Winter and Snow

This has been an odd winter.  We had more snow and cold weather in late October and early November than for almost all of December.  In fact we had much colder weather and more snow for Halloween, than for Christmas.  On Friday to Saturday morning, Jan 17-18, 2020, we had about 5 to 6" of snow, the first big snow since early November.  This mid January was followed by a few days of cold weather. The storm began in cold weather making for a nice light snow, but the temperature rose over night making it a heavy wet snow to clear Saturday morning.

Sidewalk I cleared on Monday, Jan 20

Snow, whether dry or wet, can be very pretty.  I recall years ago cross country skiing alone in a woods while snowing.  It brings a peacefulness that is hard to replicate in the mind.  On Thursday morning my wife and I snowshoed in a location not far from our house during a light snow fall.  That too was peaceful.  Snowshoeing, however, makes more noise though than the light swish of cross country skiing.

Ice Skating Rink, notice tractor in background

Snow is not always nice.  Ask those who get hurt in crashes due in part to snow or ice.  I do have some pet peeves about the lack of adequate snow removal--but not on streets.  First, there are persons who fail to shovel their sidewalks.  The Jan 18 storm dropped snow where persons had failed to clear the sidewalk from earlier small amount snows and was now ice.  Yet, I found walking in the newer snow was more difficult due to variation of depth of footprints when it froze in place.   Some places took three days to clear the heavy snow, some clearing a path of only a foot or so wide. Then they leave the heavy snow by the street so no handicap access or baby strollers allowed.

Sidewalk on my walking route

 At the end of the street on which I live there is a connection to another street.  This is on my walking route.  Years ago the village used to clear the path, but now they do not undertake that chore.  One person is pretty good about clearing the snow next to his property, but two others have not been so good.   Close to my street, each landowner has a large snow blower, but neither cleared the path last week (although they cleared it after the storm this weekend). After walking the path three days in the snow, I decided, on Monday afternoon to try to clear the sidewalk.  It was a cold day, with strong winds.  My wife, asked if I was stupid.  I of course, responded that "Yes, I am."  I don't think she was surprised.  She still tried to dissuade me saying I will break the snow shovel.  As I arrived I noted that the path by the landowners by the other street, so it left the half closest to my street.  It was difficult due to the packed snow, but I got it to the earlier ice layer.  I know some do not like the ice, but it will only get worse if not cleared.  With high temperatures in the 30's anticipated for a week, I thought perhaps some melting may occur to be able to clear the ice. In fact, most of that ice is now gone due to the melting and clearing of the snow after this weekends storm.

Sidewalk cleared and snow plow came for another pass

While ice may be hard to walk on, it is unfortunately not uncommon for persons to blow or shovel their snow in the street.   As cars compact the snow to the street it can form ice.  Even the school is guilty.  A school employee was using a bobcat and bucket to widen some drive aisles at the elementary school, and as I was driving by I noticed him shake snow out of his bucket right at the curb cut.  He could have turned 90 degrees to empty the snow, but no, he did it right at the curb.  He pulled out on the street and followed us down to street.  Once, over ten years ago, leaving work  a heavy storm was still in progress, it was a February and the interstate was shut down.  I was driving on Lacy Road not far from the Fitchburg city hall and a man was clearing hs drive with a large snow blower.  Smack a large amount of snow hit my windshield.  As it was still snowing, my windshield wipers were on, and one broke due to the large amount of snow.  All he had to do was turn the chute to the side.  Too lazy.  Much easier to shoot it in the street.

Ice and snow at street entry.  Sidewalk at this residence
is only partially cleared with one shovel width, and was not cleared on
my Tuesday morning walk.

Many of those examples are pure laziness.  Although, the next story combines both ingenuity and laziness.  On the way back from my walk on Saturday, January 18, I was walking past a village parking  lot that had already been cleared of snow.  A pickup truck, with just enough snow cleared from the windshield to see out the driver side pulled in and stopped.  He got out with a large snow brush and cleared the pickup of snow, right in the parking lot.  It was the hood, the cabin top, rest of teh windshield,and the tonneau cover.  Ingenious to do it some where else, lazy to not do it in his own driveway and shovel the snow off.

