Where in the world is Warrens?

Will has informed me that I am to tell everyone a little about our area. Where to find us. What we do for fun around here and all that jazz.
Warrens is a typical Midwestern town of about 250 people, when everyone is home. The whole town is 5 blocks by 5 blocks or so. We have an "all purpose" store which carries about everything that we fondly call the "Warrens Mall". We have a post office, a bank and a fire department. They are currently building 2 more businesses that will sell Amish goods and craft type country stuff. We have a brand new Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center that is a 1 million dollar project to which the Warrens Cranberry Festival contributed over $500,000. This center/museum is occupying a 100 year old building right in the center of Warrens.
We have 3 churches in Warrens that all work together quite well. In fact, when we decided to establish the Warrens Baptist church in it's 120 year old building again the Catholic Church is the one that donated the beautiful carved piano that I play every Sunday and have for 9 years. The church had been closed for 10 years or so when the congregation moved into a larger building.
Now we are there and find that many, many people like to come and visit because it is the church that they grew up in or went to earlier in life.
If you look at a map of Wisconsin you will see one large Interstate Hwy 90/94 going from the southern end of the state by Illinois towards Minnesota to the north and east. When you follow that north you will see that 90 and 94 divide. That is where Tomah is and we are 13 miles north of Tomah. Tomah is known for being the town where the "I" divides.
The areas to the north, west and south of Warrens are hilly, but directly east of here it starts to flatten out and is not so hilly. This is where the majority of the cranberry marshes are. Warrens is the Cranberry Capitol of Wisconsin. The remaining area is rolling hills dotted with white and black spotted Holstein dairy cows. This area remains very populated by dairy farms. We still have cheese making companies all over.
The area south of town still maintains a large Amish population. We are used to seeing Amish buggies all over, but they tend to fascinate visitors. Rightly so they are fun. You can buy handmade Amish goods: rugs, candy, furniture etc all year round. They also sell some great produce during the summer.
In between Tomah and Warrens is a Clydesdale farm. This farm has as a stallion one of the "Budweiser Clydesdales". You can always tell when spring has finally arrived. All the babies at that farm start showing up. Of course the "little" darlings weigh 150 lbs or so, but they sure are cute.
Will and I live north of Warrens in a rural setting, although it gets more crowded each year. On the opposite side of the road from our house is a large forest and the wild life is abundant. Deer are very curious so we have seen many tracks checking out the changes that are being made here in the yard. Although we have not seen any (Jessa has though) there have been many sightings of bears lately. We have many types of cranes around here " Sandhill" and "Whooping" are the most endangered and cause lots of tourists to come hoping to catch a "peek".
The Native American Culture is a large influence on our area also. Many towns, rivers and areas boast Hochunk, Ojibwe and Chippewa names (Although I've been led to understand that the Ojibwa and Chippewa are the same tribe.)
Green Bay Packer Football is a way of life here. There is a huge rivalry between the Vikings and the Pack. Believe me people chose sides here and make it plain who they like. I had to get used to Packer Green and Gold instead of Garnet and Gold for our much loved Florida State Seminoles.
We have a very low crime rate in comparison to other areas for the most part. We had a crime spree in the month of June, but it was directly related to the drug scene in Chicago and also to a mentally challenged man who went off the wall and killed his father. Other than that there is hardly ever hard crimes for a lack of a better way to put it. We have our share of motor vehicle accidents, drunk driving etc, but the headlines on our local paper tend to deal with the school board and local highway construction. We like it that way.
I like this "hometown feel" with evening baseball games, benefits for locals where we have pie auctions. On Memorial Day there is a service to honor the veterans at almost every local cemetery and then here in Warrens you go to the Lion's club for a BBQ chicken dinner. Almost every local restaurant has a Friday night fish fry. We get together the first Saturday night of each month for family night at our church and just eat, play board games and talk. We have regular bonfires and picnics all year round with sledding parties and Christmas Caroling in the snow.
When I was younger I had a chance at a recording career and I am so glad that I turned it down. I realized that I would rather be Betty Crocker than Loretta Lynn. Being in Warrens makes it much easier for me to be the wife and mother that I am striving to be. I've got a long way to go, but I'm working on it. I go to church to work on making the almost 500 pies we make for Cranfest and I think to myself....I don't know that I would rather be anywhere else on earth than right there right then. The small town slow paced life is what I crave and need.
Of course, it is not all great in some aspects. If you want to go to a restaurant besides McDonalds you need to travel 45 minutes for the most part. If you want to shop somewhere besides Walmart it's the same. The hospital that we choose to go to is 30 minutes away. Sometimes we wait for hours for the snow plow to clear our road. Sometimes our state bird "the mosquito" can get to be bothersome. Sometimes the small mindedness of small town people can exasperate you. Tradition sometimes becomes not a time honored treasure but a refusal to try something new, just because it is different. People that you have known all of your life suddenly die and the hole they leave in the community is never filled. Change happens everywhere, but sometimes I think that it is harder to deal with sometimes in a small town than it is in a large community where changes happen often.
Today is our 4th of July Fireworks display even though it is the 3rd. Our local Warrens Fire Department and the Tomah Fire Dept cover each other's areas while the other fire dept puts on their local fireworks so we switch the dates back and forth. This year we are on the 3rd and they are the 4th. It really is a great display with many, many fireworks. It usually lasts over 30 minutes, with a huge grand finally. The kids are so excited they cannot sit still. Tomorrow my family will have their annual 4th of July get together with lots of the smaller fireworks. I hear through the grapevine that we are having homemade icecream! Want some? I'll tell you what......If you ever come and visit I will make you some homemade icecream....your favorite flavor. Add that to Bratwurst and burgers and life is good.
I hope you all have a WONDERFUL safe and beautiful 4th of July. Praise the Lord that we live in a country such as ours. God Bless America.