Can the Vikings be my pallbearers?

I think we need to address a weird phenomenon that’s been happening a lot lately.

Has anyone else noticed that this winter has been foggier than most years? I dare to say it’s been the foggiest one I remember since being alive. Then again, I never really took time to pay attention to the weather as a kid unless it was a severe thunderstorm (because I don’t like thunderstorms) or a blizzard (hoping for a day off of school).

But the fog has seemed nearly constant. I think the two or three days of sunshine were the only time there wasn’t freezing fog. And usually those days were filled with wind, which many have also noticed has been more common.

The explanation I’ve gotten as to why we’ve had so much fog is because there’s been so much moisture in the air. Fair enough, but I remember years when we had winter storm after winter storm; yet the breaks between them did not bring such dense fog as we’ve had.

It’s dangerous stuff. A few weeks ago, I covered a JWP boys’ basketball game in Wells. On the way back to New Richland, there was one vehicle on the side of the highway and another parked with its back bumper almost halfway into the opposite lane. I didn’t see their headlights until I was maybe 50 yards away.

Luckily, I was only going 50, maybe 55, so I had time to slow down and swerve a little bit. But imagine I had someone behind me going 60 and they didn’t see me slowing down until I was too late. What about traffic going the opposite direction? They would have had to completely slow down.

The one thing I am afraid of is that there is going to be a deer that runs out in front of me during a foggy night, and I won’t have enough time to react and avoid it. I’m knocking on all the wood to reverse my jinx, because the last thing I need is a huge bill to fix my fender and who knows what else. My step dad hit a deer on the way to work on East Elysian Lake Road. It did so much damage that the car wasn’t worth fixing.

At the rate we’re going with the fog, though, we might have the foggiest winter on record. But those are rookie numbers. Let’s go for the foggiest year on record in 2023…I’m kidding. The last thing we need is fog causing a ton of accidents on the road. But hey, maybe it will encourage people to be patient and slow down.

The world could use a reason to slow down. We at the paper could use a reason some days, that’s for sure. But to turn this rant about fog into a lesson, maybe we could learn a thing or two about this weather phenomenon. Maybe we could learn to slow down, be patient, and be okay with running a little late. After all, driving 75 miles instead of 65 from Janesville to Mankato is really only likely to save you about three minutes.

I don’t think I ever mentioned my thoughts on the Vikings’ loss to the New York Giants in the Janesville Journal. So, I will address that right now by uttering the same thing I will say every year until the Vikings win the Super Bowl or I pass away, whichever comes first.

When I die, I want the Minnesota Vikings to be the pallbearers at my funeral, so they can let me down…one. Last. Time.

Skol Vikings.

This Week in Music

This week in 1966, The Beatles started work on a new song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at Abbey Road Studios in London. It wasn't until The Beatles had recorded the song that Paul McCartney had the idea to make the song the thematic pivot for their forthcoming album. 

The studio album was one of their most successful ones and was the first of three to sell over ten million copies in the United States and earn diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).