HIATUS

By the time you read this, Pat and I will be back in Arizona for the winter. There was a time when I never thought I would ever be a snowbird and the word still kind of sticks in my craw. Yes, I was the consummate Minnesota man who would walk around all winter in my Sorrel boots and Carharts. Icy snot cycles would be hanging from my mustache and beard. My breath forming clouds of steam as I pushed my snow blower, through raging blizzards shouting at the top of my lungs, “Is that all you got? Bring it on Mother Nature you wimp. My dog Molly would be sitting on the porch cheering me on but saying to herself; “I ain’t going out there. I’ll pee right here thank you.” I always had a spear house that I drug out onto the lake in the winter when the ice formed. Back then, my little stove would take the chill off in the fish house and my dog would help me scan the depths for those allusive “Northern’s” and wag his tail when he spotted one. Then successful, I would fire up the snowmobile and head home with my kill. Those fish, fresh out of that cold water never tasted better. I loved to cross country ski and snowshoe. I would watch the ice races on the lake when they plowed the track. I would ride to Crosby on my snowmobile, have a little toddy-- just a wee one—and then head home, warm inside and out. Then Mother Nature took over in a different direction. Lungs that saw to much abuse in my Fire Fighting days rebelled and now I have coughing fits when they suck in cold air. I go nowhere without my inhalers and you don’t have to say it-- I’ll say it for you--. I’m not the man I used to be. Fingers and toes that never got cold now get cold in bed. I live by myself and cold winter nights are lonely winter nights and there is way too much darkness. I need to exercise daily for my breathing and I need someplace warm to do it and I’m not cut out to be a mall walker. Pat takes over the cooking when we are in Arizona so at least for part of the year I eat food that is really good for me. She cleans our house and washes my clothes and laughs at my silly jokes-----well smiles at my silly jokes---sometimes. We go exploring in the desert and have made so many new friends and we also have reconnected with old friends, who too escape the cold down there. Yes, we are happy when we get down to Arizona but when April rolls around and we find our way back up north we are happier yet, because we are back in the land we both love so much and call our home. There will be a few snow banks left when we return but within weeks the rhubarb will be up, the lakes will turn back to water again and like a metamorphous the earth will shed its icy cocoon and spring will be in the air. Baby animals and birds everywhere, green grass and buds on the trees and new stories to tell at coffee. So it’s a hiatus for us from winter yes-- but my ‘Meandering Mind’ will find something to write about and if it sucks you can tell me in April. By the way, my spear house is now my garden shed. I don’t have a garden—just the tools.