Well, Thanksgiving 2008 is now in the refrigerator, in the form of leftovers, sandwiches and soups.

The picture above shows my husband, Matt, (aka the Turkey Guy), with Dale Marsden (aka the Honey Guy) at the Dane County Farmer's Market before Thanksgiving.

Saturday's game against Cal Poly will mark the very last Badger Bash at Union South.

For more than 30 years, the Wisconsin Marching Band has charged up the fans during a pregame rally amid the bratwurst smoke of Wisconsin's other union.

As I'm figuring out just how many layers of clothes it's going to take to keep me from freezing to the aluminum bench at Camp Randall this afternoon, my thoughts stray to the fate of Alleged Wisconsin Identity stealing Mom.

Wendy Brown of Green Bay should not be confused with the Texas mom who was accused of plotting to kill her daughter's rival on the cheer squad back in the 1990s. That story was made into the great cult Holly Hunter film, "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader- Murdering Mom."

It's that time of year when giant pumpkins race across Lake Mendota, all for the glory of winning the Cucurbita Regatta, an invention of UW-Madison horticulture professors Irwin Goldman and Jim Nienhuis. The first event, held in 2005, was such a smashing success that a pier behind Memorial Union fell apart under the weight of the spectators. dropping them into the drink. Most year, it's only the horticulture students, racing inside hollowed out Atlantic Giant pumpkins, who stay a chance of an icy dunk. The pumpkins float atop tractor tire inner tubes.

It makes so much sense I can't believe it took 160 years. But, finally, the University of Wisconsin-Madison will have a course in beermaking. Thanks to a gift from MillerCoors, the UW is launching its first ever beer-making class, as part of the department of bacteriology. MillerCoors donated a pilot-sized brewery to the UW this past week, which will be used in a new class on "fermentation science."

Is there something about junk food that brings out the obsessiveness? I only ask because, right in time for the 40th birthday of the Big Mac, word comes from our friends at the Fond du Lac Reporter that local resident Don Gorske has now eaten more than 23,000 Big Macs since he started gobbling them one a day in May 1972.

On a great day for Badger football, let's pause to give thanks to the department that educates so many of our athletes. Yes, I'm talking about my home department, formerly known as Ag Journalism and now, Life Sciences Communications.

If you were at the game, you saw many of our students. In the writing class I teach, I've had quarterback Allan Evridge, fullback and co-captain Chris Pressley, co-captain and All-Big Ten lineman Kraig Urbik, as well as cornerback Alan Langford, and a host of others. I've had a lot of band members, too, including current trumpet rank leader Sara Schoenborn.

You know it's nearly the end of summer when West Campus fills with the brassy sounds of "On Wisconsin,'' and you're nearly mowed down by sunburned young musicians, pedaling their bikes with trombones strapped to their backs. Yes, the Badger band is back for its traditional Hell Week of practices under the blazing sun. But not to its usual practice field. Normally the band practices where Walnut Street ends at Lake Mendota. But that field had turned into a swamp, thanks to years of huge construction projects nearby.

Everyone shows up on the Memorial Union Terrace on a fine Friday afternoon.

It was a little too early for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's weekly field trip, but comedian and political commentator Stephen Colbert made an appearance.

OK, just by phone. But still it was cool.

Your Wisconsin Native columnist was lunching with Newsweek senior editor (and frequent "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" guest) Jonathan Alter, his wife, Emily Lazar, and their two younger kids. They were in town because their son is looking at Wisconsin as a college choice.

Can you top this as a Wisconsin tattoo?

We found it on the calf of Jessie Harlequinn, a Madison fiber artist. It shows the state as a fabric patch, its borders “stitched” to her leg. The star shows Madison, where she lives now, and the heart represents her hometown of Milwaukee.

“It’s a heart because home is where my heart is.”

In addition to her art work, Harlequinn is training this summer to try out for the Mad Rollin Dolls roller derby league.