Nice little break in winter weather
The past week of above freezing temperatures has been a nice break to the below freezing we have been experiencing since December.
The snow melting is just fine with me. My snow tires work just fine on dry pavement.
It kind of looks like we will be back to the cold temps again this weekend.
Oh well, we still have a good two months of winter left ahead of us.
Bowling
The annual McKinley Park bowling tournament is Jan. 26. The day-long event has room for several teams. The team event will be at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. that Saturday.
The proceeds of the event go to help improve the park.
Call Mark Huff, parks director, at 782-2000 if you would like to have a team.
As a reminder, the park fundraiser dinner and comedy night is being planned for March 3. So get your "funny bone" warmed up for another fun evening.
Super Bowl
All the ads for this year's Super Bowl have been sold. It would have only cost you $4 million for 30 seconds of time on the broadcast. That's a little more than $133,000 a second!
The pregame starts seven hours before the kickoff of the game.
My guess for the participants is Green Bay against the Denver Broncos. If you want to go to the game you can get tickets online.
Of course, even a ticket in the "nose-bleed" section will cost you close to $3,000. I can watch it on my big screen TV for a lot less than that! In fact, I can buy a big screen for a lot less than that.
SWCC
The second semester starts Monday at Southwestern Community College. It seems like the college kids get a good amount of time off over the winter break.
YMCA
The influx of first of the year attendees has started showing up at Southern Prairie YMCA. There seem to be quite a few new faces early in the morning.
It is always interesting to see how long the folks will continue to show up before their "covers keep calling their names."
Legislature
The state of Iowa legislature convenes Monday. I'm not sure what the folks in Des Moines have up their sleeve this year. Although it is about time the governor or someone else started looking at what it is costing the taxpayers for all the benefits provided for state workers.
It's not fair that most Iowans have to pay for their health care and 88 percent of the state employees get free health care.
The other issue is IPERS. It is under funded to the tune of $6 billion and all the legislature does is go back every two years and add more taxpayer money to the fund. That isn't going to work for much longer.
I'll take the bet that they don't get out on time this year as in most of the past.
Vets
If you know of any local veterans you think would do a story for our annual Progress edition, please give me a call at 782-2141 ext. 230. We are doing stories on veterans from around the area as part of our "Hometown Heroes" edition.
Gas prices
It is nice to see the gas prices hovering around $3 per gallon. I just hope the price hangs around for a while and doesn't take a quick jump back up. The lower prices help put a lot of money back into our communities. I'm old enough to remember 25-cent gas. But, I don't think I'll see that price again in my lifetime.
Thought for the week: What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds. — Will Rogers.
