Where does the time go? I’d swear that the New Year seems to come around a little bit faster each year. My dad once told me that, as you grow older, the time seems to go by faster. When you’re 18 years old that makes no sense, but when you reach your 70’s it begins to make total sense. I wish that he was around, so I could tell him that he was right about so many things. Somehow I think that he knows.
The temperatures that we had over Christmas reminded me of some of the Christmas weather that we had when I was a kid. I remember the days when the Albert Lea newspaper actually had a comic page. One of my favorites was “Born Loser,” which actually had some interesting life lessons in it.
The one that I remember finding humor and truth in was when the dad was shoveling after a heavy snow. As he shoveled the walk to the house, his young son was walking behind him. As the dad shoveled he began telling his son that when he was his son’s age the snow was so deep that it was over his head. In the picture you could only see the top of the
kid,s stocking cap; how easily we forget.
Here we are, welcoming another new year. January is usually the coldest part of winter. I can remember as a kid how the only thing that kept us from playing outside in the winter for any extended period of time was the bitter cold. We didn’t have the luxury of all the Thinsulate and Gortex materials that we have available to us today. Wool was the “big Heater” when we were kids. Everything from socks to stocking caps, long Johns & scarves, along with the choppers with the wool liners. I would still put those choppers up against almost any of today’s gloves when it comes to keeping hands warm.
I can remember going outside to play and Mom would make me put on just about every piece of warm clothing I owned. When it was finally time to enter the frigid world of the great outdoors, I almost felt mummified because it was one thing to get dressed for the cold, but it was really, quite a challenge just being able to do anything with all those clothes on.
Somehow we always managed to find things to do and of course ways to get cold. Your time spent outdoors was based solely on how long you could stay dry. Staying dry was staying warm. Once you got all those layers of clothes wet, it was only a matter of time until the inevitable happened “The Big Chill.” Once you got cold at below zero temperatures, it was pretty much over with because there was no turning up the heat.
On some Saturdays or Sundays, we would play football in the snow. I guess I loved watching football on TV when the old Chicago Bears, Packers, Lions or Cleveland Browns would play football in a snowstorm. The Bears were my team back then. Of course, this was before the Vikings and before indoor stadiums and end zone dances.
Winter can be very hard on wildlife; too much snow can devastate the bird population, particularly pheasants. If you couple that with frigid temperatures, it can really hurt those feathered friends. I am pretty sure that the ever growing coyote population is also a contributing factor when it comes to pheasants. I fill the feeders at the house frequently because those birds seem to get extra hungry this time of year.
Until next time: I want to wish everyone a joyous and Happy New Year!
Please show our support for the troops that are serving our country today. These servicemen and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may have the many freedoms that we enjoy today.