cold

I decided I'd better get out there and shovel the driveway (it snowed on sunday night). I checked the temperature before I went out, and the thermometer read 0.0°. I wondered if it was broken, since it's somewhat of a coincidence for it to be exactly 0.0, but I decided it was probably correct. It was -0.5° when I got back inside. It wasn't actually that bad out there, since there was no wind. Only my fingers got very cold (numb, actually). I cleared the front walk, part of the turn-around, and cleaned up the end by the mailbox.

In related news, I think we've got a cottage for Hawaii. The website calendar said it was open, and if it turns out not to be, we've got a couple of fall-back locations.

Wisconsin

Here's a promotional article about Appleton Wisconsin.

There's More To Appleton Than Our Acclaimed Escorts

So I wondered which parts of that article were true. Wikipedia has no information on the escort services, but it does mention that Appleton also had the first telephone in Wisconsin, the first incandescent light in any city beyond the East Coast, the first hydroelectric power and the first enclosed shopping mall in the United States.

Interestingly, the city was named after a person. Samuel Appleton donated $10,000 to the new Lawrence University. Apparently, the first guy who gave them $10,000 already had a town named after him (in Kansas), so this guy got the honor.

In other Wisconsin news, they've come out with a new dairy drink: Lots of Pulp Milk.