I love innovation, but this might be a little much. McDonald’s China is releasing a new burger with SPAM, topped with crushed Oreos and mayo. They are only producing 400,000 of these burger concoctions….would you eat one????
McDonalds China is introducing a new Oreo x Spam burger on December 21. There will be 400,000 produced and sold.
Tonight the Great Conjunctions is happening…also know as the Christmas Star. It’s where Jupiter and Saturn align in the sky. These conjunctions happen every 20 years, and the last one was in the year 2000..but what’s so special about this one tonight??? According to the National Weather Service: It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.” The next time this super close conjunction will happen again with Jupiter and Saturn??? March 15, 2080.
If you look at the map above, are chances of seeing this event are iffy with clouds in the forecast. -EK
Happy National Ugly Sweater Day! It used to be a bad thing, but thanks to ugly sweater parties, and Jimmy Fallon’s annual giveaway to audience members, they’re more popular than ever. Here’s “Ugly Sweater” by Mistletoe Conspiracy. It came out in 2010, when people still thought they were horrible. Now they make millions….
A 107-year-old woman in Minnesota named Tillie Dybing recently beat the virus. No one realized she had it until she started sleeping all day, every day. She eventually tested positive, but she’s feeling great now. She talked to the local news and said it reminded her of when her parents got sick with the Spanish Flu in 1918.
2020 has been nuts, but we still had great country music. A lot of it. “Billboard” did some research and came up with the 60 most-played country songs of the year. Here’s the Top 10:
1. “Chasin’ You”, Morgan Wallen
2. “Nobody But You”, Blake Shelton duet with Gwen Stefani
3. “Kinfolks”, Sam Hunt
4. “After a Few”, Travis Denning
5. “Die From a Broken Heart”, Maddie & Tae
6. “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
A group of Boy Scouts built a “hugging booth” for a nursing home in Texas. So now people can safely hold hands and hug family members who come to visit.
A woman in Florida found a raccoon hiding out in her Christmas tree. Her dog was going nuts, and she thought it was a cat at first. It turned out it got into her house through a doggy door.
The Florida Gators lost the game against LSU because one of their players chucked a shoe that had fallen off of an LSU player. The score was tied, and LSU would’ve had a fourth down, but this penalty made it first and ten. The ref even tells us know how far it went. LSU made a long field goal and won, 37-34.
A rich guy in Laguna Beach, California has been playing the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song on a loop just to annoy his neighbor. The guy recently had a $1 million outdoor sculpture installed, and it partially blocked the neighbor’s view. So they’ve been feuding about it.
The “Gilligan’s Island” theme would get old after a while, but I think I could think of more annoying songs to play on loop…especially around the holidays… -EK
Credit: ElmoPatsyVEVO via Youtube and The Singing Dogs – Topic via YouTube
Remember shoveling….digging through a ton of snow 10 years ago??? I do!! A crazy blizzard hit the Midwest December 10-12 back in 2010 that caused many headaches and the Metrodome roof in Minneapolis to collapse! Read all the details from the National Weather Service. -EK
A very potent winter storm developed over South Dakota and Nebraska on Friday, December 10th, then strengthened as it moved into Iowa through Saturday, December 11th. Moisture and warm air surged into the Upper Mississippi River Valley ahead of the system on Friday, which led to temperatures near or above the freezing mark for much of southeast Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. Precipitation pushed into northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota and far southwest Wisconsin on Friday evening, continuing to surge northeast through the night. Initially, the precipitation fell as a wintry mix, from rain across the southern parts, to freezing rain and sleet surrounding the Interstate 90 corridor, to snow in areas to the north. Eventually enough cold air wrapped into the system to cause all precipitation to change over to snow. The storm system then moved east Saturday night, causing the snow to come to an end for the local area by Sunday morning, December 12th.
Very heavy snow accompanied this system as amounts ranged from a few inches in the far southern parts of the forecast area (due to much of the precipitation falling as rain), to greater than 20 inches. The highest amounts fell along and north of Interstate 90. The impact of the heavy snow was compounded as strong winds blew at 25 to 35 mph with gusts up wards of 45 mph. This caused significant blowing and drifting snow, as well as white-out conditions across much of the area. Although the snow ended by Sunday morning, the strong winds continued, therefore hazardous conditions remained through the morning hours.
Blizzard and Winter Storm Warnings were in effect for the entire area starting Friday night and continued through Sunday morning.