Library lot.  Sidewalk runs here, but due to design of boulders
it would have to be cleared by hand or snowblower
not by the trucks used by village

On Tuesday, January 21, my wife finally read the blog post about me falling through the ice.  I am not sure what took her so long since she demanded that I do the blog post.  She read the part where I regularly slide on the ice and her not uncommon head shake was accompanied by a statement underlined with incredulity, "Do you really do that?"  After finding out what "that" was (sliding on the ice regularly), I said yes.   She then asked if I had slid on the ice today on my walk and I said no as the ice has not been cleared since the small snow fall, and so I have not been able to slide on the ice.  Although I told her on Monday some boys were clearing a small part of the hockey rink area to play hockey (the hockey boards are not up).    The remainder of the rink had yet to be cleared.  To my surprise, when I went for my walk on Wednesday the ice had been mostly cleared, but for the ara in which I fell in on Jan 3, and a large industrial tractor was parked nearby.  Whatever was clearing the ice must have fallen though since the area where I fell was a gaping hole in the ice.  That part of the rink was not cleared.  I suspect a garden tractor was used as tire chain marks were evident.  Perhaps the large tractor was used to pull the smaller one out.  Last year, I noticed men often using snow blowers to clear the ice.  The village used to clear the ice with the tractor that school used and that tractor had a water tank to distribute new water on the ice.

Village plows snow onto sidewalk, to clear angled
parking area

The ice rink is now clear, but the broken ice makes the ability to slide more difficult since as not much room is available; it hardly makes it worth it since it takes several steps to and then  for me to now slide.  To slide, I would have to go further from the path, but my main intent is my walk not sliding.   Winter can be nice, but the trials of walking in the winter are exacerbated by improper snow removal/clearing.  Even today, while many sidewalks were cleared, or partially cleared, there was a think layer of ice that was difficult to determine--I guess like black ice on roadways.  The village, and many of its citizens do not seem really care about the condition of sidewalks. People would not put up with their roads and streets being in the condition of sidewalks. And for some reason, I feel that those with bad sidewalks would be the first to complain if the streets were left like they leave their sidewalk.

Stephens' Fall

Hore frost, I noticed Tuesday morning on my early morning walk, had formed on the trees and shrubs within about a third of mile of the Yahara River and Lower Mud Lake.  With the low angle of the early morning sun shining on the frost sparkles it was, at some points, as if the sun was shining through a prism.  It made for an enchanting brisk morning.  The moving water of the Yahara was filled with ducks who looked right at home in the two degree temperature.  Their feather structure also helped protect them from the negative wind chill.  As I walked it made me think of water falls and how they may or may not freeze.  On that morning walk I thought today would be a good day to visit Stephens' Fall at Governor Dodge State Park. The falls, fed by a small creek that originates from a spring not far up stream, runs over ancient limestone rock exposed by  erosion much earlier in time.  Part of the driftless area, this land area remained untouched by the glaciers of 12,000 years ago that formed much of Wisconsin.  My wife and I made the trip and took the short hike to the falls.  But for the water noise of the fall, which drowned out the wind noise, it was essentially silent. A scene well captured by the video that my wife took, which you can see below.   Rock outcroppings, to the sides of the falls that in the other seasons are rather common in appearance, but now were transformed by ice flows down the escarpment face.  We thought we would be protected from the biting wind, but in the gorge the wind seems to have been amplified funneling through its walls

Limestone face covered with ice flow, near Stephens' Fall

 Ice can be both magical and harrowing depending upon what one desires. We can curse at the snow as it drags into April (or May), but we also marvel at the beauty it creates, preferably while sitting by a fire drinking hot chocolate.

 The video my wife took can be seen below:

Breaking the Ice

There are varied kinds of ice breakers:  large ships with reinforced hulls that go up onto the ice and then crush it down to break the ice to make a path in the water;  at a party a game or set of introductions may be used to get people to know each other and interact; and there is falling through the ice.  It was on January 3, that I broke the ice on a skating rink.

Part of Lewis Park and paths
I have roughly marked the ice rinks in blue outline

On my daily walking route I go through a local park which has two ice skating areas, each with technology to overlay the gradually overlay the ice with new water.  A different type of Zamboni.  For several years now the large skating area has been within a few feet of the path on which I walk.  It then becomes second nature to run on the ice to get speed and slide on the ice.  Fairly regularly I do this.  It has become somewhat of a game for me to figure out when the rink has sufficient ice on which to slide.  Not once have I misjudged and fallen through the ice, that is until Friday, January 3, 2020.  Yes, it had been warm, but I have been on the ice when it has been warm before. Let me simply say, I misjudged.

