Along The Ad Routes

by Mike Reilly

You could say that it’s been COLD outside! Temperatures hit -26 on Friday and schools were called off. The Dodgeville Chronicle also took a day off. But I didn’t. I had a bunch of printing to do so I “weathered the weather” and ventured the three blocks into the office. I figured the phone may ring some and it did - about 20 times with SPAM calls! But I did have several real calls, sold a subscription over the phone and another in-person, handled a big advertising placement, took in a FedEX package and got my printing done! The temperature got up to a -10 sometime during the day too!

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Saturday morning breakfast found the temperature at about that -10 when  I started out to the office. It was 2 degrees on my vehicle when I backed out of my garage. We decided, with the cold and the fact that most ot us wanted to go to Jeanie Lewis’ wake/funeral, we would stay in town. We ventured to Jimmy’s Cafe and even arrived before Jimmy! It was Bob, Terry, Tom, Potsie, Royce and me meeting at Jimmy’s. There were a few others there already when we got there between 7:15 and 7:30 (meeting time). Sam was our waitstaff, but then he got a call from his dad (out west) that there was a water problem alert on his phone from his home on Highway 39 so Sam had to go check it out! I started the ordering (with Sam) and went with crepes and bacon. That must’ve triggered something as Terry,  Bob and Tom did the same! Potsie and Royce went with more traditional eggs, meat, toast and potatoes. It was all good! The services for Jeanie weren’t to start until 9:00 a.m. so we sat and talked a little longer!

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I’ve got to talk a little more about Jeanie Lewis, our everything woman who worked for us for years. There are plenty of stories I could tell about her. She was game for anything, but knew very little about sports. I told this at her funeral. We didn’t have enough people to cover all the football games one night. Jeanie said she would give it a try. We sent her close by to a Dodgeville game. When she returned to the office she was very excited. She said it was a lot of fun especially when this one guy ran through the players all the way down the field and got a HOME RUN! Oh, and Jeanie got some really good pictures of that game even though she didn’t know what she was doing!

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A couple of insurance companies have made moves to new locations just recently. American Family Insurance was located in the Arthur Real Estate building at the corner of North Iowa Street and East Merrimac. It is now two doors down to the north in the former McKinley Law Office building. Also, Rural Insurance that used to be in the Iowa County Co-Op Warehouse building on Union Street is now in the Arthur Real Estate building, taking the place of American Family Insurance!

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This Saturday if you want to get out ice fishing early in the morning, you can head to the Highland Lions Club’s Annual Dean Olson Fisheree that is held at Blackhawk Lake. It’s located off of Highway 39 between Cobb and Highland. At this moment on Sunday, January 25 it is -7 degrees outside. So the projected temperature is supposed to be +16 degrees and sunny. That’s a jump of 23 degrees. it may feel like spring!

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I’m moving to the last day of January (31st) as my special day this week. It’s a day that I am very appreciative of. It’s "Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day". It, a day to acknowledge the vital role Social Security plays for retirees, survivors, and the disabled, celebrating the benefits and the workers who deliver them. Your actual check day depends on your birthdate, with payments scheduled for the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of the month, and many benefits rose in January 2026 due to cost-of-living adjustments.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are basically living on their  Social Security check. I’m still working, but that check sure helps with my payments!