In addition, a cold arctic airmass was pulled into the area behind the system, with temperatures dropping as the day progressed on Sunday. High temperatures across the forecast area on Sunday ranged from the single digits above zero west of the Mississippi River to the teens above zero east of the river. As winds were still breezy, wind chills dropped to values colder than 20 degrees below zero by Sunday morning. Wind chill advisories were issued for the area after the system had progressed east.
This was the same storm that made the roof of the Metrodome collapse. Because of that the Vikings had to play a home game in Detroit, and another home game at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus.
Expect roads to be snow covered and slippery with reduced visibilities from tonight into Saturday south of I-90. This will result in some travel impacts. The highest snow totals (2-4 inches with locally higher amounts possible) will be found across Clayton and Fayette Counties in northeast Iowa and Grant County in southwest Wisconsin. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for these counties for tonight and Saturday. There will be a sharp cutoff in snow amounts on the north side of this snow band. North winds will gust to 35 mph late tonight and Saturday. These winds may produce patchy areas of blowing and drifting of snow in parts of northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. Adjust travel plans if necessary and slow down on slow covered roads. In addition, this snow will be heavy, so take frequent breaks when shoveling it.
The sound system failed at a high school basketball game in Ohio the other night, and they couldn’t play the National Anthem. So a dad in the crowd stood up and belted out a pretty great rendition.
A classic Christmas movie is now represented in gingerbread. Michelle Wilbowo took to Twitter to show she created the house from ‘Home Alone’ out of gingerbread in a collaboration with Disney Plus in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary. The house even includes a pizza delivery car from the multiple scenes in the movie where pizza is delivered to the house, and has miniaturized and edible versions of some of the famous traps from the film, including paint cans tied to the stair railings. The house will eventually go to the Oak Centre for Children and Young People at the Royal Marsden hospital in Surrey, England, where it will be displayed for young cancer patients.
A system looks like it will impact the Upper Midwest with some wintry weather from late Friday into Saturday. There is still low confidence in the details with this system, including the track, precipitation type, and how much snow may fall. Monitor the forecast from a trusted source, especially if you have travel plans later this week or over the weekend.
Lifetime will debut a 15-minute “mini movie” this weekend, where Mario Lopez plays a SEXY version of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders. It’s called “A Recipe for Seduction”. Check out the trailer!
You have a chance to win some great Christmas gifts from great local businesses with the 12 Days of Christmas!
Starting today(Tuesday, December 8th) listen for the KNEI Bluff Country Elf, when you here him be caller 7, and tell us the sponsor and prize of the day and you win!!
You have a chance to win some great prizes from these great local businesses:
Hoffman’s Tack Shop Preston
Brown’s Sales and Leasing
Fareway Waukon
Waukon Harley Davidson
Caledonia Lumber Company and Construction
Expresso Convenience Store Lansing
Tillers Furniture in Prairie du Chien
Wiebke Fur Eitzen
Iowa Diecast Toys Clermont
Becker Hardware Ossian
Ken’s Small Engines Caledonia
German Heritage Furniture
Elliott Jewelers Waukon
Polished On Main Lansing
The phone numbers to call and win are, 563-568-3476, or 563-568-6056!
On this day (December 7th) in 1941, a Japanese air squadron launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack killed more than 2,400 people, drew the United States into World War Two. It was, in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “a date which will live in infamy.”
The United States Postal Service wants to make sure every letter to Santa not only reaches its North Pole destination, but gets the response it deserves. In order to do that, they have launched the “Operation Santa” program.
Beginning on December 4th, volunteer elves will be able to sign up to adopt a letter through the USPS website. Once you are pre-screened, you will promise to write a Santa-approved response letter and make sure a gift for the child or family arrives on Christmas morning.
Santa’s very busy this year, so approved elves can “adopt” as many letters as they want.
A gas station attendant in Oregon named Bradley Rowe was filling a guy’s tank last month, and mentioned that he’s been struggling to get a $2,000 car loan to buy a 1998 Ford Explorer. So the guy drove off . . . went straight to a dealership . . . wrote a huge check . . . and told a salesman to let Bradley pick out whatever he wanted. The salesman found Bradley at the gas station, and he ended up getting a 2016 Kia Sportage. Now he’d just like to find the guy and say thank you.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation hit movie theaters on this date back in 1989! It ranks in my top 3 Christmas movies of all time. Fun fact: It’s the only sequel in the franchise to have its own direct sequel, the made for TV National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2. -EK
A Florida family’s Thanksgiving turkey tradition is making a big splash online.
