Coop's Corner: Trouble Letting Go??

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Trouble Letting Go??

You may think so, based on my morning today. Letting go of Old Man Winter I mean. It started early, though not as early as it would have been yesterday since it was the first day of our Daylight Savings Time merry go-round once again. To celebrate the part of winter still here, I walked down the driveway before dawn, barn kitties in tow. It was pretty out there, the snow is taking on a softer look, the points and squared off edges rounding now that the warmer temps have teased us this past week. They will be doing a lot more than teasing over the next couple of days if the weather predictors are even close to being right.

After the short hike in the mostly dark, I came back in and put the coffee on. Not exactly a cold-weather joy exclusively but it really tasted good early this March morning. I'm busy doing some CAD modeling of a project for some friends, a project that I started yesterday and was anxious to return to this morning before the day got too far along. So, with a fresh hot cup in hand, I sat down to create some more dimensioned solids on my engineering laptop, 'building' them into a couple of assemblies.

Naturally, I pulled up "Under The Mistletoe", well down really, from the Cloud but I listened to it from wherever it was coming from. My listening a few weeks ago to CBC 1 introduced me to the Good Lovelies, another introduction my neighbors to the north have added to a great many that I'm thankful for. Yes, I was listening to Christmas music, wonderful Christmas music ........ in early March and almost not ashamed to say so. Besides the 'Lovelies' holiday music, there was news about Kingston, highways, coming home, visiting Montreal, etc. I was getting a lot accomplished along with some very pleasurable listening.

A surprised but very welcome interruption came with a call from my hiking friend Bruce. He had lots of northern Wisconsin news, we talked of some newly learned tidbits surrounding our mutual interest in regional history and discoveries besides, machining projects along with the expected old-guy health news. We old guys seem to find it easier and easier these days to mix a little or a lot of that in to most conversations; our news today was all good thankfully.

Almost letting time get away from me, I quickly realized that I'd promised to meet Mike and Mark at the South Fork for lunch. They're busy putting an XS650 Yamaha back into shape but seldom (if ever) miss a chance for lunch at the South Fork. So, I quickly changed and started out a bit early so that I could visit the car wash. These softening temperatures have left us with very dirty roads, resulting in even dirtier cars.

I went "Ultimate" today because I was just in that kind of mood.......

I had to pull over to catch this one......I can tell you unequivocally that I am not the one making this request.

I took the slightly longer route to River Falls that would allow me to stop in and take a look at some trailers. I'm thinking about upgrading my motorcycle hauling capabilities and thought I'd drop in at one of our larger dealers to see what might be in their outdoor showroom.

In River Falls, today's topper of rhubarb pie was enjoyed by 66.7% of us. Those of you that follow my blog closely may remember that Mike does NOT enjoy rhubarb pie. He really missed out on some very delicately prepared slices today, let me tell you!

Next door, I did some window shopping at the Fox Den Used Book Store while waiting for the guys to get the Yamaha off their hands........

After a long and late lunch, we split up and I headed back to Minnesota. I just couldn't get the camera up in time, but at the intersection of US Hwy 10 and Cty Road E, there were half a dozen snowmobiles headed east on a trail adjacent to the highway. Waving crazily at them and headed in the opposite direction were almost as many women on their Harley's, ponytails waving in the wind, only slightly more enthusiastically than their arms waving at the sleds. It appears that my neighbors are ready for a turn of the weather.

A few miles from there......

and only a few miles further on, right next to the river and a public boat launch.........boat trailers.

These are not SNOWmobile trailers, but boat trailers......

and more......

Here where US Hwy 63 crosses the Mississippi backwaters and the bridge leads to Minnesota on the other side, we've got it all.........ice fisherman augering new holes along the edge, river ice quickly retreating and a fishing boat launching across the bay. Note the marked pole between the groups of fishermen marking flood stage levels. There's a very good chance that those higher marks will get 'washed' in the coming weeks.

Back home, our widened driveway after Chris was here with his skid loader last Monday. Upon driving in last Monday evening, Peg remarked that an airplane could now land in our driveway. Believe you me, it certainly felt that way. Many thanks to Chris for giving us an absolutely necessary hand. A few days of hazy sun and melting will change the looks of things around here quickly.

While I may have foolishly been in the Christmas mood this morning, that has now gently passed. Weather Underground tells me that currently it's 46.6 degrees outside, though it feels only like 46.0 with the wind chill.

I'm officially ready for warmer weather and for EVERYthing it brings. I think I'm going to be OK......no more holiday music until maybe October.

12 comments:

RichardMMarch 9, 2014 at 9:26 PM
Boats out already! It must be Spring!

With the snow pushed away from the edges of the driveway, will you still be flooded?
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VStar LadyMarch 9, 2014 at 10:32 PM
Ice fishers and boats at the same time ... looked a bit the same along the St. Lawrence yesterday with skaters on the river where just beyond I could see open water. Coop - I think we are all ready to let go of it now, hope the sign works!
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Martha March 10, 2014 at 8:08 AM
Is that Gumby disguised in red under the witness protection program?

I could counter you with a photo of my driveway ice melting into my garage, but you will have to take my word for it. 50 degrees here and it will be very splashy out there. Bring it on.
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TrobairitzMarch 10, 2014 at 8:09 AM
That sounds like a wonderful. Nice relaxing morning and an afternoon out too. And might I say, mmmmm rhubarb pie.

I sure hope you get those warmer temperatures and snow melt, but not too fast as to avoid the nasty flooding.
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SonjaMMarch 10, 2014 at 1:16 PM
Coop, I really like your narrative about everyday life with the white stuff. I hope that flooding won't hit you too hard. But I guess that's the only way the snow will go away.
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Dar March 10, 2014 at 4:27 PM
I think everyone is completely done with Old Man Winter and are trying to push his slippers under his bed so he will take the hint and crawl in and go to sleep until next November. Lovely pics Coop! AS for the Christmas music, I have been known to listen to it occasionally throughout the year. Also randomly when I am out on the bike my ipod will be on shuffle and it will play one or two of them in the middle of summer, which makes me smile and giggle a bit.

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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)