My Week that Was - May 1

Rock River flowing thru Watertown
4/22/2021 dwm photo

   The start of the week was pretty quiet and spent around the house.  I spent a fair amount of time Saturday working on the "news operations" video so it was finished and ready to go into the blog Sunday morning.

   After seven episodes of Vintage Video I finally developed a better way to sort through the available content to pull something together and develop a script before recording the voiceover and producing the slides between the stories.  If you missed one, you can sort through previous blogs or click on the Vintage Video tab on the top of the homepage.

Tuesday I worked the phones.  Because the last couple of weeks I focused on other tasks I didn't take the time to call.  Frequently Tuesday gets bogged down in a bunch of things I can only do in the office, like printing.  This time I made 25 calls reaching people more than half the time. 

Wednesday we received a number of plates for the donor wall to install, next Monday the rest will go up on our east campus.  There were more calls to make, but they went fast and I caught up on calls from the previous weeks.

A happy or amorous
GreyCrowned Crane.
4/29/21 (dwm)

Thursday I took the day off to be among the first to see the refreshed International Crane Foundation near Baraboo.

The Crane Foundation is the only place on earth where you can see all 15 species of cranes.  The pandemic delayed its opening and forced that to be done a lot differently than normal.

I was there for 90 minutes and had a great time.  I'll share more about the Crane place and more pictures of the beautiful birds in a blog coming up Tuesday.

After the cranes we visited Mirror Lake State Park.  We spent time next to the water relaxing and before we moved on I took a short hike to Echo Rock.

Mirror Lake is near Wisconsin Dells which is a beautiful area known for its rock formations in valleys and along rivers.  

Mirror Lake is behind the
trees and part of Echo Rock
4/29/2021 dwm photo

  The park has a lot of spots for campers and spectacular hiking trails plus the lake to lure people to enjoy some quiet after the touristy and water fun for which Wisconsin Dells is known. 

  While I was climbing Echo Rock, it seems like my favorite team was driving off a cliff.

  Quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn't happy.  

It's either because the Green Bay Packers used a first-round draft pick in 2020 on a quarterback or that the team has gotten close but hasn't reached the Super Bowl since the 2010 season or he wants more guaranteed money.  Or it's a mix of all three.

He told an ESPN reporter he wants out of Titletown.  He is under contract for three more seasons, but the guaranteed money vanishes after the 2021 season which gives the team flexibility for its roster.  The administration has said they want to keep the QB, but haven't reached a salary agreement with Rodgers or his agent.

The way NFL contracts work, guaranteed money is the only money the player will definitely see.  The rest is 'Monopoly' money.  Since Aaron has taken the team to the conference championship game twice in a row, the team is a Super Bowl contender and is bringing back as many pieces as possible.  Unless things completely fall-apart, that should be the case this fall.

I hope they can both come to a calm and rational decision.  Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer.  He is 37 but coming off his best season there is no reason to think he is done.  Unlike his predecessor, Brett Favre, Rodgers has talked about playing into his 40s for years while Favre routinely contemplated retirement at the end of each season.  That's why Packer management picked up a player from California named Aaron Rodgers.

Since Rodgers hasn't hinted at retirement he seems to have considered the drafting of Jordan Love as a slap in the face instead of a prudent managerial move to have a potential successor or trade bait for a few years.

I like Rodgers.  He's a great player and wonderful representative of the Packers and its fans.  You can make a strong case he is the best quarterback in team history, better than Starr and better than Favre.

By coming out with these comments, it's clear Rodgers wants to be accommodated or sent to a team that will meet his demands.  I hope cooler heads prevail.

Have a good week!