DONNIE AND LINDA: SAFE AT HOME
A note from Donnie: "Safe at home.  After several days of cold, gray, wet, stormy weather, we arrive in Dripping Springs under sunny skies and no precipitation at all here."

Today is National "Tick Tock Day"

It's a reminder that there's not much time left before the end of the year.  If you've got something left to do in 2012, now is the time to Get 'er done!

Our snowy Friday is finally gone.  Although it snowed most of the day across the state it didn't leave much on the ground.  The highest amount was around Friendship with 4.5 inches.

With the snow gone the cold moves in.  IT'S LONGJOHN TIME IN WISCONSIN.
Saturday

Chance
Snow
High: 22 °F

 

Saturday
Night

Chance
Flurries
Low: 0 °F

 

Sunday

Mostly
Sunny
High: 25 °F

 

Sunday
Night

Mostly
Cloudy
Low: 13 °F

 

Monday

Partly
Sunny
High: 20 °F

 

Monday
Night

Partly
Cloudy
Low: -4 °F

 

New Year's
Day

Mostly
Sunny
High: 12 °F

 

Tuesday
Night

Partly
Cloudy
Low: 4 °F

 

Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858 and was originally settled by a lost tribe of Norwegians seeking refuge from the searing heat of Wisconsin 's winters.

Minnesota gets it's name from the Sioux Indian word "mah-nee-soo-tah," meaning, "No, really... They eat fish soaked in lye."

The state song of Minnesota is "Someday the Vikings will... Aw, never mind."

The Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota covers 9.5 million square feet and has enough space to hold 185,000 idiot teenagers yapping away on cell phones.

Madison, Minnesota is known as "the lutefisk capital of the world." Avoid this city at all costs.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was set in Minneapolis , Minnesota , and was Mary's first real acting job since leaving the "Dick van Dyke Show. The show about a single woman's struggle to find happiness in the big city was originally titled "Life Without Dick," but that was changed for some reason.

Downtown Minneapolis has an enclosed skyway system covering 52 blocks, allowing people to live, work, eat, and sleep without ever going outside. The only downside to this is that a Norwegian occasionally turns up missing.

Cartoonist Charles M. Shultz was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota and grew up in St. Paul. He was the only artist to accurately depict the perfectly circular heads of Minnesota natives.

The Hormel Company of Austin , Minnesota produces 6 million cans of Spam a year, even though no one actually eats it. Spam is a prized food in Japan & Hawaii--Spam sushi!!

Minnesota license plates are blue & white and contain the phrase "Blizzards on the 4th of July - you get used to it."

Frank C. Mars, founder of the Mars Candy Co. was born in Newport, Minnesota . His 3 Musketeers candy bar originally contained three bars in one wrapper, each filled with a different flavor of nougat -chocolate, Spam and lutefisk.

Tonka trucks continue to be manufactured in Minnetonka, Minnesota, despite the thousands of GI Joe dolls killed by them annually in rollover accidents. No airbags, no seat belts. These things are deathtraps, I tell ya!

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was raised at Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and was famous for writing the "Little House" series of books, as well as inventing the "Spam diet" which consists of looking at a plate of Spam until you lose your appetite. Much like the "lutefisk diet"

The snowmobile was invented in Roseau , Minnesota so as to allow families a means of attending 4th of July picnics.

Logo Design by FlamingText.com

There's still some SNOW coming down this afternoon but it's tapering off.  By mid-morning central and eastern Iowa reported less than an inch of snow.  Southeast Minnesota and WESTERN WISCONSIN HAD AROUND 3 INCHES OF NEW SNOW on the ground.

As the snow ends the colder air comes in.  Tomorrow night will bring SINGLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES HOVERING AROUND ZERO.

May can't come soon enough.

No sun until Sunday.  I hate it!

DONNIE WRITES:

A harrowing escape from Arkansas. The first hour was over country roads that were partially blocked here and there by large pine trees that collapsed under the weight of ice and snow--a winter blunderland.

Traffic inched along under 40 mph, until we reached the Interstate. We got back to Texas last night, now facing another day's drive through fog and drizzle, but have escaped worst of winter strorms.

Logo Design by FlamingText.com
Iowa was admitted to the Union as the 29th state on December 28, 1846.

The Dutch know how to celebrate and I devoted my life to carrying on that tradition.

Now, HEINEKEN is celebrating 140 years of making one of the worlds best beers with a spectacular light show.

EARLY MORNING SNOW REPORT



ACCUMULATIONS SO FAR EARLY THIS MORNING HAVE RANGED FROM A TRACE ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST IOWA INTO FAR SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN.  UP TO 1.5 INCHES IN THE AUSTIN MINNESOTA TO SAINT ANSGAR AND NEW HAMPTON IOWA AREAS.

ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH THIS MORNING ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 1 TO 2 INCHES.

UNTREATED ROADS HAVE BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY.

Logo Design by FlamingText.com

After looking over all the pictures we've had on the blog, this year, this has to be the best one yet!

 

GOT AN E-MAIL FROM LINDA LAST NIGHT.
We just headed back to Texas today and had to drive on icy roads --- thus the pic ---

We are overnighting in Greenville and will get home tomorrow afternoon.

