Jaeetjet?

I've had a few extra days back on the grid in Wisconsin, and, after a dozen years elsewhere, I've been picking up little idiosyncrasies unique (or weird) to my homeland, or just remembering stuff I'd forgotten about. Here's a list:

1) Tornado warnings.
2) The unironic usage of words like "dandy," as in: "That new leatherbound book you've got there is a real dandy."
3) Current road construction and conditions will enter into any conversation, for at least 25 minutes after they have been experienced or seen. On a similar note, Madison seems to destroy and rebuild its entire downtown once every 10 years.
4) My Dad liberally peppers discussions with fellow Midwesterners with classics like: "oh sure", "yeah hey" and "you betcha."
5) At the Farmer's Market in Madison, you can not only pick up fresh strawberries, but you can also put Tammy Baldwin on the ballot, ignore carolling Mormons and watch for the Orange Piccoloist: All conveniently downtown!
6) The man who owns the new "Ole's General Market" in Solon Springs will introduce himself as Claude, but we will all still call him Ole. However, we will refer to his store by its previous incarnations as the "Big Dollar" or the "Country Foods IGA" until someone else buys it and names it something else, at which point we will finally call it "Ole's."
7) Comments about California dairy production are taken very seriously. You've been warned.
8) Wildlife is among us. Last night I hit a raccoon (R.I.P.); the day before I almost biked over a large turtle, soon after scaring away two groundhogs; and, in a scene right out of "Twelve Monkeys," we were driven off the island by a black bear and her two cubs (full story to be posted soon, with accompanying blurry photos).
9) Lightening bugs.