I have the feeling that spring is in the air, unfortunately, we live in Minnesota and I always seem to be a little apprehensive when it comes to trusting the weather. It’s kind of like being a sports fan in our great state, every time one of our teams gets on a roll something happens and usually not for the better. With that being said, as a true Minnesota sports fan I still follow my teams and root for them in good times and bad. That is kind of how I look at the weather.
When my wife and I moved into our present home almost 50 years ago we had a neighbor who loved to fish. When he and some of his friends took a weekend fishing trip to the Mississippi River in March I was astonished. The thought of open water fishing in March was mind-boggling to me. I had always fished in the spring once the ice and snow had gone away but there was still snow on the ground and ice on the lakes. Our neighbor told me that they do this trip every spring around the same time.
As I grew older and more knowledgeable I realized that the river is usually open, for the most part, in early spring and eventually I have since fished “the river” early in the year on a few different occasions.
As a kid, I welcomed the spring season in a few different ways. Spring meant melting snow, water running in the ditches and plenty of mud to get a kid in Mom trouble. As spring turned into summer and school let out I would kick off my shoes and go barefoot. You didn’t need shoes if you didn’t really go anywhere except the neighborhood. It almost became a true sign of summer when I would stub one of my big toes right out of the gate. I’m not talking a bump, I’m talking about taking a chunk out of a toe that required walking around for, at least a few days with the toe wrapped up. I know that some folks are too young to remember Mercurochrome but a few drops of that on an open wound was like being tortured – it plain hurt! Thank the Good Lord someone invented Unguentine which was an ointment and also painless. What a breakthrough it was for a kid that had used more than his share of that red torture ointment.
Going bare foot also had other hazards for an active kid who liked to roam shoeless through the grass in the summer. There were the incidents when you would accidently step on a honey bee only to find out that the bee was not very happy about it. One of the other hazards of being a shoeless kid in the summer was stepping in dog doo. I have never forgotten the feeling of surprise after taking a step and having something warm and wet squish up between your toes. That’s where the fix-all water hose came into play. When you weren’t drinking out of it, it was also great for washing unwanted stuff off of your feet.
There were very few times during the summer that I would go into the house for a drink of water, the water hose seemed to have better, colder water. Whenever I’d spend time at my cousin Richard’s parents farm west of Emmons we would play outside and if we got thirsty we’d head to the well-pump and grab the stainless steel dipper, fill it with that ice cold water and have a drink. It almost seemed like that was the best water that I had ever drank. There was nothing better after throwing hay bales in the hot sun and then rewarding yourself with a drink of that cold well-water.
Those are just a few of some good, and not so good, childhood memories. In hindsight, I have to say that almost all of my childhood memories are good ones. When the past is in the rear view mirror we can still look back and cherish those days.
Until next time: The warmer temperatures along with the sunshine has a way of putting a little extra spring in the step. It’s a great time to go for a walk and soak up some of that sunshine and the fresh spring-like air.
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