snow and ice

Cloudy, 32 degrees, 2 inches snow

Well, we enjoyed a long Fall. Though it snowed twice in october, it didn't snow at all in November, making deer hunters grumpy, but farmers and holiday travelers happy. Probably just about everyone else, too. It was a good thing we had a mild and fairly dry november for the farmers who had corn or soybeans to harvest. There was still a lot of corn standing in the fields a week or two ago. It's that time of year when we need to be extra cautious on the roads - not only are the deer out, but our roads are frequented by huge tractors, combines, and grain bins being rolled and bounced along at a 15 mph clip. Sometimes people get impatient and cause accidents.

It looks like most of the harvest is in, just in time for the first snowfall. Yesterday when I left for work it was dry and mild out. During the day the snow started coming down, and by evening commute time we had about two inches, snarling traffic on all roads and causing wipeouts, crashes, and slide-offs everywhere. Even Wisconsin drivers forget how to drive in snow. It took an extra hour and a half to get home last night. In a short while, this kind of snow event will barely cause anyone to notice. Can't wait for that to happen!

We picked up our pork at the butcher shop last week! Always a satisfying feeling, the culmination of a big project and lots of work and passion on our part. And it's tasty! Karen and I had a big day going all over hill and dale, to Lake Geneva and back to Stoughton to make a drop off at the store selling our meat, then on to Madison to the cold storage warehouse. We needed extra storage space for some pork that needs to be shipped to the east coast as well as for our own pork - we simply don't have the room-we have a full upright and a chest freezer filled with our own meats (50 chickens take up a lot of room!). Then we made a stop at a dry ice place, and then on to the UPS store to drop off some pork going to Iowa. Temps. and arrival dates were more forgiving to IA, so that order could go right out. (I have gotten feedack and it has arrived safe and frozen solid). I took some pictures of the loading up process to give an idea of the size of boxes, etc. The product in the white cooler is one side of pork all cut into retail cuts for a store. This does not include a lot of raosts and whole hams, so you can see how easily a whole side can be stored when it's processed this way. BTW, that is a big cooler, about 120 qt, I believe, and it was only about half full.

Noe the dry ice thing is an interesting issue. Last year, I spoke to a UPS Store owner in Lake Geneva, where we were shipping our meats from at that time. She said no way, no how, no dry ice, EVER. She underlined it by saying if I put any dry ice in a package, and it was discovered, she would be fined $15,000. Okay, then.

This year, I called and spoke to a guy who owned such a store closer to the place where we are storing the frozen meat until the weather gets colder. He said "Oh, yah, sure, you can use lots of dry ice. Up to 5 lbs. per pkg, no problem" Wow...... okay. To add confusion, I wound up sending the Iowa parcel from a third UPS Store, and they said "You can use dry ice, but only up to 2 lbs."

I have a saying, "It all depends on who you get", and it certainly applies here, doesn't it?