Weather-Induced Trouble to Local Favorites

Salutations, dear readers!  I apologize for the delay in posting, but I have been busy doing very, very important work - so important, in fact, that if I give you any details, a red laser dot may appear on my forehead and I will no longer be able to post at all.  I can only give you two words: pilot, stencil.

Today's question comes courtesy of an old friend - John!  And by "old," I mean "ancient," and by "friend," I mean "man."  I am about to put you into John's head as I show you EXACTLY what he is looking at right... NOW!

John asks: How do you think our Packers and Badgers will do this year?

Great question, Johnny!  I also appreciate how you capitalized both words even though they are common nouns!  Unfortunately, I do not think you are going to agree with my answer...

This is not a good year for packers.  In fact, it hasn't been a good year for packers since it's prime time back in the early 1920s when meat packing was at it's pinnacle.  In the last 20-30 years, the packing industry has been accused of having the most dangerous workplaces in modern America with over 3 times as many major injuries reported as the next most dangerous job in America.

The hot weather has also played a significant role in decreasing the amount of product that they can pack; many otherwise-meaty areas of the U.S. are experiencing heavy droughts, so it has been difficult to keep their livestock alive.  What last year accumulated in 11 inches of rain per square mile has dwindled to 5 inches of rain per square mile.  (This can be shown as an 11:5 ratio.)  Sadly, packers aren't the only living creatures that have been affected by the heat wave this summer.

The badger population in the Wisconsin area has been decreasing steadily this year.  Why is this?  Do they have natural predators here?  Although animals such as foxes, coyotes, and buzzards have predated badgers, they don't actually have a natural predator.  No; it is because of how hot the weather has been.

Wisconsin badgers are a cold-climate animal; they prefer playing around on a snow hill to playing around on a sand dune, so the unbearable heat this past few months has driven many badgers to run to cooler climates.  However, I have faith that out of the 12 possible foreseen scenarios that badgers could succumb to, they will successfully escape from at least 10 of them.

Once again, the Great Heat Wave of 2011 has led to the near-destruction of a couple of beloved local favorite.  Let's hope that things cool down soon and we have the opportunity to see both of them thrive in their natural habitats.

Stay tuned for the next question about files and records which I intend on turning into a limerick!