On This Date in 1999

Since our return to Wisconsin, we've been treated to snow and cold and wind. Eleven inches of the white stuff fell on Saturday, the high winds blowing it into huge drifts. The temperature plunged to minus 20 degrees Tuesday morning. Although the weather was relatively moderate today -- a high in the low 20s -- below zero temperatures are predicted for tonight and through the weekend. 

Except for Monday, which marked the beginning of the 1999-2001 legislative biennium, JoAnna has been in a serious domestic mood this week. Yesterday she applied contact paper to the shelves in the utility room, which, of course, gave her an opportunity to reorganize the contents of those shelves. She also changed the location of the kitty litter box, putting it next to the sink. Previously, we had kept it between the window and the door, where it always seemed to be in the way when unloading the dryer. Today she reorganized Eddie's art corner in the family room, providing more surface storage space for all his supplies. She bought a gliding kitchen organizer for underneath the sink; two lazy Susans for our canned goods cupboard; a shade for one of our living room lamps, replacing one that had unsightly stains on it (from exactly what, we're not sure); and a small, clear plastic CD holder to put next to the boombox we keep in the utility room.

JoAnna has a meeting with Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle on Friday afternoon. His office has an opening for a legislative liaison person and, not surprisingly, JoAnna's name was at the top of a list of potential candidates. Shirley Abrahamson, the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, would like JoAnna to work on her re-election campaign, something she'll do in a volunteer capacity. Even her former boss called her this week, asking if she'd return to the caucus staff for a few weeks. JoAnna declined his offer, and I agree with her decision. To go back now, even temporarily, would make her look wishy-washy. I think he's is just starting to realize what he has lost. 

As a result of these contacts since our return to Middleton, I would guess that JoAnna's stay-at-home Mom phase is going to be a brief one.

On This Date in 1999 (January 2, Part 1)

I woke up Friday morning at 3 o’clock, after falling asleep sometime before midnight. We let the boys watch TV once we returned to the cabin, and I can remember JoAnna calling out, “Time to go to bed!”, which caused me to lift my head from the pillow and scan my surroundings so I could answer the question, “Where the hell am I?” I’m not sure if I gave a correct answer before drifting off to sleep again.

Once I was awake, I wanted to leave right away, but I repressed this impulse and tried to go back to sleep. After a half hour of staring into space, I whispered to JoAnna, “Hon! Hon! Let’s leave now.” She wasn’t ready to get out of bed yet.

“Let’s rest for awhile.”

She couldn’t sleep either, but even in her groggy state, she had the good sense to keep us in bed. It would have been foolish to start our trip four hours before daylight. I’m such a road warrior!

After dozing off a few times, I got up at 5:15 and washed my greasy hair. It seems no matter how short I wear it, I always have to wash it every day, unless I want to look like a derelict. While JoAnna roused the boys out of bed, I stuffed our two duffel bags into the back of the van, not caring about rear-mirror visibility. I wasn’t pleased to find a fresh cover of four inches of snow on the ground, with more falling from the sky at a pretty good pace. It’s going to be some tough sledding during the first part of our trip, I thought.

And I was right. Once we made the left turn onto U.S. 62, I strained my eyes to see the road. It wasn’t so much the snow than our defective, or perhaps just frozen, windshield wipers. I kept our speed at 30 mph and steeled myself for the stress of slippery roads and wind-blown snow. We encountered very little traffic so I took advantage of the opportunity to straddle the center line while driving. During the stretch of NY17 between Jamestown and Bemus Point, numerous ghosts swirled in front of the windshield, their brief reducing visibility to zero for a few disconcerting seconds. For awhile, I thought we were a supporting cast members of a snowbound sequel of Casper.

Curious about what we were driving into (or, hopefully, out of), I tuned in a radio station from Jamestown hoping to hear a weather forecast. The disc jockey talked about 3 feet of fresh snow on the ground in Sheridan, New York, which JoAnna was unable to find in our Rand McNally Road Atlas. Knowing where New York’s snow belt is located, I figured (hoped and prayed) that it was north of us. We also heard that the New York Thruway between the New York state line and Lackawanna was closed. What about the Pennsylvania stretch of I-90, I wondered. How bad can things get?

