Winter is finally in almost-mid-January here — in what already is a 72-hour (now 96 and still counting) wind-and-snow-shot — and not just this writer, fittingly named Joe Winter, as those few hardy people who have gone to the local watering holes with their now-frozen H2O, have been scrambling to their cars to get their forgotten-as-if-this-is-months-earlier coats in the midst of quaffing their beers. In this The Land Of Ice Cold Waters!
But it you know where to go here in Hudson, you will still find sports fans and slippery sidewalk stumblers …
We take, in reverse chronological order, as my fingers are frozen (as if that matters). More pertinent might be the roar of spinning-on-ice tires from the parking lot of the nightclub nextdoor. But first …
The sign says it all, come Sunday: The Arcana Apothecary is closed (today). Witch Ball class continues. Nearby, two different Hudson Hot Air Affair flyers, to their tune of Rockin’ With The Coldies, were seen in a single ice-tinged doorway, for of all things a bike shop, to promote the event that celebrates our frigid. But a counterpoint, an older couple were seen walking hand in hand, one of them gloved and the other not. Like you might see one laying, singlely, outside a bar. The other may have been holding a beer, (as it takes more than a bitter Wisconsin winter to make alcohol freeze. Usually.)
– My friend Jennifer said that although not a perfect game, she saw at the Hudson Bowling Center the Green Bay win over warm-weather-wanting Dallas, and how many times did she razz her homie friend, a Cowboy fan? At least 15! That’s a full two touchdowns-worth, plus two-point conversion for an exclamation point. To the point that the friend, backing the usually stoic Dallas team, begged her to stop. So bow your 10-gallon hat, as the Dallas divisional level playoff drought continues. (See more below where starred.) –
But then late Saturday night, there was Dick’s Bar and Grill and their several cars parked in front amidst small and spotty snowbanks, and it lately has been back to old days and resurgent as far as volume of customer traffic, apparently the town’s again hot spot as things always evolve. The DJ mix? “And three times more (it was last weekend), three times I tried to be with you …” And they were last week, especially. Their crowd was that much bigger that three-day period, said a longtime bouncer.
“People talk s— about us, but here we are.” Both life and the bar business are not a sprint, but a marathon, I agreed. A patron laughingly teased about him saying “overweight,” which he denied, and then (both) looked at me and I was told to just agree, bringing more chuckles from all three of us. Then there came the debate about when is the start of Black History Month, and even more respect? (It’s Feb. 1, so check out the scene then.)
Overall, it had an urban and not as much cowboy vibe. And on the steps leading outside …
“He forgot his coat,” said a pale young woman. “He’s figured out he brought it in,” added another. So there’s no need to run to Target and buy one. Oh wait, they’re closed right now.
Then earlier in the eve, as a trio whipped around the corner past The Agave in the whipping wind: “I gotta run fast without my coat,” said a young woman to me, moving rapidly. “Hey big bro,” added a guy who also appeared to know me. “Hallaluia,” said a third.
I could see my breathe on the way back, more easily than any time since last February. And there was a big, black flapping plastic tarp on the back side of the Smilin’ Moose, with a moderate number of people inside.
In the intro to the storm …
Closing in on midnight on Friday, there was a 100-yard stretch on the main drag with just one car, and none were parked in front of Ziggy’s — likewise, there were only that many in the full-block area of the Moose — but Z was the place I wanted to check before off-sale ended at 12, and things would be shutting down on the lower level.
So off to Hudson Tap. The one bartender left on duty framed it, “We were good for the game, but after that …” (That game was only Chiefs vs. Dolphins).
For the middle of the walk downtown I was out of the wind, because the buildings were at least two-story and facing west, but on the south end and its battle to get inside, a guy was talking about a yet-different long haul, the workout that is his relationship. As he closed a drawn-out sentence, a tall guy conducted his own workout, sprinting by in only shirtsleeves, rishing across the wide street of at least two lanes.
But inside The Tap, there sat at the long bar, with others soon joining, a few Flyers fans and a Kings fan, on this Kirill K’s night of return from injury to NHL hockey. The guy lauding LA, which once had a player from Hudson, said mistakenly, that it’s too cold to walk to Jonesy’s, which is way up the hill. It quickly became certain he meant to The Moose, which makes for long blocks, but only two of them.
