As we begin our journey into the New Year, I am hoping that we will be in a better place by spring. I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions, but I do always want to wish that the upcoming year will be a better one than the previous year. With that being said, I am thankful that I was able to witness my grandson, Taylor marry his soulmate Lynzee in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. The weather that day was just about perfect, which made the occasion even more special.
When I look back to the days when Jean and I were first married, I would tend to make New Year’s resolutions, but eventually I figured out that it wasn’t working. My dad always said that a person shouldn’t make promises that they can’t keep. I figure that a resolution is a promise that a person makes to him or her self and if I hedged on that I was not heeding my dad’s advice.
This Covid thing has had an effect on me in that I am no longer working at the City Arena, and the Albert Lea Tribune informed me that they no longer wanted my weekly column (Covid, you know). I am still writing for the New Richland Star-Eagle and posting a page on Facebook, so I still get to do what I love doing. That is how this pandemic has affected me.
On the upside, I did get to make many trips to our cabin up north this summer. I don’t always fish as much as I’d like when I’m there, but even then, there is so much more to going to the cabin than just fishing.
Watching wildlife takes up a lot of my time when I am up at the cabin. I guess that this goes all the way back to my childhood growing up north of town. I was always fascinated by spotting critters in the wild. As kids, we’d be out in the slough on some pretty cold and snowy winter days. We kids would maneuver through the cattails and slough grass, all the while looking down through the clear ice in hopes of seeing fish.
Over those years we had seen fox tracks, live mink, weasels, pheasants and rabbits. Once while sledding on a hill next to the slough, we spotted a big snowy owl sitting on the branch of a dead tree. That owl was pure white and boldly sat on a tree branch like a statue for the longest time before it spotted its prey and swooped down and plucked a rodent out of the slough grass. That was definitely nature at its finest and it gave us a glimpse of the cycle of life.
The other day I was reminiscing about those days and it made me wonder why I haven’t seen a jackrabbit in many years. I’d have to guess it has a lot to do with our habitat being destroyed to make a few more acres of farmland.
I was driving east on Hammer Road the other day, and I drove past the field on the north side of the road where you could see a woods. My friends and I would play in those woods which legend had named “Dead Man’s Woods.” I noticed that the landowner was cutting down those big old oak trees, which I surmised was going to signal the beginning of the end of that woods. Seeing that woods being cut down made my heart sink. In that moment, I thought back to a commercial that aired many years ago. There was an old Indian Chief sitting on his horse on top of a high hill looking down at a valley with a river running through it. He had a tear in his eye as he focused on all of the waste and garbage that cluttered the land that he once cherished.
I realize that the farmers are in the business to make money, but at what cost? If we keep destroying our habitat, we will no longer have anything to pass on to the future generations. We in Freeborn County are lucky to have quite a bit of public land at our disposal. There are 10 or 11 WMA’s scattered throughout Freeborn County for the public to enjoy.
I get a good feeling whenever I think back to my days as a youth and of hunkering down in the snow and cattails of the frozen slough. These are great memories that I can look back on while sitting in my easy chair on a snowy, blustery winter night.
Please show your support for the troops that are serving our country, so that we at home were able to enjoy our holidays. These servicemen and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may enjoy the many freedoms that we have today.