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Three reasons I'm a little late in posting this week's muse, are: research, research and research. I spent -- wasted -- a lot of time searching the web for the perfect story about Detroit's snow removal policy, or rather, their lack thereof.

It's not because I've ever been to Detroit, and not that our city services are in any way comparable to those of the Motor City, but getting through the alley to our parking space can certainly be compared to driving in Detroit. While Wausau's Department of Public Works does a good job of keeping the roads reasonably clear, they don't do alleys; I wrote an email to the city, and I was informed that the alleys are too narrow for the city's large trucks and they don't have the manpower to clear the many miles of such alleys. The bottom line: "If a property owners/resident who uses an alley wish to have it plowed, it is their responsibility to remove the snow or hire someone to do so."

In past years we didn't get enough snow to make this a serious issue, but this year, it just keeps coming; just like the streets of Detroit, the ruts in the alley behind our rented home are so deep that the bottom of the car drags in the middle. Snow banks are so high that it's getting pretty difficult to pile any more snow on top; if it doesn't stop snowing soon, I don't know where we'll put it.

It's hard to believe that only a month ago I wrote of our first snowfall of the winter. I knew then, that the novelty of that first snow of the year would wear off but I've already had enough. And the column I wrote this time last year reminds me of just how good we had it last year -- I really miss El Nino.

When I was younger, I enjoyed the snow; sledding down hills, snowball fights, building snow forts, and as I got a little older, snowmobiling and skiing. Now, though, none of those activities interest me very much, anymore. I used to love playing "King Of The Hill" on the biggest pile of snow we could find, and now I fear kids like that will knock down the snow pile in front of my house. I guess I'm getting old.

At least there's one good thing about all of this snow, though: it really makes you appreciate spring -- and the older I get, the more I appreciate spring. Plus, things could always be worse . . . I could live in Detroit.

And now that I've got these few words down for this week, I'm going to brave the cold and the snow to go over to Club Butch for my favorite winter sport: channel surfing -- the trick is to drink plenty of cold beer.