Looking westward, ice rink is just to left covered by a light snow

That morning my wife went for a walk at 7:30 am with her walking partner.  As I was sipping my tea, I said to her, not once but twice, to be careful because there could be ice on the paths and sidewalks.  I was simply showing concern for my life partner. The temperature was below freezing, although it had been warm, and I was concerned about thaw-freeze.  When she returned from her walk, I got ready to go on mine, she said to me to watch out for ice.  I think she said this to be a smart aleck.   Being an odd numbered day I was well into my walk, with about ten to twelve minutes of the 45 minute walk remaining, when I came to Lewis Park and the dull gray ice sheet that well matched not only the color of the sky, but the dreariness of the day.  I looked at the ice and tested it with one foot, and it seemed sufficiently sturdy.  I then moved slightly further on the ice to run parallel to the path to get up speed to slide.  Well, I did not get very far:  Crash! My right leg broke into the ice.   As I tried to pull the right leg out, disaster hit and left  leg broke through the ice.  This seemed to set off a chain reaction as my right leg slipped on the grass  surface below the ice, and then using my right hand to steady myself, that too broke through the ice.  Being near the edge of the rink I figured I would be in a few inches of water.  The water turned out to be deeper than I thought and with the slip, I ended up in water above my knee on the right leg, and almost up to the knee on the other.  Quick thinking and exceptional athleticism on my part saved me from being pulled under the ice by the current of the extremely sluggish, essentially non-moving several inch deep water that was originally fully below the ice sheet.  Who knows, if the current had pulled me under I may not have been found until spring.  (I had to put that part in to get a rise out of my wife.)

One ice rink stretches from red hydrant to beyond where I take the picture
To right side you can see support boards for hockey rink where the side boards
were not installed this year.

I started walking back home the final distance of what measures to just under .72 miles on Google maps.  Perhaps more from potential embarrassment than trying to stay warm I ran home part way. One thing about McFarland during a weekday mid-morning is that I may be lucky to see a person or a car on that part of the route home. I had passed by an acquaintance, who I regularly see, walking her dog before the ice break, so I knew I would not likely see anyone else. When you walk the same route, at about the same time you see patterns of behavior from area residents.   I saw no cars, but a school bus passed me.  It made me wonder why a school bus was running around the neighborhood at about 10:00 am, not to mention the neighborhood is only a couple blocks from the school.  It is not like kindergarten would be out. When I got home, I quickly took off my coat, shoes and socks and went upstairs to change pants and get new socks.  The wife realized something was up when I bolted upstairs; not knowing what had happened.  She, of course, asked if I had slipped on the ice.  I then told her I did not slip, but fell through the ice.  That led to a great deal of head shaking on her part, and her red hair bobbing from side to side.  For some reason she likes to shake her head whenever I tell her what I have been doing.  Then of course there is that smirk she will often get in these situations. She then noted I could have broken my leg. I think she said this about ten times over the course of  the rest of the day.  She also asked if I had my cell phone with me in case I needed to call 911 after having broken my leg; i did have my cell phone with me.  I did tell her that I had some cuts on my right leg.    She looked at my right leg and told me to get some ice as the leg was swelling around the cuts. She then, in a consequential voice commanded, "There better be a blog post about this."  Although she commanded less about there being a blog post "about this", then how I could have broken my leg.

My leg on Sunday, Jan 5.  My wife hand knit my socks

For some reason she thinks I write more about her than about myself.  She just provides better material.  I have to say, I did provide good material on at least one occasion.  The August 2016 "Get off the Bridge" which you can read here, probably proves that point.  If I had not written about breaking through the ice I don't care to think what she would say or do to me.  On Sunday, January 5, she  insisted on me getting that blog post written, before it was out of date. (I told her I had another one ready so it would have to wait another week.) She also demanded to look at my leg which she photographed with her phone.  I think she was surprised how fast I was healing.  She told me she would send me the photo when needed for the blog post.  She was also wondering if the village had security cameras in the area, and I told her they have some on the shelter. I think she feels the village employees are probably laughing at me for having even tried the ice, not to mention having fallen through the ice.  Before the snow on the weekend of January 11-12, you could still see where I had broken through the ice.

On Wednesday January 8 we had some errands to run and I told her the ice rink was nice and firm on that cold day.  It was about 8 degrees when I went for my walk, and I did a little sliding on the ice surface, the first time since I broke through the ice on January 3.  Ever the optimist, she then said, "Not wanting to break a leg when falling through the ice is not good enough, now you want to break a wrist by falling on the ice."  This from a woman who once jumped out of an airplane.  On January 9, the temperature had risen over night, and it was 25 degrees outside when I once again slid on the ice.   I did so for a much longer distance, only to hear the ice starting to crack when I got near the far east end of the rink.  I decided to quickly get off.

On Jan 14, when I asked to her to provide the photo of my leg, she did not know if she still had it.  She said she thought there was no way I would write about this incident. I don''t know what would ever I have done that would have given her that idea, since I almost always obey her.  There was no response after my comment, but I sensed a slight head shake.  For example, on that first Friday in January, she told me, albeit somewhat sarcastically, to not slip on the ice;  well, I did not slip on the ice.  I broke through the ice. 

