---

I don't know if it's a sign of spring or what. Last week on Friday I heard something come over the scanner that I almost couldn't believe  - a grass fire was being reported with the Blanchardville Fire Department asked to respond. Then, on Sunday morning, I heard thunder happening when we were receiving rain! Somehow February just isn't the month I expect either of these things to be happening!

*****

We sure have had our share of fog lately. A huge 14 vehicle accident happened on Wednesday at County YZ and 18/151 east of Dodgeville. Somehow nobody was really hurt. But, on Thursday morning, Kirk Daubenspeck, former UW Badgers hockey goalie was injured in a car/semi accident at County HHH and 18/151 near Ridgeway. He is reportedly in a coma.

*****

I was driving west on both of those days in the afternoon on Wednesday and in the morning on Thursday. Neither day did I drive more than 45 MPH. The thing I couldn't believe is the number of vehicles I met without any headlights on. On Thursday, the vehicle behind me didn't have its light on either. I tried to figure out how to let the driver know, but I figured turning my lights off and on with the driver only being able to see the rear lights was pretty fruitless and would bother anyone I was meeting and flashing my headlights from low to high beam was totally useless. I guess I'll have to check and see what protocol is in that case!

*****

On Saturday i made the trip to Westby to follow the Iowa-Grant, Mineral Point and Pecatonica/Argyle wrestlers who were trying to earn a trip to the WIAA State Division 3 Tournament this coming Thursday through Saturday. There wasn't any bad weather for the drive, so I made it in about 1 1/2 hours to the school. Congratulations to the Iowa-Grant and Mineral Point wrestlers who made it to state-unfortunately no Pecatoniaca/Argyle guys went on. The same is true for Dodgeville wrestlers from the Evansville Division 2 Sectional, but River Valley has some making the trip to the Kohl Center - Good luck to all competiters.

*****

Dodgeville-Mineral Point gymnasts hosted the SWC conference meet Friday night at the Dodgeville Middle School. A good share of the Southwestern/Cuba City spectators were decked out in yellow T-shirts and matching hard hats (shown above). That added to the fun and great competition from the schools involved - Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster, River Valley, Southwestern/Cuba City, Dodgeville-Mineral Point and Prairie du Chien.

*****

A couple weeks ago I was walking to my vehicle that was parked on the main street, coming out of Box Office Video. There was snow along the sidewalk so I walked in the street. I passes a vehicle and happened to look down on the ground - there was a Debit Card. I took it back into the video store and Dewey said that person is a customer and he has her phone number on file. He called her and she was very thankful to get the card back safe. Now, the other day, I received a gift from her - a chocolate bismark from my "favorite" bakery. Actually, I thought when you did something nice you were supposed to receive a reward - not a punishment!!!