Are you ready for 2023 football?  The word on the street is the Stanley-Boyd Orioles football team will have a big line and fast backfield. I have observed a good number of high school boys lifting weights and working out in the Fitness Center all summer. It will soon be game time.  Here is the announced 2023 football schedule.  August 18 – Stanley-Boyd at Cadott; August 25 – Marathon City at Stanley-Boyd; September 1 - Stanley-Boyd at Fall Creek; September 8 - Mondovi at Stanley-Boyd; September 15 – Stanley-Boyd at Osseo-Fairchild; September 22 – Stanley Boyd at Neillsville- Granton; September 29 – Regis at Stanley-Boyd; October 6 – Stanley-Boyd at Elk Mound; October 13 – Durand at Stanley-Boyd.  All games begin at 7 pm.  Go Orioles.

***

Politicians are always crowing when they figure they can take some credit for something.  There was a lot of crowing when state aid to local municipalities and general aid to schools became part of the 2023-24 state budget, as signed by Governor Tony Evers. What follows is a listing of area school districts and if they gained or lost according to estimates from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Abbotsford’s general school aid will increase $167,056, which is a 2.16% increase; Bloomer will get an increase of $380,168 or a 4.03% increase; Cadott will have a $76,345 decrease in aid or -1.05%; Colby will see a reduction of $252,001 or a 2.85% decrease; Cornell’s aid will increase $328,927, a 12.65% increase; Gilman’s aid will increase $209,998 or + 10.29%; Greenwood’s aid will increase $32,728 or + 1.12%;  Lake Holcombe’s aid will decrease $16,171 or – 15%; Loyal’s aid will also decrease $114,707 or – 2.58%; Neillsville had the area’s largest dollar loss at $308,148 or - 5.17%; New Auburn had the area’s largest percentage of aid increase at $259,813 or +36.01%; Osseo-Fairchild gained $469,742 or +7.01%; Owen-Withee aid will decrease $247,123 or - 6.90%; Stanley-Boyd's aid will increase $82,651 or +1.00%; and lastly Thorp aid will be decreased $154,447 or -3.58%.  I have no idea how to explain a school districts increase or decrease in general aids.  All I know is the General School Aids are estimated to increase statewide $5.36 billion for 2023-24. 

***

Jobs in the Eau Claire Metro area (Eau Claire and Chippewa counties) have been plentiful and I often wonder where some media sources get the horror stories they report related to the unemployment picture. They are not true if you believe the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development statistics for May 2023. Here are the figures they report: 88,800 working in Eau Clarie and Chippewa counties; the unemployment rate in Chippewa and Eau Claire counties in May 2023 was 2.4%; the unemployment rate in Wisconsin was also 2.4%; the unemployment rate in the United Sates in May 2023 was 3.7%.  So, you be the judge what shape our economy is in.                                                                                                         

***

Another new food at the Minnesota State Fair.   Donuts Delights found at Coasters.   Mini-donuts are cuddled up inside bacon and impaled on the requisite stick before taking a deep-fry bath.  The  whole thing is topped with layers of peanut butter and drizzled with raspberry dessert sauce. Yum?

***

As has been reported in this column on several past occasions the Stanley Correctional Institution has experienced, a large number of vacancies. These vacancies are mostly in the correctional officers and sergeants ranks.  Hopefully, with the recently passed state budget, the raises going to these two ranks will be an incentive for more people to apply for the vacant positions.  For starters, the minimum starting hourly wage will go from $20.29 to $33 per hour and increasing to $39 per hour for correctional officers with 25 or more years of experience.  As a medium security prison, employees at SCI will also receive a $1 per hour add on. Hopefully, this will address the Corrections Workforce Shortages.

***

Did you know?  Fort McCoy is a U. S. Army installation on 60,000 acres near Sparta (WI) in Monroe County.  In 1909, there were two separate camps, Camp Emory Upton and Camp Robinson.  In 1926, these two camps were joined together to form Camp McCoy.  Since then Camp McCoy has primarily been used as a military training center. Today, it is also used by the Wisconsin State patrol as a training facility. * During World War II, it served as a concentration camp for 170 Japanese and 120 German and Italian American civilians arrested as “enemy aliens.”  The post was also used as a prisoner of war camp holding 4,000 Japanese and German POWs.  In 1953, Camp McCoy was deactivated.  In 1973, it was reactivated as a permanent training center. A major use of the camp in 2021 was hosting over 12,600 Afghanistan evacuees after the country fell to the Taliban. +++  The City of Colby’s annual celebration is called Colby Cheese Days.  This year Colby celebrated its 150^th Anniversary as a community.  Colby is named after Colby cheese, first made a few miles to the south west of the city. 

***

With the passing of Bob Valk, another legendary figure has left our Main Street business district.  Bob’s Barber Shop has been a mainstay of Stanley businesses for more than 50 years.  It has served as a “Man Cave” for countless retirees who have had time on their hands and were looking for a hideout. It was place where you could go and come out with some tidbit of community news or gossip, hear a story of one of Bob’s lifetime of adventures, get a haircut if you gave him enough time to tell his story while cutting your hair, or just socialize with friends and neighbors. I always wanted him and Jim Ericksen to serve as story tellers at our local museum as together they could have told a few true stories, and I am sure, a few whoopers! Rest in Peace, gentle friend and former McDonald’s morning coffee guy.

***

I have basically said this before, but here are words from Heidi Goodman of Harvard Health Publishing:  “Pools are ideal spots for playing, cooling off and relaxing, and they’re also great for exercising.  Water resistance makes the heart and muscles work hard.  Buoyancy in water takes pressure off the joints, making movement less painful than it might be on land.  Exercising in water always provides a soft landing.”  There is room for more early morning swimmers at the Stanley-Boyd Community Pool – 5:30 – 7 am. Try it! You might like it.

***

Did you know?  The Norsk Nook at Oseeo is cerebrating their 50^th Anniversary.  They started the restaurant in the heart of Osseo in 1973 and today have grown to be known nationwide for their homemade pies.  Besides being located in Oseeo, they also have restaurants in Rice Lake and De Forest, WI.  Besides being famous for their pies, where else can you order a wrap and have it come with its contents inside a piece of lefse? +++ If your interested in having a meal at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant (where the goats roam around on the grass roof) in Sister Bay, I would suggest you think in terms of going there in May or September, unless you want to wait up to two hours.

***

Smile time. A shout out to everyone who can still remember their childhood phone number, but can’t remember the password they created yesterday.  You are my people! +++ They say marriages are made in heaven.  But so are thunder and lightening.  +++ I’m always disappointed when liar’s pants doesn’t catch on fire. +++ A customer at a bakery: What do you have with no sugar? Sales clerk: Napkins. +++ I really don’t mind getting old, but my body is taking it badly. +++ I enjoy a glass of wine each night for its health benefits.  The other glasses are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves. +++The adult version of “head, shoulders, knees and toes” is “wallet, glasses, keys, and phone.” +++ If you worry about what’s ahead, you pass up today. +++ Unfortunately, there is no lifeguard in the gene pool. +++ A friend was visiting from Florida and it was decided we would go bowling.  However, a squall had dumped a foot of snow on the ground.  Fearing the bowling alley might be closed a call was made.  “Are you open?” was the question asked of the man answering.  “Yes. Why?” he said.  “It’s snowing.”  “Son, I don’t know where you’re from, but here in Wisconsin we bowl indoors.”