Fumbling the Ball

Fumbles occur in football, but they also occur, as a manner of speaking, in other walks of life.  Channel 3 in Madison, our local CBS network, and the University of Wisconsin Research Park have fumbled the installation of a new antenna to handle change in digital signal and signal strength.

In the fall of last year announcements were made that those of us who still view television over the air would need to re-scan our televisions in the middle of October.  My wife and I were out of town on the given date of the signal change and re-scanned the day after our return home.  We quickly noticed a problem, channels 3 and 47 did not come in. Not that they ever came in well all the time, but here we could barely get pixels.  We re-scanned and had the same problem.  I then went to social media and noticed posts that the UW Research Park Tower, which was supposed to be completed in September, was still not completed and so these two, with other stations, were at lesser power.  Over time we completed more scans, moved the antennae and thank goodness at least 47 (FOX, think NFL football) was able to come in better.  Channel 3, CBS, is another matter.  It is the station we mainly watch on week nights.  The UW Research Park presaged the Badger football team in the Rose Bowl by fumbling away on project management of the tower project.

We have been following updates on the Channel 3000 web site, and little is noted about completion.  Work, according to web site was supposed start again on December 2 and they said it would take two weeks to complete.  Fast forward to January 1, and a news article in the Wisconsin State Journal  stated that UW Research Park had pulled the company from the work, had no other contractor, and would not return calls to the news paper reporter.  UW Research Park is basically an arm of the University of Wisconsin (the Research Park is built on the former UW farms on the west side of Madison), so I guess you could say this is a government project at its finest.  This project has reached new levels of incompetence. Mr. Oliver, who leads the UW Research Park, will still get his extremely large salary, to use to pay his (likely) cable bill.  He probably could care less for those of us who view the television using the airwaves.  This makes me wonder if the advertisers on Channel 3 are getting a break since the reach of the station is not what it was, or is supposed to be, and hence viewership is likely down.   My goodness, I would think we were in a third-world country not just because of the bad reception, but also due to no plan in place for correction.  The UW Research Park seems to care little for the getting this project completed. As the article  headline in the Jan 1, 2020 Wisconsin State Journal noted:  "Broadcast tower work seems like 'empty promises' as project heads into the new year."

When it was not completed in September and later in October, they first blamed the weather.  But,  December weather, and the weather for the first ten days of January was mild and had little precipitation, so there is no excuse for why it was not completed.  The two weeks turned to three, to four, and now more weeks and now no one knows a completion date.  The incompetence on  the part of the UW Research Park and its failure to properly manage the project and recognize what was occurring is either appalling or endemic to their business.  December has come and gone, and we are now nearing mid-January with apparently no contractor or plan for completion.   

Jan 7 night, location of antennae in middle of floor
On Jan 8 we had to hold it by the window

To get a signal at times we have had to place the antennae in the middle of the floor, other times way up to the ceiling, and then there are times when we have to hold it, and of course times when were simply out of luck on the ability to get any reception for channel 3. For example, on the night of January 8, 2020 we had to move the antennae from its center floor position of the prior night, and found that we had to stand and hold it.  It seemed as if an half-inch variation would affect the signal.  In effect channel 3 has, with their lack of proper signal, boycotted us from the CBS network. Not only that, but we also found out that there are only certain places you can sit, and moving in the room will cause pixels or loss of signal, or loss of sound.  I can be five feet from the antenna and move my leg and we get pixels--even though I am on the opposite side from where the signal comes.  They well knew of the planned  signal change in October, and Channel 3 and the UW Research Park had no play book for a two minute warning, to get into the end zone (ie tower completed).  They fumbled the ball.

When we got back to town in October, we were hoping for better, not worse, television reception.  I sent an email in mid-December to Channel 3, but have yet to hear a response.  To get their attention, on January 1 I submitted to "News 3 Action" a request for an investigation into what is occurring, and when it will be corrected.   I am not holding out hope that I will hear back and that they will investigate the matter and what went wrong at the UW Research Park and their fumbling of this antennae project. Channel 3 still seems to be in lala land saying, as of early January, that the project will be completed in about two weeks (although they did not say when it would start).  Where have I heard that before?  Oh, yes, their November update when final work was to start Dec 2 and be completed by Dec 18.   A Madison resident quoted in the  WSJ news article noted that there is no  accountability at the UW Research Park.  I agree with that assessment. Fumbling of this project has more consequences to area residents than the Badgers having fumbled away the 2020 Rose Bowl.  

