SURPRISING STUFF
Snow.
That one word is all that needs to be written. Flurries have come as early as September in Southern Wisconsin with accumulation as early as the first days of October. The first one-inch accumulation that took place much later set a record back in the 1800s as having fallen on January 1st. What can Wisconsin expect this year?
So far, there’s been no snow. Oh, there’ve been some flurries that never stuck to the ground, but ostensibly…nothing. Snow is coming though, and it will create the myriad assortment of problems it always does in this part of Wisconsin. Transportation is the major issue to be considered. Getting shoveled out or shoveling out oneself. The care and keeping of streets and sidewalks, both residential and commercial. Salt, and the resultant problems from the use of that combination of minerals (sodium or potassium and chlorine). We track it into residences, rust away the metal in vehicles and even get it embedded in the materials used to protect body parts against the cold.
The Farmer’s Almanac, about as accurate as any local mystic, but cheaper, indicated that the winter would be powerfully strong, with very cold temperatures and heavy snows. So far, the Almanac has been about as accurate as most mystics. The winter, starting on the 21st of December, will begin soon and so things could change dramatically. Lake Geneva is a perfect example of the effects of global warming that fifty years ago the ice that formed on the lake was so thick (five to six feet that great big chunks of it were hewn and cut into giant pieces to be sold in Chicago. Now, the lake ice never exceeds a foot in depth or so and in some winters does not freeze over at all.
The scams continue.
Aurora, the ever-growing system of hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices, has joined the Social Security mess that’s all over the television at this time of the year. You see, it’s time to enroll in medical plans to supplement the basic Part A and B programs offered by the administration. Quartz is the name of the Aurora plan, which is much like Anthem’s, and many others. Those plans offer to get Social Security discounts or return of premiums for joining their plans. On top of that, these rotten plans offer to pay for optical, dental, and hearing coverage. What insurance operation could function doing that, especially when the Social Security Administration does not pay back Part B premiums to recipients? It’s a season (Christmas) of trust and care, but don’t be fooled by the snake oil salesmen pushing stuff that should be outlawed from our mass media but isn’t.
The BP filling station and Dunkin Donuts are about to open on Highway Fifty, just west of Walgreens.
Wisely, the huge new operation is opening at the end of fall, as temperatures drop, and the highway becomes less traveled. Once the spring of 2022 comes into full bloom things will change on that highway and that means trouble. On top of that, the new Kwik Trip on Wells will build in and probably be open by sometime in the summer. Another mainline feeder of Highway Fifty. There are already summer traffic problems on that highway, with traffic sometimes backed all the way from the intersection at Center Street and Main all the way beyond where Highway 12 crosses the highway.
What now? What about the other developments just waiting to be put on Fifty? Trouble this way comes.