Not too bad, fortunately. The interstate was open, but snow-covered and probably slippery, but I didn’t go fast enough to find out. Road conditions didn’t improve until we reached the west side of Cleveland. Through the western two-thirds of Ohio and Indiana, we were able to make up for some lost time. We encountered some lake-effect snow driving through the western suburbs of Chicago, which we hoped wasn’t the leading edge of a storm blowing out of the Great Plains. It wasn’t. We returned home at 5:30 p.m. CST, 12½ hours on the road and five minutes into the second quarter of the Rose Bowl.

We turned on the TV as soon as we entered the house. I did get the van unpacked but this morning most of the suitcases remained filled. During halftime, I drove to the grocery store to pick up some basics – milk and bread – but I found the door locked, even though all the lights were on. They had closed at 5:00. JoAnna’s top priority was reorganizing the kitchen cabinets, which she was able to accomplish by the end of Wisconsin’s extremely satisfying 38-31 victory over UCLA. I should have bet some big bucks on this game. A simpleton could have looked at the scores of the games that UCLA played this season and predicted a Rose Bowl loss for them. They have no defense. Wisconsin may not have a quarterback – Mike Samuel has been an object of constant abuse during his collegiate career – but they do have Ron Dayne and one of the best defense units in NCAA division I football. The Big 10 had a great bowl season, going 5-and-0. Most sports dorks, partial to southern schools, will consider it a fluke.


Right now we’re in the middle of our first major winter storm of the year. Snowing, blowing, stay-at-home conditions. We’ll probably end up with 6-8 inches on the ground before the end of the day, and more is predicted for Sunday. If we had left Warren today, we’d probably be looking for a motel right about now (2 p.m.).

In spite of the treacherous weather conditions, Andy still played his first basketball game of the season. His team beat Verona 40-19, and Andy didn’t look as though he had spent the last two weeks in front of a TV set. He only scored 2 points but pulled down 5 rebounds. Middleton played very well together and look like they’ll be a contender for the league championship.

The boys are out sledding at Elm Lawn right now. We made sure they were well protected against the elements. JoAnna’s in the kitchen baking and watching the Bills get beat by the Dolphins. (It looks like Doug Flutie’s magic season is about to come to an end.) The card party we’re invited to is still on for this evening. In fact, that’s one of the reasons JoAnna’s in the kitchen. She took a page out of Kim’s cookbook and is making stromboli.

We had a wonderful vacation, probably one of the best Christmas holidays in memory, but it certainly is nice to be home. I thought the house had a strange feel to it when we returned yesterday, as if it had been standing vacant for months instead of two weeks, but that’s probably just an indication of how special our getaway was.

March 21, 1992

The weekend's top-grossing movie

JoAnna's day is pretty much booked, but we find a little time for a family breakfast outing at Perkins.  We drive there in separate vehicles as JoAnna will need to make an earlier-than-the-rest-of-us departure.  Having already scarfed down a peanut-butter-and-jelly English muffin a couple of hours earlier, I bypass the major chow and order potato pancakes.  Used to be, back in the seventies, this was the only thing I ordered off Perkins' menu.

Snow falls throughout the day.  By the early afternoon at least four inches accumulates.  JoAnna hesitates about going out, but I encourage her to keep to her schedule of doing doors.  She goes out for a couple of hours.  By the time she returns, there is 6 or 7 snow on the ground.

JoAnna makes Swedish meatballs for supper and then shovels the sidewalk and driveway.  I'm the one who should be outside getting exercise, but I continue to burn off calories in my dreams.

Up on the Roof: December 2012 Version

On Friday morning, I climbed up a ladder to the roof and removed the snow resting on our house’s large overhang.  It took me 90 minutes to complete this chore by which time my arms felt as if they could have floated away had they not been attached to my shoulders.  It was a relief, though, to have this excess weight pushed onto the ground.  I was too tired to remove the snow from the driveway right away, but our neighbor Gil did it for us with his snowblower – at the same time he removed another wall of snow at the edge of our driveway after a second tandem of snowplows made a pass down our street.