A straight-shot north …
The Green Bay-and-its-frozen-tundra-based Associated Bank (I almost said US Bank as that is/becomes basically universal) revealed, midstream, on its handy-dandy, 800-number hotline that there may be delays talking to a customer service agent for … why? Inclement weather! (Love that “I” word). Even though on the phone, not at a blizzard-ridden branch! Two thoughts: Is not the actual frozen tundra hundreds and hundreds of miles north? (John Madden rolls over in his grave.) Otherwise to say, is there not a US Bank Stadium in (neighboring) Minneapolis, also hit by storm? I do believe they’re (still) in the playoffs, too.
*** But at least on Sunday eve there is the wild-card playoff game of the Pack to rack up business at the many state sports bars — those who braved the cold saw a flurry of points by Green Bay to handily defeat Dallas, who although supposed to be tough could not handle the predicted single digits in their state, 48-32 — even though temps were supposed to remain hovering around, and I’m afraid mostly well below, Ice Bowl-doing-in-Dallas-style zero here the whole day before. The temperature is currently, as I’m writing this update, 8 degrees below at the dawn of a new Monday, as Cowboys still cowered. A bartender friend said early in this onslaught that the wind chills were supposed on max out at 30 below. I think she was being as far generous with that figure, as a slim-figured server who’s topping off the booze in the drink of a favorite customer, to the point that even a tough Texan might be tipsy.
And for Dallas, my niece who spend her whole childhood in Wisconsin and trudged through waist high, as she’s short, snow while attending UW-Madison and now has moved to Austin, has had the last laugh, as those Texans might as well be wearing tiny hats, not the Tory bowlers, as their state shut down — like the Dallas defense — when temps dropped only to the freezing level. Those “ten-galloners” bowed their hats down to a second “quarter” of 20 points. So tip a “pint” as Green Bay Does Dallas, who is drowning in their tall premium beer.
In my dad’s nursing home, they were wheeled off to a Dallas dinner just prior to halftime, so he got to see all of those 20 points. Mom hadn’t noticed that the intermission activities were on not offenses, “the players tried to take the field but the marching band refused to yield.” Staff were stressed to get the meal and clean-up done so the residents would not have to miss very much of the third quarter, as for some, the dining room TV was in the far (hind?) end and they were essentially back bleacher bums.
“Down south” in Milwaukee, where the Pack used to play …
This could be called a lower-key blizzard emergency, 260 miles southeast of my Hudson that was by comparison quite balmy, as it’s still early in this until-now, precipitation-less season, without the also-necessary fury of snow, when it’s wind-driven.
The song Rime of the Ancient Mariner had it rite (intentional spelling) when their protagonist traveled, likewise but also conversely in direction taken, “north until all is calm.” Then the boat was stuck in its place, since they needed the roar of wind power, which could wreck their ship but also allow them to sail along. But thus it was in reverse … The wind power, when not windmills doing beneficial generating, can seek and destroy.
But my non-metal mom still ended up staying at the nursing home, with blanket and pillow on the couch, and dad, as she can’t get the car out of the garage because of the power failures, that are rampant and effect the door opener, and this keeps on racheting up. (Once back inside and the service finally came back on, those inside lights had ended up staying in their “on” position for about those, again, 72 hours.) My cool and encumbered bro managed to — get her back into her condo later — but for now give her a lift to “the facility,” as we in the family have come to call it. And the facility is not a power plant, but it apparently has its own generator.
Both for a couple of days have had electricity out, even though in the midst a daughter had to stay the night with him and also move a bit of stuff into his house, and forget running the stove — just fireplace — as its been out for a couple of days running. As long as there still is water running in non-frozen pipes, my mom’s concern, and she would call her also-cool neighbors to check, but their cell phones and cable are also out.
With generator, partly, my bro kept the sump pump going, oddly, but at least that would keep any slushy snow/water, as has at times been their lately case, out of the basement. With people shoveling, literally, the snow off the tops of their too-tall SUVs while standing in the slush, all so they could venture out on black-ice roads. Might not want to go to that Vanilla Ice or black metal concert.
And you thought it to be bad up here in the frozen tundra!