This morning, after bracing myself with a few cups of coffee, I set-out into the newly clear air. The smell of the morning was cold, clean, and new. If nothing else the storm was transformative in that way at least! A walk down the drive way showed that we’d received another two-to-three inches since the neighbor had been by with his tractor to plow the drive yesterday. I shuffled through ankle-deep snow to the berm left by the county plow as it went by this morning clearing Honeysuckle Lane. Crossing that I was off down the road to the north to see what the fields at the top of the hill looked like. Well, not to put to fine a point on it, the looked like a field covered in snow and dotted here and there with the stalks of the sumac waiting for spring to dress them in leaves again.
I then headed down to the south property line to take a look at the woods between the property and the next home owner’s property. I then set across the yard braving the knee-deep snow. (Actually, it was thigh deep in places.) It wasn’t as hard to traverse the snow-filled yard as I would have expected; but then I did have a Golden Retriever and a Canaan Dog blazing the trail ahead of me. It is amazing how much snow those to can plow!
But then, my walk and my shooting completed. I decided it was time to get back indoors and change into some dry clothing! It is still too cold to spend too much time outside… especially with the melting snow robbing you of body heat.
With this written and posted, I suppose it is time to get a cup of coffee, a tipple of something in it to fortify me, and perhaps take on my parents in Scrabble or cards or something. That is the way we pass the short winter days here in Minnesota!
Wherever you are today, I hope that you’re having a pleasant morning!
Don Bergquist - December 27, 2009 - Kensington, Minnesota, USA
4 comments:
Hi - I've often found that one of pleasures that people get out of a trip (or at least one of the pleasures that I get from a trip) is being able to think about it and talk about it for many years afterwards You start to forget after a few months, i.e., how empty it felt to be hungry and running in the rain to catch the train that was leaving for Copenhagen at 2100 hours. And this trip sounds like the kind of trip that you might get a lot of afterglow from (once you are safely back home).
I wanted to say thanks for letting me go off topic a couple of times this year when I responded to posts that you had made in your blog. Hopefully, you'll permit one more instance of going off topic before the end of the year: When you talked about being done with your "shooting" while out walking in the snow I immediately thought than you must have killed some lovely fury animal. Then I realized that you also might have meant taking pictures. Is my stereotype of you correct - that you have no more interest in hunting down defenseless animals than you do in whether or not your local football team (the Denver Broncos) trades their star quarterback to Chicago? You mentioned once (in responding to one of my off-the-topic responses to one of your rants) that you were not at all interested in football. But I don't recall you sharing your feelings about hunting. Do you really like to hunt and shoot animals? It's OK if you do like to hunt. I was just curious. I would guess that you are not a hunter because of a very comical rant you had about Rednecks buying guns (I think you said that you thought it was silly that a lot of people bought guns after the last national election).
Once again, thank you for letting me respond to your blog this year. Have a safe trip home, a Happy New Year, and a lot of really good afterglow.
Anonymous Reader
Dear Anonymous Reader:
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my blog.
You may take your thought to any place you wish them to go. That is the wonderful thing about this great nation, you have the right to say pretty much whatever you feel like. Even if it is not well reasoned, insightful, or true; a thing that many politicians are, no doubt, glad of! Besides, what right have I to compel you to stray any less than I do?
You are of course right that my reference to shooting referred to pictures. I do not hunt. I do not have any great desire to do so. It is not that I have any moral or ethical problem with it, I just have no desire to dress-up in camo, spray deer piss on myself and sit outside in the cold! If I want venison, I can pay for it.
So, you are right, I care no more for hunting that I do whether the Broncos win the World Series!
I do have lots of great travel memories… though (strangely enough some of the most interesting ones involve train stations!) Mine does not involve Copenhagen in the rain (though the only time I have been to Copenhagen it rained the entire time) but Rather, Haarlem, Noord Holland; the change between winter and summer time; and a bunch of Goth children.
I had had only a few miles to go to get to my Platinum frequent flier level and wanted to earn it before my return from London one year. There was a round trip between London and Amsterdam but to get it I had to fly back on the early flight from Schipol. To further save some cash, I got a room outside Amsterdam and took the train in and out of town.
Sunday morning, I caught a cab after leaving instructions at the front desk for a wake-up call at five so that I could catch the 05:30 train. I got my wake-up call, had the desk summon a car and went downstairs and checked-out. I was in the car when the driver told me that the trains didn’t start this early and I would have an hour or more to wait at the platform.
Looking at his clock on the dashboard I saw that it was just after four! That was when I discovered that Europe “Falls Back” earlier than England which falls back earlier than the US!
Long story short, I was on the platform reading a paper when these Goth children arrived. They had been camping at the dark end of the platform and came over to bum a fag, then a light, assuming I was British because of the paper I was reading. It had actually been one that I had picked-up the day before at Heathrow.
When they discovered I was an American they could not have been more friendly! We had a grand old time talking, playing cards and waiting for the train…
I made the plane with time to spare.
Thanks again for reading and commenting, Anonymous Reader!
Have a Happy New Year!
Don
Even I giggled at your World Series reply ;)
Dear Sissa,
I wish I knew how to do a Tongue-In-Cheek emoticon! If I did my reply would be:
"Why did you chuckle? [insert appropriate emoticon here]"
But since I don't, this will have to do:
:-P
Thanks for commenting on my blog!
Don
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