December 2008 Odd Wisconsin
Don Quixote may have tilted at windmills, but octogenarian handyman Willard L. Standish (1845-1938) made a living by climbing and repairing them. And that wasn't his only trick. Standish told inquirers, "When I was 13 years old I came out to Wisconsin from Rutland Co., Vermont, and was left to shift for myself. And I did some shifting. This was...
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Posted in Odd Lives on December 28, 2008
During a bitter stretch in the winter of 1925, the editor of the Rice Lake Chronotype decided to ask local old-timers about the famous bone-withering cold of January 1877, when local thermometers had supposedly stood at 68 degrees below zero. He tracked down retired lumberjacks Paul Fournier, Henry Dietz and Hans Borgen, who gave him the following "re-lie-able" information....
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Posted in Curiosities on December 21, 2008
"It was formerly a belief of children in some German households in a midwestern city that in the weeks or month before Christmas (Weinachten), the garrets of homes were occupied by dwarfs called kobolders. These little men were described as being attired in close-fitting brown jackets and knitted brown woolen caps (zipfelkappen) terminating in a long point with a tassel....
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Posted in Curiosities on December 16, 2008
Here in southern Wisconsin, December began with a new snowfall every 72 hours, just like last year. Snow shovels and sidewalk salt are lined up outside hardware stores, plows and tow trucks wake us at dawn, and casts are already starting to sprout on wrists, elbows, and ankles. If the snowfall maintains this pace, we're in for another record-setting winter.*...
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Posted in Curiosities on December 7, 2008
Did You Know?
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is currently featuring Odd Wisconsin objects in the latest exhibit: Odd Wisconsin. And don't miss the Odd Wisconsin book by author Erika Janik published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
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