Channel 5 Eyewitness News Comes to Donkey Park

Insiders know it as ‘Donkey Park’ from the Donkey rides that were give to children when Cottagewood was a family tourist haven in the 1890s (the famous yellow steamboats let people off at the end of the block). Now it is just a picnic area for the neighbors.

One of our neighbors won a contest to have Famous Dave’s cater an evening barbeque to be featured on the 5 and 6 o’clock news. The winners were our neighbors Tim, Sarah and their son Mike - a fledgling meteorogist. He was interviewed and gave a brief talk about his home weather station, and his desire to someday be a professional meteorologist. He is shooting to exceed our present day 50% standards for weather prediction.

The regular evening weatherman “Dave Wally Dahl” was unable to attend, so we were entertained by his backup Rob Koch. Mr. Dahl escaped being subjected to my story of how his bad forecast almost cost me a major portion of my newly sodded lawn. The story goes like this: I was staining a deck but I was concerned that if it rained it would wash down over the new lawn and kill the grass. “No rain in sight for days” predicts Dave. Within an hour of staining the deck there was a prolonged and heavy downpour, washing deck sealer down onto the new area of the lawn - and doing just what I feared.

Next year the grass came back.