This story brings me *such joy* because my wife successfully hoodwinked her stepmother into believing she made amazing mashed potatoes, rather than simply heating up a container of Bob Evans. She has never revealed the truth and I expect that she never will.

It just so happens I've been through Hannibal a couple of times and immediately recognized that bend in the road on US 61. 😄

I might be misunderstanding your image from Hannibal, MO — the location in question shows a tributary on the west side of town, not the Mississippi River.

My most memorable one was on a home Hawkeye football game. Expected it to be a sunny, pleasant fall day...

... it was not.

I didn't even want to leave the apartment after getting home from work for fear of (deserved) heckling.

Always a good time.

Oh yeah, that one is just mind-boggling. Reminds me, we also just had the anniversary of this one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Ar...

I totally forgot that the winter of 1880-1881 was The Long Winter. I would imagine this was related to the broader weather pattern... hopefully @windbarb.bsky.social doesn't shame me for not recognizing the connection. 😅

I enjoyed looking at some old weather maps to help illustrate what was going on that week all those years ago. Here's my little dive into it: buckeyeweatherbuzz.substack.com/i/179277558/...

Noticing one seemingly forgettable detail piqued my curiosity and gave me a fun little thing to write about.