Re-Purpose Girl

I have to thank my wife.  Just when you are not sure what you will write about as a next blog post she gives me my material.  This past year she gave me material for at least four posts, and I am sure she was probably wondering when she would next show up in a post.  So here it is, the first one for 2020.  For sometime now my spouse, or the wife, has been commenting about our Oak Entertainment Center, and how it is, well, out of date.  Most of those who remember the old televisions, that is before flat screens, will recall the depth of the old cathode ray tube televisions in being almost as deep as they were wide. They were also very heavy.  Entertainment centers date back in time to accommodate cathode ray tube televisions, VHS/DVD players and the music center which would have consisted of a receiver, speakers, cassette player,and/or player, and maybe even a turntable, which us old folks refer to as a record player.  Records are now retro chic (or perhaps that fad has passed).  These entertainment centers could also be used as a wardrobe in a bedroom with insufficient closet space.

Family Room, Oak Entertainment Center is in back center of the
photo, right of the fireplace

Technology has allowed us to get by with less equipment, and has reduced the size of other pieces.  For example, flat screen televisions are much lighter and lack the depth needed for the old cathode ray tube televisions.  While we have a receiver and speakers, our music is now on a small device.  VHS players have gone the way of the beta max, and DVD players are heading the same way, although we still have a DVD player.  Streaming of videos is all the rage, and we can stream videos from two different providers, we still watch a good number of DVD's.  Therefore, we were no longer in need of the large entertainment center, but to store our DVD's. 

Re-purposed Dresser to Entertainment Center

While we may have less equipment, if you look at what is plugged in you would think it was not so.  There are plugs for the Amazon Firestick, television, DVD player, antennae, and receiver.  Two are not normal plugs so they do not sit in the six prong capable power strip.  It is almost like I need to run new electric wire to place an  additional two duplex outlets to power all of this stuff.  If we had cable we could be down to four, but we have never have had cable TV, and I don't think that is in the offing. 

Close up to show shelf made of drawer front

Sometime ago my wife had the idea of taking the entertainment center and cutting off the top, say two thirds of height, and using a pane from the oak sides as a new top.  On Saturday, December 28, she was again ruminating about the large cabinet and cutting the entertainment center apart.  My woodworking skills are not at furniture quality, which she well knows,  so I did not wish to take on that project.  She then commented to the effect that ten years from now we will still have the entertainment center in the same place.  Perhaps that is what led to begin looking at pieces of furniture in the house.  I even looked on line for smaller entertainment centers to see what the cost of a new one would be.  Then wen started doing some measurements of walls and other pieces of furniture.  

Plugs everywhere

Measuring furniture compared to wall width gave her an idea.  She suggested that we take an old dresser, that had been used as the boys changing table when they were babies, and was now used in the her basement sewing and craft area.  This old dresser was purchased at a garage sale.  Her idea was to take a drawer out of the dresser, take it apart and use the drawer front and back for an inside shelf. While in the basement looking at the dresser, she said: "Well, are we going to do it?"  Her next, quick step indicated it was a command more than a question.  I hardly had time to take a breath, and she was already pulling her sewing stuff out of, and clearing the top of, the old dresser.  I knew her tactic, she gave little time so I did not come up with reason why not to proceed.  I went upstairs to clear out the entertainment center.  When that was completed I verified and earlier check of  television viewing height to best determine how much of the dresser legs would need to come off.  We hauled the dresser to the workshop, cut about 5" off the legs, and took apart the drawer.  I cut a left over piece of 1/4" plywood panel to get the rear drawer back for a shelf to proper heights with the front piece, and used that plywood to extend the shelf to the back of the dresser.  

Oak Entertainment Center now in Basement
for Sewing and Craft storage

After it was completed, I noted that "I am not going to say I was skeptical", but it does look good.  There was no way I would be able to dissuade her in this project.   It is like she was in one of her organizing binges, which I guess she was, reorganizing the entertainment center.  The entertainment center took the place of the dresser for her crafts and she has now organized that to hold craft and sewing materials.  When she gets on a roll it is either help out, or get out of the way.  It took a few hours to unload, cut assemble, adjust, and put all back to order, but it was completed and it looks better than the large old entertainment center.  Not to say that I was skeptical.  

Part of Inside of Oak Entertainment Center
Re-purposed for sewing and crafts

In the end, I think it looks much better than what her original idea of cutting apart the entertainment center would have turned out, because this is not the depth and so looks "lighter" than even a reconfigured entertainment center would have looked.  We have re-purposed a piece of furniture, improved the appearance of the family room where our television and music equipment is located, and did with no expenditure required.  So, my re-purpose girl came through.

Images by author, Dec. 2019