Thank goodness all this hazardous weather coincided with lots of football on television. I don’t know about everyone else, but it was a great football weekend for me. Debby and I both spent part of our growing up years in Milwaukee, and, as a result, are die-hard Packer fans. Although, wanting to see the Lions make it to their first Superbowl is making us a little less “die-hard.”
The Lions are one of just four current NFL teams that have never had a Superbowl appearance. Two of the others are expansion teams – the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars, but I was surprised to see that the Cleveland Browns have never made it either.
I would comment more on the weather, but compared to many other parts of the country, we haven’t had it so bad. We got a text last week from Debby and Rink’s brother Stewart, who lives in Butte, Montana, and it was minus 31 degrees – not wind chill, actual temperature.
Thinking about football makes me think about beer. Next Wednesday is National Beer Can Day. According to the History Channel, canned beer made its debut on January 24, 1935. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia.
Competitors soon followed suit, and by the end of 1935, over 200 million cans had been produced and sold. Cans were easier to stack, more durable, and took less time to chill. As a result, their popularity continued to grow throughout the 1930s, and then exploded during World War II, when U.S. brewers shipped millions of cans of beer to soldiers overseas.
We were very sorry to learn of the death of lifelong Omena summer resident Betsy Erhardt last week. Betsy and her family came from Cincinnati every summer. After marrying Drew Erhardt, they moved to St. Louis, but she continued the family tradition and came to Omena with her three children, Libby, Peggy and Bob. She loved getting to see her grandchildren also enjoying Omena. She was a wonderful friend and neighbor to many in Omena. Our sympathies go to Drew, and to her whole family. She will be missed.
We have two weeks of birthdays to recognize this week. No anniversaries. Interestingly, the Omena News only shows one wedding anniversary in each of January and February. If I’m missing someone, let me know.
Happy Birthday last week to Dennis Armbruster, Larry Fox, Donna Kalchik, Becky Carlson, Mike TenBrock, Paula McMenamy, Ryan Blessing, and to Daxton Kalchik, who turned 2 years old last week.
Happy Birthday this week to Emaleigh Duffiney, Barb Harris, Marcia McMorrow, Tiffany Singer, Thad Tomlinson, and to both Lori and John Phillips. Big week in the Phillips family!