Mark O’Donnell of Clearwater, Florida, recently posted a Facebook Live video of his family’s annual tradition, which includes throwing their frozen turkey into the swimming pool to thaw out.
In the video, O’Donnell tosses the 16-pound bird into the pool, before saying, “Yes, folks, we thaw our turkey in the pool. That’s how you do it when you live in Florida, right?”
O’Donnell also says in the video that they usually leave the turkey in the pool for one day before taking it out.
Before Thanksgiving last week, someone in Milwaukee stole a tire off a guy’s car and replaced it with a turkey. His back left tire was gone, and his car was propped up on a frozen turkey. The owner of the car says he’s confused, and angry at them for wasting food.
It’s almost time to roll out the turkey for Thanksgiving! With the turkey being the headliner for Thanksgiving, what is your favorite side dish for the big feast?? The website Zippa did a little research broke down the popular sides by state. In Iowa, corn is number one. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, mashed potatoes reign supreme. Check out some interesting findings form Zippa‘s research.
Mashed potatoes are the favorite of 10 states.
Right behind mashed potatoes is mac n’ cheese- 7 states know that it’s not Thanksgiving without the cheesy, delicious dish.
While most states are reaching for the carbs, Maine is all about that side salad.
The south isn’t a casserole belt, but the Midwest can’t get enough – especially of green bean casserole
Alabama doesn’t eat stuffing, they like “dressing” AKA southern people stuffing.
Only New Hampshire is a big fan of cranberry sauce.
Biscuits. Rolls. Crescent rolls. Forget, fancy sides, just toss some rolls in the oven.
47 states want their sides carby, cheesy, potato-y and delicious. Only 3 are reaching for veggies more.
How can one word sum up THE craziest year in our lifetime? The people at Oxford English Dictionary say . . . it can’t.
The editors at the Oxford English Dictionary say that when they were deciding on their annual pick for Word of the Year, quote, “It quickly became apparent that 2020 is not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single word of the year.”
So instead, they picked dozens of words that sum up, quote, “the phenomenal breadth of language change and development over the year.”
Those words include: COVID-19 . . . work-from-home . . . lockdown . . . support bubbles . . . essential workers . . . furlough . . . Black Lives Matter . . . mail-in . . . superspreader . . . social distancing . . . QAnon . . . and impeachment.
Major League Baseball announced via Twitter today that it has scheduled a game at the Field of Dreams site in Dyersville for the 2021 season. The White Sox and the New York Yankees will take the field on August 12, 2021.
The White Sox and Yankees were suppose to play at the site this past season, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Nashville Christmas Carol premieres on the Hallmark Channel. Saturday, Nov 21, you can watch Sara Evans, Wynonna Judd, Raelynn, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Kix Brooks join Wes Brown and Jessy Schram as they give a country music themed twist to Charles Dickens timeless tale, A Christmas Carol.
Some people freaked out when the Charlie Brown specials moved exclusively to Apple TV+ . . . because then they’d no longer be airing on broadcast TV.
Well, the people at Apple have apparently reconsidered, and are allowing the next two . . . “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” . . . to air on PBS. At least this year.
The Thanksgiving special will air this Sunday on PBS stations, while the Christmas one is set for December 13th.
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins will host the 11th Annual CMA Country Christmas holiday special, airing on ABC, Monday November 30. Thomas and his wife Lauren will be joined by Dan + Shay, Gabby Barrett, Lady A, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, and Darius Rucker with Lindsey Stirling.
The Hallmark Christmas Movies are in full swing, I think they started a few weeks ago already. I like to joke with Kathy that all the movies are basically the same, with just a few details changed here and there. This past weekend I came across a video done by the Holderness Family, and it hits the nail on the head…..how every Hallmark Christmas movie goes! -EK
Iowa High School Football Playoffs are underway at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, and the first game yesterday in 8-Player was a BARN BURNER!!! Remsen St. Mary’s beat Montezuma, 108-94…..yes that is a football score. According to the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the game is the highest scoring in Iowa Football history, with a combined 202 points. WOW!!!
Final: St. Mary’s, Remsen 108, Montezuma 94. This Eight-Player semifinal is the highest combined point total in #iahsfb history (202). Hawks set a single-team playoff scoring record and advance to next week’s final.
🏈 https://t.co/dTu0lf7gxGpic.twitter.com/pov1RTHqwN
