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!