The recent bulk pickup, again cleaned up the city pretty well. This is a long standing service in the spring and fall provided by the city’s recycling contract with Express Disposal. It’s always fun to cruse around to see if anything usable can be found. There are always a few guys seen picking up metals and they were seen more than once making the rounds. *** Downtown Stanley is a booming place these days. It use to be that you would drive through an empty downtown at night and you could roll a cannon ball down the street most nights without hitting a car. Now the new Mexican Restaurant, the theater being open again, and the Dance Studio all contribute to Broadway Street many nights having a good number of vehicles filling the parking spaces. And the reports on the food have been overwhelmingly good by those connoisseurs of Mexican food. *** Did you know that the spring Ojibwe harvest season (mid to late April through May) is underway? In the mid-1800’s, the Lake Superior Ojibwe Tribes ceded more than 22,000 square miles of tribal territory across Northern Wisconsin, including all or parts of 30 counties (Chippewa County was one of the 30 counties). In their treaties with the United States federal government, the Ojibwe maintained their rights to hunt, fish and gather off the reservation land within the Ceded Territory. Those rights are maintained by the tribes to this day. Anyone interfering with tribal rights could be charged under several Wisconsin laws. +++ According to the United States Elections Project, the presidential elections of 2020 drew a record voter turnout with 66.7 percent of Americans eligible to vote turning out. Wisconsin’s turnout percentage was 75.8 percent. Our neighbors in Minnesota had a turnout rate of 80 percent –the highest turnout rate in the United States. +++ The pandemic was devastating to many Americans. According to the Federal Reserve, before the pandemic nearly 4 in 10 households did not have the cash on hand to cover an unexpected $400 expense. One idea is for employers to have available payroll deductions for contributions to a rainy-day-fund. This might allow employees to not have to tap retirement accounts in an emergency. *** On Sunday night, April 11, I joined a Zoom presentation by the Mondovi Area Historical Society entitled, “Mondovi at the Movies 1921-1969.” What drew me in was a photograph of the Mondovi Theater that looked like it could have been the Stanley Theater. The characteristics of the two theaters are very similar. I even wonder if the architect, or designer of the facades of the buildings, were the work of same person or company. At any rate, the history of movies in our two communities are very similar. Vaudeville presentations first took place at the opera house, followed by silent movies and finally theaters like we have today. Mondovi’s theater ran until 1969 and then met the wrecking ball. Fortunately, Stanley has had the dedicated Eslinger family that has saved our movie theater. *** Last week saw the 8th Avenue Bridge Project inch towards completion. Monday through Wednesday the approaches on both sides were filled and compacted. On Thursday, Chippewa Concrete put in the curb and gutter approaches on the east side of the bridge. All that is left is blacktopping on both sides and the project will be complete. Perhaps by the time you read this, the bridge will be open. *** Earth Day celebrations take many forms but most often are garbage cleanup of roadsides, riverbanks, parks etc. Cleanups along the Black River in Clark County and a Chequamegon Forest cleanup in Taylor County were just two such events held in our area. In a related matter it was interesting noting that Nestle’s Plant in Medford, manufacturers of a variety of pizza brands, advertised that they provided “Zero Landfill Since 2008.” Their ad further noted that 95% of their waste is recycled and 5% is converted into steam for electricity. They also noted that the Medford factory achieved a 10% decrease in water usage and a 3% decrease in energy use. All that sounds commendable to me. *** The weekend of April 17-18, I got the urge to dig in the garden. The weather was nice, the weeds were already growing so they needed to be dug out and I always like to edge the garden space before it is rototilled. I think it all started while shopping at IGA that week, I noticed that the yellow set onions were just about all gone. That either means people are gearing up to plant or they are fearful they won’t get any if they wait to long? Riding around the countryside, I have noticed that most of the Mennonites are getting ready to plant. So I too think it’s getting close to the time to plant the vegetables that like the cold soil. I will be ready! *** Fr. Felix Byrne, Stanley’s first Catholic priest, preached temperance and was united with other Stanley clergy in holding anti-drinking rally’s at the opera house, while serving here from 1900 to 1909. An interesting find was in the October 23, 1914 edition of this newspaper, under Church Notes: “United Lutheran: An Anti-saloon League lecture will be given at the U.L Church Sunday evening at 8. This will be a union (meaning Stanley clergy sponsored) meeting. Everybody welcome. Mr. Erfmeyer of Milwaukee will be the speaker.” These were the fuels that eventually brought life to prohibition. *** On Wednesday, April 21, I left home at 10:30 am and set out for the museum, The sun was shining. My route took me south on Broadway and I turned west onto Maple Street. Looking west beyond ADM I couldn’t see anything because of the blizzard conditions that existed. Perhaps we shouldn’t be saying “April showers bring May flowers.” But rather quite simply, “April showers bring snow showers!” *** Smile time. If only losing weight was as easy as losing my keys, temper, or even my mind. I would be skinny! +++ I’m not short I’m a people Mc Nugget. +++ It takes real skill to choke on air, fall upstairs, and trip over completely nothing…. I have that skill. +++ Seen on a tombstone — I can’t believe I ate all that KALE for nothing! +++ An alcoholic tried to become a lawyer but couldn’t pass the bar. +++ A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other. +++ A man had a heart attack and had to have surgery. His wife found out that he had just won the lottery. She was afraid to tell him because he probably wouldn’t have the surgery. She asked the doctor what to do and he said he would tell him. The doctor asked the man: “What would you do if you won the lottery today? “The man said, “… he would be so happy that he would give the doctor half of his winnings.” The doctor fell over and died on the spot. +++ During a lesson about adjectives, an elementary teacher asked her class to describe their mothers. One boy describes his mother’s hair as auburn. Impressed with his sophisticated words the teacher asked, “How do you know her hair color is auburn?” The student replied, “Because that’s what it says on the box.”