Old man winter is knocking on our door

It doesn’t seem possible that it is almost time to break out the snow shovels and long johns. I am wishing for another mild winter like we had last year. Sometimes that can turn into that old saying of, “Careful what you wish for,” because less snow means less moisture. Last spring we had an abundance of rain, which meant the threat of drought was hardly mentioned.

 

I can remember one August when I was a kid when I had ridden my bike over to my friend, Jim Foley’s house to hang out. We never were ones to sit around, so we decided to have another of our many adventures. We walked the little creek behind his place for quite a distance before we found that the water had quit flowing. The creek had actually began drying up, leaving pools of water with small fish, like bluegills, crappie, and small bullheads stranded. My main thought at the time was how can we save these fish. Of course there was no solution to that problem. I can remember that, at the end of the day I kept thinking about those fish and what would happen to them. I spent a few sleepless nights thinking about that and for a kid who spent a lot of his time outdoors, not sleeping was unusual.

 

Don’t get me wrong, as a kid I would spend hours on the shore of a lake or stream trying to outsmart the fish. That was part of the fun of fishing and spending time outdoors. The difference between seeing those fish in a predicament that has no solution is a lot different than trying to outsmart a fish in its own environment.

 

I still get a warm feeling whenever I look back at the days of my childhood. We had neighborhood football and baseball games. There were times when we seemed to make up different rules for different days. It depended on where we were playing. We would usually play in my parent’s backyard or north of there in someone else’s yard. If we had a bunch of kids from another area, we would play at the Hammer School playground. Most of these games were fun and friendly, but once in a great while tempers would flare. This never lasted long and was usually forgotten about before we parted ways. These were times when you could have a disagreement with someone and half an hour later it wasn’t even a memory. In today’s world you don’t even want to look at someone the wrong way for fear of retaliation.

 

Those days were ones that I will always cherish, and I am thankful for being able to grow up in those times. Times when life was simpler, and politicians told you what they would do for the country and not run each other down at every opportunity. I still have an “I Like Ike” button in a box somewhere in the attic. I wasn’t old enough to vote yet, but my Uncle Orville gave it to me. It might have been because my dad was a Democrat and Orville was a staunch Republican.

 

Until next time: It won’t be long until the firearms deer season is upon us. I know a few bow hunters that may be in a panic because, once the slug season has come and gone, the deer are pretty skittish.

 

Please show your support for our troops who are now deployed. These service men and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may have the many freedoms that we enjoy today.