The other night as I looked out of the deck door on our house, I was in awe of the light of the almost full moon as it shined on the clean white snow that was painted across the back yard. I have always loved the sight of a full moon shining down on the countryside on a winter night. When I coached hockey, I spent many winter nights on the road to and from games. I always found it peaceful to be driving on a winter’s night with the moonlight highlighting the countryside.
Nature has many beautiful scenes to show us that sometimes even a camera cannot always capture the true beauty of. I know that I have taken many pictures near or around our cabin and there have been times where the picture doesn’t do the real experience justice. I sometimes feel that a photograph might just be a way to remind a person of a time that once was. Like the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and in many ways, this is very true.
I have always enjoyed watching the critters of the neighborhood as they frequent my yard. I have not noticed as many birds at my feeder this winter as in past winters. It may very well be that one of my neighbors has better food than I do. The gray squirrels are around when the weather gets a little warmer and, although I have seen many tracks, I have not seen as many rabbits this year as in the past. When I was working at the City Arena, I usually worked nights and, when I would get home from work, there would be one or two rabbits sitting alongside my driveway. They would take off as soon as I drove in. It almost seemed as if they were there just waiting for me to get home.
As I have grown older, I’ve found that I am a lot less agile than I was, seemingly not that long ago. I finally woke up to the fact that I am not getting any younger, as was evidenced by my last solo trip to Spider Lake. I was alone at the cabin and had an itch to go to Spider one more time before the season came to a close. I hooked up the boat and headed to my favorite lake. Launching the boat was no problem and I knew that loading it was going to be a little trickier. In the past, whenever I ventured out alone, I would tie to the dock, back the trailer in and jump back into the boat and run it up on the trailer, jump out on the tongue and crank it tight. This ship has now sailed as I just don’t bend as easily as I once did. I am thinking about looking into an electric winch, which could make things a little easier.
Although we’ve been pretty fortunate to have a fairly mild winter, so far, I have seemingly been suffering from a touch of cabin fever. The problem is, where do you go or what do you do to relieve it? In past years I would usually take a trip to a sporting goods store and browse the lures while trying to avoid spending too much money.
This Covid thing has limited my time spent socializing with friends at morning coffee. I am not being overly cautious, but I am doing my part to stay away from too much contact with others. I always wear my mask when going into any business. I began by leaving a mask in my vehicle, but that usually meant an extra trip back to my vehicle to retrieve it. Problem solved I now keep one in my jacket pocket.
I can get some satisfaction out of watching fishing shows, but most of them have shifted to ice fishing, which I am not that into. If my grandson decided to take Grandpa out for a few hours, I would be open to that, but I don’t see that happening at this time. My time spent trolling the fishing lures at Fleet Farm or Cabela’s is always one way to get me pumped up for the season. Attending sports shows has always been a great way to get ready for spring, but that option has been taken off of the table due to the pandemic.
Until next time: Taking a walk outside is great exercise and a good way to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors.
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