Along The Ad Routes

by Mike Reilly

We received several notes included with Chronicle subscriptions this past week. The first was just a sticky note attached to the check from Sonja Kittleson of Blanchardville. She said “Love your paper. Look forward to it every week.”

The second came from Tammy Wehrle of Mineral Point as she renewed her papers along with ones for Jim and Lettie Wehrle, also of Mineral Point. She said, “I would like to renew the Democrat and Chronicle for both Jim and myself. I have enclosed a check.”

Then, Phillip Kramer of Missouri City, Texas said, “Another year and time to renew my subscription. You are to be congratulated on  keeping the Chronicle in business, especially in today’s environment. The local area is fortunate to have the Chronicle as a source of news. Enjoy the Iowa-Grant area news and Mike’s Saturday breakfast adventures. Wish both of you and the staff a good Holiday Season! P.S. - Go Packers - been a Packers fan for years!!!”

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Let it snow...let it snow....let it snow - was surely the theme of Saturday early morning into Sunday! I woke up and looked out of my window at 5:00 a.m. and saw light snow on the ground. It never seemed to stop after that! Events for the “Small Business Saturday” celebration in Dodgeville were cancelled except for the “Cookie Walk” to benefit the Dodger Food Locker that was held at the Methodist Church (started at 10:00 a.m.) and the Free Movie “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” that was held at 11:00 at the Dodge Theatre. Both events drew a good number of people taking part!

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There were several businesses that were supposed to be open that decided not to, but there was enough going on to deem it successful!

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The only problem was the boatload of accidents that I heard on the scanner on Saturday!

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I checked with everyone about Saturday morning breakfast and it was decided to not meet - I think for the first time that I can remember! So I decided to have breakfast right next door to the Chronicle office at Cathryn’s Market. I contacted Bob to see if he wanted to join me at 7:30 and he did. Cari didn’t start cooking until around 8:00, so I had my “Mike’s Magic Mint” and Bob some coffee while we waited for our biscuits & gravy. Chloe and Olive were the waitstaff taking care of us and (as usual) they did a good job. Chloe is a college student while Olive is a DHS senior. They were busy until about the time we left, but it picked up a lot just before noon.

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By the way, eating Saturday morning breakfast, even though it was just the two of us, counted as the 77th place we have eaten! And that’s just two away from the age that I hit last Sunday!

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I hope everybody checked our “Holiday Gift Guide” that was inserted into last week’s Chronicle. It told of the many thing happening leading up to Christmas - and there’s a lot. You surely won’t go away from the area hungry for cookies and candy as every area has a sale happening. And Santa will be visiting every youngster around!

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Sunday morning (my birthday) I navigated my vehicle out of my garage and down the street to the Chronicle. Thankfully, Garrison had cleaned out my driveway Saturday afternoon, so I only had about 4” (or so) to get through. I got to the Chroncile and he had done that too on Saturday, so I took my time and got rid of the rest of the sidewalk snow and was able to get in to do some work!

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Today, Thursday, December 4 is “National Cookie Day”. Cookies more than deserve their own day, and that’s why National Cookie Day is celebrated around the world in order to pay tribute to these delicious little treats. Cookies, themselves, can be traced back much further than most people would imagine. It is estimated that in the 7th century AD, Persians were some of the first to grow and harvest sugar cane, which would have eventually been turned into baked goods. In 1987 Matt Nader of the San Francisco-based Blue Chip Cookie Company created National Cookie Day, saying: “It’s just like having National Secretaries Day… It will just be a fun thing to do.” This fun and sweet holiday have also been championed by The Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, obviously a supporter of all things that are cookie-related.

It’s a day that was loved around here because of the  “Quality Bakery “ cookies -we miss that!