdoors.

And poor summer crying like it's a thing of the past that shall never return. Poor summer.

As for spring... I'm convinced Old Man Winter has no heart. This poor expecting mother who arrived with her girlfriends and sisters on the 65-degree day last week does not know what to do. I made sure I scared her a bit so she flew into the woods where there is much better shelter than the few trees in our front yard! Yes, I'm a writer and photographer. We save lives every day. That's what we do. Ha.

A couple hours ago we hit a predicted 3-hour lull in snow so my hero snowblowed a second time for us and his dad.

As you can see, we've accumulated at least a foot of snow so far. And Wausau slightly north of us already has 22 inches! They say tonight could bring another 6 inches here at least. With possible freezing rain just for fun.

It's disheartening to think that after all this snow-removal progress made today that it will all have to be repeated come morning. This really is the meaning of March (very) MADness!

I finally appreciate the true meaning of my new mittens gifted to me from a co-worker. If you know, you know. If you live in Wisconsin or Minnesota right now, you definitely know!

Be careful out there!

March Sadness... or March Blues Today

In one poignant photo I can sum up how the Royals' bid for state went today. But it does not tell the whole story. 

For today's sectional final, we as the 4-seed played the 3-seed Southwestern High School – coincidentally Carter's girlfriend's alma mater in Hazel Green. The game was at the halfway meeting point in Westby (some 2 hours away) and my friend Lisa and I got a ride with our friends Craig and Sara so I didn't have to drive by myself.

It was a Royal Blue versus Wildcat Blue battle. The whole gym was fans of the same color. Not the first time this has happened.

We started off the first half pretty hot and had a lead at halftime of 26-13. Probably giving us fans too much optimism. But after the halftime break, the Wildcats came back a different team. Not missing their 3's and stealing the ball from us with pumped up defense. But we still held a lead.

This was the point the game got close and our lead (as home team) was in jeopardy.

Less than a minute to go and we still had a nerve-wracking lead by one. But then they had 2 free throws at the 34 second mark and made them both. Down by 1 and we could not get that lead back. Sadly we lost 44-43.

This was the group of boys (seniors especially) I've watched and photographed since their middle school years. So much talent I knew they'd do well. And frankly, they took us further than any of Royals boys' teams has taken us since 2009.

I know in the moment of a tough loss it is hard to remember that. But I hope they do. What an amazing ride this has been.

#RoyalPride4ever

Windy Day in the One Acre Wood

I know Winnie the Pooh and Piglet made a pile of money of their portrayal of a windy and blustery day in the hundred acre wood. Today we had the same thing on our one acre wood, er yard.

I guess my pompass grass is my compass. When I was at the end of the driveway before running errands at lunch I figured the wind was blowing strong toward the west.

And then, 5 seconds later, it completely changed directions. Quite the rude awakening to our disappointing delivery of spring so far. But the winds and chill today are not the worst of it in central Wisconsin. We've seen what is coming for "spring colors" and it isn't pretty.

Gross, right? What I do know and appreciate is they are holding those sectional playoff games at 1 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. tomorrow to "beat the weather." I just wish that means we could avoid it altogether. Dang.

Be careful and be safe out there this weekend. And buy some popcorn ahead of time so you can watch movies (or NCAA hoops) while we're shut in!