My Week that Was - April 26

Flowers in bloom. 4/24/2025 dwm

Before anything else could get on the schedule Saturday, we went grocery shopping at the nearby Woodman's Food Market.

Our family has a long history with Woodman's. The store started in Janesville in 1919 as a produce stand, which was way before our family arrived in 1964. That 1919 food stand moved into a permanent location not far from where our family lived during my early elementary school years. By that time the location was known as "Little" Woodman's because there was a larger 11,000 square foot store up the street that opened in 1956. 

That's the store where I tried to help mom get an 8-pack carton of Pepsi (16-ounce glass bottles) into a cart when I dropped it on the floor. If my memory is correct, Phil Woodman was one of the employees who cleaned up my mess. You can see Phil now in 2025 on their TV commercials with Clint, his son and the fourth generation of the Woodman family who is the current President, like his father.

They moved again to a larger, super-store in 1973, just a few years after opening a store in nearby Beloit. In the 1990s, they opened three stores in cities around Wisconsin and in 1998, Phil sold a majority of stock to employees, making it an employee-owned company. Woodman's has 19 stores in Wisconsin and northern-Illinois but the headquarters remains in Janesville.

Mom didn't shop anywhere else and we still do a lot of our grocery shopping at Woodman's. It has more variety than I've seen in other stores. It's not just one type of food, it's all the varieties of that food. Soup alone takes up an aisle that would have filled all of "Little" Woodman's.

Just last week, I noticed indications a bird had its eye on the light by the front door as a possible home. There have been a lot of small twigs and short vines left hanging over the light fixture. I cleaned them off everyday because we can't have a bird nesting next to a door we use multiple times a day.

Ir was clear when I walked to the car Monday morning. When I returned home not 10 hours later, a nest was on the light. The bird or birds worked hard, carrying mud and shaping it into a small wheel with an empty center. It was impressive.

Looked good, but it couldn't stay. A bird protecting its nest won't take kindly to humans passing by less than three feet away. I found a stick and pried the nest off before the mud became solid. Hopefully the bird will get the hint and build a home in one of two nearby trees. (It remained clear as of Friday.)

Yearly celebrations for the Foundation began Tuesday evening with a dessert reception for donors on the Prairie Ridge campus. It was a good turnout as guests enjoyed delicious treats and opportunities to socialize. I asked the campus director to share his observations of the impact donors make. Then I shared numbers that tied in with gifts or the impact donor support is making in the community. 

Neurodiversity was a term I was introduced to Wednesday morning. It's defined as the concept that differences in how brains function are a normal part of human variation and should be accepted and supported, not viewed as deficits or diseases to be cured or removed. 

It was a one-hour presentation covering a lot of ground and I can't say I understood everything. I agree, however, we should treat each other fairly, with respect and given an opportunity to succeed. While we aren't good at fairness and equal treatment, it's a guide we received ages ago, called the golden rule, to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Thursday was the last day of my week for the third week in a row. I had a donor visit then spent time working on building reports in the new database. I got some help through a chat with a Bloomerang expert then methodically put the report together A key feature of Bloomerang is the ability to schedule it to run automatically. I have a lot to learn about the reports, and this was the first time I got a feel for the possibilities.

Another project I worked on was creating videos for our in-house TV recognizing new and renewing society donors and create a series of ads recognizing members of Oakwood Community Partners, who are corporate sponsors.

Thursday night the NFL draft began in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was exciting to watch the coverage and soak in the visuals of more than two-hundred-thousand fans. It's nice to see the Packers and Titletown get time in the spotlight. I'm going up Saturday to experience it myself. It will probably be Tuesday before it's posted, depending on the trip.

In Oregon. 4/25/25

 Friday morning we ate at Sonny's in Oregon. It's on a corner in the heart of downtown. The location has hosted other restaurants while we've lived nearby, and hopefully this one will stick around a while.

 We enjoyed breakfast in a relaxed atmosphere, which I'll write about more tomorrow. After breakfast we had a nice drive to Beloit where my wife checked out a consignment shop. On the return trip we made our first visit of the year to Frostie Freeze.

 During high school I frequently took care of lunch by walking across the street to a Frostie Freeze for a malt and ice cream sandwich. The same owner has run the original store on West Court Street in Janesville for more than 30-years.

Frostie Freeze. 9/7/2020 dwm

When I lived and worked in Janesville, we were regular customers of the drive-in and drive-thru soft-serve ice cream shop. If I was in between reports while working, I'd stop in to visit with the owner. 

He wasn't in the store when we stopped, so I left a greeting with a bright young man who made an excellent chocolate chip malt. It's unlike any other chocolate chip malt I've had and easily a great combination of flavor and texture. 

Frostie Freeze, or F and F as we described it around our young kids so as not to alert them we were going for ice cream, is open mid-March to mid-October. I suggest finding time to make a trip for a treat.

Thanks for reading - I'll return with more starting tomorrow!