 This is out the front windshield as we got on I-30.

The snow was so heavy on these trees that some of them came down on he road, but the interstate was clear compared to the road we had to take from my Dad's house to there --wish I would have taken some pics of the mess, but I was. Too scared!!

Over 4 inches of new snow in downtown Sioux Falls this morning.

Norweigian Medical Dictionary . The Norweigianshave the lowest stress rate because they do not take medical terminology seriously ... Medical Term Norse Definition Artery - The study of paintings Bacteria - Back door to cafeteria Barium - What doctors do when patients die Benign - What you be, after you be eight Caesarean Section - A neighbourhood in Rome Cat scan - Searching for Kitty Cauterize - Made eye contact with her Colic - A sheep dog Coma - A punctuation mark Dilate - To live long Enema - Not a friend Fester - Quicker than someone else Fibula - A small lie Impotent - Distinguished, well known Labour Pain - Getting hurt at work Medical Staff - A Doctor's cane Morbid - A higher offer Nitrates - Rates of Pay for Working at Night, Normally more money than Days Node - I knew it Outpatient - A person who has fainted Pelvis - Second cousin to Elvis Post Operative - A letter carrier Recovery Room - Place to do upholstery Rectum - Nearly killed him Secretion - Hiding something Seizure - Roman Emperor Tablet - A small table Terminal Illness - Getting sick at the airport Tumour - One plus one more Urine - Opposite of you're out

If you're planning a trip to Europe, CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE about Italy's new high speed train that will take you to several countries with luxury service and gourmet meals.  It sounds inviting!

The snow is coming!  There's already one to three inches of snow over parts of Iowa and Western Minnesota.  It will arrive here later tonight.

We'll, probably, have one to two inches of new snow on the ground by tomorrow morning.  We're looking at two to four inches by tomorrow evening.

Drive carefully in the morning!

Yes, indeed!  Now I've heard it all.  As I've ranted and raved before.  I hate potato chips that taste like something other than potato chips.

PepsiCo and Lays are selling potato chips to the Chinese that taste like pepsi and barbecue chicken.  And, they like them!

If they like that they should love our potato chips that taste like dill pickles.  Those would go good with the chicken.

I wonder if there's a kid anywhere in the world that even knows what a plain potato chip tastes like?  I wonder if they even know there is such a thing as a plain potato chip?

I usually go to Festival on Friday but I went this morning.  It's going to start snowing tonight and continue all day tomorrow.  That sounds like a good day to curl up with a book and a cup of coffee.

I have heard nothing from Donnie and Linda today.  I'm guessing they're making their way home from Arkansas.

I was so happy to read that Dalton Dingus, the young boy with stage four cystic fibrosis, is doing better than he has been in months since the Christmas Cards started rolling in.

He's trying to beat the world record to get the most Christmas Cards and he's now over 500,000 cards and they continue to come in.  That's great news.  Happy to say that the card I sent is one of the 500,000 that have come from all over the world.

Not only is the gas pricey, the parking ain't cheap either.  If you plan to doing some shopping in downtown Chicago you'll soon be paying $6.50 per hour to park on the street.

You're not safe anywhere, anymore.  A man, cleaning his gun yesterday, here in La Crosse, accidently fired it into the bedroom window of his next door neighbors who, luckily, were not home at the time.  The bullet lodged into a box of books the neighbors had in their bedroom.

Donnie said Linda missed Rita's Tom & Jerry's for Christmas.

Rita said, "I buy the batter.  Don't have the recipe for homemade ones like Dad made.

We had them here on Christmas night.  I don't remember making them for Linda but I'm sure I did.  All the Tabberts drink Tom and Jerry's.  When we were little we could have them without the booze."

One good thing came from the virus.  I learned how to burn a disc, thanks to Carl.  Now, all my pictures are backed up on two discs.  All the rest of the stuff can be retrieved but if you lose the pictures you can never replace them.  There were over a thousand on the computer so I'm glad they're now copied.

IT'S WINTER!

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT??



A SLOW MOVING WEATHER SYSTEM WILL BRING SOME ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL TO THE AREA FOR TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NEAR INTERSTATE 35 IN IOWA AND MINNESOTA BY MID-AFTERNOON...AND SHOULD REACH A LINE FROM ROCHESTER MINNESOTA TO CRESCO AND NEW HAMPTON IOWA AROUND 6 PM. SNOW WILL THEN SLOWLY OVERSPREAD THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION THROUGH THE NIGHT.

THE SNOW WILL BE LIGHT FOR THE MOST PART...ALTHOUGH THERE MAY BE A FEW BRIEF PERIODS OF HEAVIER SNOWFALL. OVERALL...EXPECT A 12 TO 18 HOUR PERIOD OF SNOW...WITH WIDESPREAD ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 3 INCHES EXPECTED BEFORE THE SNOW TAPERS OFF ON FRIDAY. A FEW SPOTS COULD SEE SOME HIGHER AMOUNTS UP NEAR 4 INCHES.

SOME CHRISTMAS PICTURES

I think Jayden has been around us too long.

