A Tale of Twisters and Monsters

What a strange two days! I took Friday afternoon off to head up to Hodag Country to meet my sister Nell. Not a local? Rhinelander is the home of the Hodag pictured above.

This mythical, mischievous creature was first “discovered” in Rhinelander in the late 19th century but may have been roaming the Northwoods for eons before that. I can't confirm or deny! Today, the Hodag has become the official symbol of Rhinelander – it’s even the mascot for the local high school and can be seen pretty much anywhere visitors go in Rhinelander.

That is not the reason we were going to Rhinelander. We swear. But it you can believe it, for me, meeting up with one on my sisters up there is twice as close (less than 2 hours) to driving 4 hours to see them in our Up North back home towns.

So when she said she was going to a conference Friday and Saturday and could use the company, I said sure!

In our routes up and over yesterday we were both more like the Storm Chased versus the Storm Chasers. We knew tornadoes and crazy stuff were predicted. In fact, on my route up I-39 they had already dismissed schools early for safety. We both had sunny skies and stayed ahead of it thankfully!

Me arriving to town: "Hey, sis, I found the Hodag!"

40 minutes later... clouds and high winds before we find a place to eat!

As we scarfed down our delicious Friday night burgers at a place called Bucketheads Sports Bar & Grill, we heard no less than three tornado warnings on the multiple TVs! We're like, should we take shelter? And... wait is that what county we're in? 

Who knew being a tourist in Hodag Country could be so dangerous?

We did make it back to the hotel fine and she beat me in two games of Five Crowns before we realized the twisters did destructively touch down between Rhinelander and Wisconsin Rapids. Uff da.

And this morning we woke up to 30 degrees and a "real feel" of 21 degrees. So Wisconsin had sunny and golfing Thursday, twister Friday, and winter Saturday.

*Checks calendar*

Oh right, it's spring.

Got home about 6 p.m. tonight and am grateful for at least a little sister time. And super grateful for our safe travels.

Prayers to all dealing with tornado/wind damage and flooding right now. Consider any way we all can support them!

Oh and keep an eye out for those sneaky little monsters among us!

Portion Control

Although my "boys" are big fans of those all-you-can-eat buffets, I find them challenging. Can you really just take one plate and be satisfied? How can you not sample just about everything -- including that soft serve ice cream (even though there is nothing special about it)?

I've learned through my various weight-loss endeavours that it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to get the signal from the tummy that it is full. That's why, when we don't "rest" after that first plate, we are painfully full later when it all catches up to the gray matter.

If we learned to slow down, take a breather and maybe even control our portions, we could avoid that pain. That feeling of being overwhelmingly full.

I get those feelings in real life, too.

I'm a "yes man." I don't say no to second helpings and before you know it, my plate is full and I am feeling overwhelmingly full. Or usually, just overwhelmed. And emotionally, it is painful. It's stressful.

After some gut-busting buffets, I have learned my lesson and am getting better. But once in awhile a request catches me off-guard and I find myself saying yes before my brain can acknowledge I am already "full."

Today, for example, I found myself driving up to a conference in Rhinelander because, at the last minute, they needed someone to go who has gone before and could escort two others who were unable to drive. Although I had several thoughts throughout the day of "I wish I were home with Jim and Carter," I realized I had a purpose for being there. And, despite the fact I was gone from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., I was glad I went. I saw some old friends and learned a few things.

The most valuable lesson I took away occurred in the lunch line -- for a buffet coincidentally. The man in front of me was talking about when we take on too much. When our plate is full. I said, yep, I know all about that. My plate gets too full and too heavy, eventually I can't hold onto it and I drop it and it crashes. He said that used to happen to him, too, but then he had a talk with his Higher Power.

He said, "God asked me, 'You like having your plate full don't you?' And I said, 'Yes, it fulfills me to help others. But I end up taking on too much' And God replied, 'Then get a smaller plate!'"

What a good message. I can say no and tell people my plate is already full. They don't need to know the size of my plate. Plus, I have to keep a little space open for that ice cream.

On the Road(kill) again ...

We've heard the expression, “Don’t beat a dead horse.” I wonder if that applies to possums and coons and other such varmints.

Yesterday, I joined the ranks of the Roadkill Club –- if one exists.

My husband will tell you I have this innate ability to kill small animals. I can just be driving along and a squirrel will be along the side of the road and I'll call out, "Move, squirrel!" Without fail, it moves under my tire instead of in the direction of the ditch. Birds are the same way. It's like no one is coming for miles and they pick the moment I am cresting the hill to swoop down for a piece of carcass on the road. Thump! Stupid birds.

Yesterday I was up around 5 a.m. because I had to head up to the Rhinelander area for a conference. I had to pick someone up in town first. When I was gassing up and getting my coffee, I noticed the only other folks up at that hour were truck drivers and duck hunters. I hope those hunters were as successful as I was in the "kill" department.

We were driving along on the 4-lane stretch of Highway 54. I am in the left lane. It is still very dark out. Suddenly there is this huge animal lying in the road. I didn't even have time to brake and I couldn't have swerved because there were vehicles to my right. So I just had to go over it, but it was a gigantic "bump" my car did not enjoy.

I'm guessing some big ol' semi killed it and was able to go over it since their undercarriage is much higher off the ground than mine. When I got to my destination, I looked over the Honda's front end. I saw that there was some minor damage on the car. Some rubber thing is hanging from the front and some plastic part is broken and some paint is scraped off. I took it to the car wash this morning to get rid of any blood and guts and hair. Hungry yet?

I'm still at a loss as to what it was. It was too dark-colored to be a deer. But it just seemed too big to be a possum or a raccoon or a skunk. I mean those animals wouldn't cause such damage, would they?

When I called Jim about it and he asked what kind of animal it was, all I could say was, "It was a dead one."

So while I didn't beat a dead horse, I certainly beat a dead something. I wonder if it will still be there when we drive to work tomorrow ... or if it will be one of those roadkill pancakes we often see. Now is anyone hungry for lunch?