Following are weather-related events in this area during December of 2023:
1. The highest snow bank was on top of the new water tower in Albert Lea.
2. There were so many “alert” warnings, Alert Thofson tried to take advantage of his TV popularity by getting a patent on his name. The U.S. Patent Office denied his request.
3. The Interstate 90 sign read: Olarks Grove due do snow enclosing the “C.”
4. My false teeth did not chatter. The snow held them in place.
5. Two fish houses on Beaver Lake were blown together door to door. Luckily, neither fish house was occupied.
6. Seventy people, five dogs and two cats spent the night of Friday, Dec. 23, 2023 in the Armory shelter in Albert Lea. All motel rooms were full.
7. There were 10 days in a row of below-zero temperatures in the area. 8. The most used word on TV was “closed” and the second-most used
word was “postponed.”
9. Flashing blue letters on an I-90 uge snow bank just north of Ellendale: “Warning, snow plow inside.”
10. As it became light, a huge possum crawled up inside a bush by our house. He slept the day away and left during the night.
11. Two small woodpeckers drilled a hole in a tree by our garage, close to a bird seed feeder.
12. Sign on a large snow bank in the northbound I-35 rest stop near Owatonna: “If snow in this snow bank is moving, it’s either a MiniCooper or a small VW trying to get out.”
13. Who is Alicia? She is the great employee at the Gulf Gas Station in Albert Lea who came outside in the cold, snow and wind to help me get gas under the new easy-to-get gas system designed for an 8-year-old. Alicia, your help was most appreciated.
14. I am sure the thunder came from a snowdrift on the roof of a house next to us owned by Jenny and Jake.
15. It was so foggy a family from Hartland traveling on I-90 headed to New York City stayed overnight in Rapid City the first day of traveling.
16. Las Vegas bet makers were giving the same odds as to whether your family Christmas party would be held or not.
17. Genie and I were supposed to
go to two family Christmas parties. We bet with Las Vegas bookies and broke even. I bet both would be held. Genie bet both wouldn’t be held. One was held, one wasn’t.
18. Two of the families staying at the Armory shelter in Albert Lea were from Mason City, Iowa, traveling by car to Phoenix, Arizona. After three days on the road of snow and fog, they stayed at the Ramada Inn in Albert Lea before arriving home in Mason City.
19. Auctioneer Orville Johnson and I postponed our January birthdays until next year.
20. After submitting this column to the bookies in Las Vegas, the odds are you can’t pick which six of the 20 are true.
Well, did you pick the right six of the 20 statements that are true?
The six true statements are 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13 — only if you changed December of 2023 to December of 2022.
Once again, the heading of this column is, “Fact or Fiction. You decide!”