 

Bert brought the cutest baby you've ever seen.  The ears are bigger than all the rest of her!

UNCLE BOB WAS LOOKING GOOD!

 

 



WE'RE BACK!

After being hit by an extremely bad virus, I'm able to get back on line again but I'm not sure how.  It just started working again all by itself.  Thanks to Carl and Nick for the help!  They were great.

 

The virus is STILL on the computer and I'll have to get it out but this is a bad one and it's going to take a pro to do it.  Will keep you informed!

PEACE

Sounds like Donnie and Linda are having a restful holiday.

"Gorgeous winter days here, jacket-cool air under a warm sun.  We are "over the river and through the woods with a lovely lakeside view.  BUT, rain and snow forecast for tomorrow."

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Did you see the report from Cisco that found 3 out of 4 young people check their smart phone before they get out of bed in the morning and 46% text, email, and check social media during meals.  42% admit to feeling "anxious" when they're disconnected.

You know what?  I think it was more fun when I was young and we just took drugs or drank a lot or both.

Beautiful to look at and listen to.  These are the rock formations at Meteora, Greece.  The building are monasteries that have been built in, around and on top of the rocks.  How they built these places mystifies me.

CHRISTMAS PAST

 

 



60% chance for some snow today but no more than a half inch.

Donnie was talking about $3.00 gas in Texas.  It's $3.19 here.  $2.90 in Tucson.  But wait!  Don't get too excited.  Lundberg said it ain't gonna last.  You'll see a jump again soon.

HERE'S ONE FOR THE KIDS

THIS COMES FROM CARL

No doubt about it.  Our Riverside Park Christmas lights, in La Crosse, are a spectacular sight but The Western Mall in Sioux Falls puts on a pretty good light show too.  Take a look.

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

A CHRISTMAS CARD PHOTO OF DONNIE

I woke up thinking about Aunt Wilda this morning.  The best Christmas gift of all would be to see her feeling better.

It will be a white Christmas, this year, which is good.  An icy Christmas.....no so much.

The weatherman says freezing drizzle is possible south of I-90 today making for HAZARDOUS TRAVEL.  North of I-90 folks could get as much as an inch of new snow which will make a nice cover for the dirty snow below.

WAITING FOR SANTA

MERRY CHRISTMAS

TO ALL



Another Christmas arrives.

Did you know that Christians didn't celebrate the birth of Christ until 400 years after the church was founded.  And, when the reformation came along the early protestents thought of Christmas as a pagan holiday. In Puritan New England it was actually against the law to celebrate Christmas, for a few years in the 1600's.

Today begins my 9th year of retirement and I still don't miss working.

PEACE

Have you seen the news that there will be TWO Santa tracker sites this year.  There will be the regular NORAD TRACKER WITH BING MAPS RIGHT HERE or you can use the GOOGLE TRACKER USING GOOGLE MAPS RIGHT HERE 

I took a stroll over to the Co-op to get a couple of things I needed.  What a mistake that was!

I should have known better.  It's too close to Christmas.  The aisles were PACKED.

By the way, I'd like to thank all the parents who rounded up as many kids as they could find in the neighborhood to drag along.  That really added to the "festive" atmosphere.

Then I get home and I'm reading on Twitter.  A tweet catches my eye.

"At grocery store. Old man standing in middle of aisle, frowning hard, staring into oblivion, not moving."

Do you suppose that was me?

DONNIE SEZ: "The one positive feature of this trip is the gas price....now below $3.00 in Texas."

Let the traveler beware:  Here's a man from the Detroit area who scammed at least 100 senior citizens out of their money when they answered an ad for vacations in Branson, Missouri and other popular areas for seniors.  If you don't know the travel agent and they ask for money up front, you'd better make sure you know who you're dealing with.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Here's another Senior Citizens scam involving the AREA CODE: 876 READ THE FULL ARTICLE

I've already had enough winter.  Our next round of crappy weather calls for a chance of FREEZING DRIZZLE SOUTH OF I-90 tomorrow which could make for HAZARDOUS TRAVEL.

It looks like we'll have a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY COLD CHRISTMAS DAY with a high around 16 degrees but there will be some sun so it's not all bad.   Of course, we'll be in Minnesota and what it will be like there is anybody's guess.

Along and north of I-94, tomorrow morning, light snow could produce another inch on the ground.

Everybody is remembering FESTIVUS on TWITTER, this morning.  Airing their grievances, one tweet at a time.

If you're not a Sienfeld fan, forget I even mentioned it.

IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN......

Logo Design by FlamingText.com  

  



Happy Birthday to SUSAN LUCCI.  She's 66 today.

Like the old song says, "There's no place like home for the holidays".

Donnie and Linda are spending Christmas with Linda's dad in Arkansas but getting there is NOT half the fun.

"We had not traveled during a holiday for many years, and had no idea how awful it is. A road trip on the weekend before Christmas is probably our worst idea of the year.

In the first five hours, four of them on I-35, we averaged just 40 miles per hour, often dead-stopped, on an Interstate. A rest stop at a tiny town was so crowded we immediately got back in the car and kept moving, or crawling.

Horrors! The poor planet is over-run with humans."