Folks,

There is a fine Sunday in the making here this fifth day of the new month. After a cold night with temps down into the 20s F. the big, yellow sun is doing his work upon the earth, forcing the mercury in our chilly thermometers to claw itself up into the high 30s F. already. I offer thanks to our generous pals up in Canada who are sharing their cold with us this weekend. Due to their largess we will not have a warm day today but that is coming tomorrow. I suspect what seems cold to me, a card carrying southerner, many folks in colder climes might consider a day warmed to the mid 50s to be at least a degree or two in the direction of warm.

With what Lincoln said about the weather in mind, I should never complain about the weather unless I actually plan to do something about it. Every day is after all, no matter what the weather, a good day. So I should be thankful for what I have. For others might sometimes dearly wish to trade what they have for it. Though every day we are given to make something out of may be considered a good day, I must admit some of my days are much better than are others. This is a theme I return to perhaps too often but I do believe it. Today will be a good day.

My female roommate, the pretty Russian Blue cat is still in heat. She reminded me of that off and mostly on during her restless night. The catnip did not seem to work.... for either of us. You may agree that it was probably fortunate indeed that I resisted the compelling urge to pour NyQuil on her food in the wee hours of the morning. That might have worked of course but worked far too well.

DOG DAYS of WINTER?

For those who actually like the cold as I do or are a big fan of Jack London as I am, I have it on very good authority that the annual Iditarod long distance trail dog race is now fully underway between Settler’s Bay and Nome Alaska, some 1500 miles. Mushers with a team of twenty-one astonishingly energetic sled dogs cover the distance in nine to fifteen days, or perhaps more depending to the rather fickle Alaskan weather I would guess. Weather that includes incredible sub-zero cold (-100 F. / -73 C.), blizzards, gale force winds, deep snow and white outs. Men and women with antifreeze in their veins, compete in this annual endurance race that rewards strength and perseverance.

I am unaware of what the winner gets as a reward beyond the reasonable assumption that whatever it is it includes something warm and satisfying. Last place contestants get the “Red Lantern” award. That is actually highly respected as a symbol of great tenaciousness in the mushing world. No matter how great the reward for the winning musher I suspect that the reward for the dogs may fall somewhat short of that.

It must be food as sled dogs seem to shun the traditional canine place of honor by the fire. Sled dogs eat 10K to 12K calories a day just to make up for the fuel they burn on the trail. From what I’ve read just the thrill of the race is reward enough for these incredible northern canines. They wear boots, you know. Maybe in addition to food they also get sporty new boots? Whatever they receive they deserve it. And so do the mushers.

Fittop:

"Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan" or something to that affect. Christmas at my house was a time for warming golden fires that lit all the rooms and my britches when I backed up to them, being visited by all the relatives who were rewarded by a seat at a table absolutely groaning with all kinds of delicious food and beverages. Just the unbelievably delicious fragrance emanating form my grandmother's steamy kitchen each Christmas Eve is a delightful confection the memory of which can still satisfy yet also bring a sweet pang of nostalgia.

In the sixties my mind was mostly on girls, politics (because of Kennedy), space travel and the original seven astronauts. I wrote my senior theme on those spacey guys and, of course, the space program. That was timely, interesting to many and I managed to get an A+ on my theme. The teacher was also fascinated by the space program. That helped a lot. I was also building and flying small solid fuel rockets. One of our neighbors had a tin roof on his house. Imagine his families surprise when, one fine day (nowhere near Christmas) they suddenly heard a crash and the sound of something tumbling around on their roof. Imagine my own surprise when I saw my rocket hit that roof when the "chute" had failed to open. Further imagine how difficult it was for me to go to that home, knock on the door and ask for my property back.

Racing home from work one evening in my little red Opel GT with the fuel gauge bouncing on EMPTY and every gas station I passed showing a sign stating there was no gas available was more than enough to satisfy me there was a problem somewhere in the fuel supply, manufactured by the greedy or not. I was lucky that day. The last tiny, one pump station I would come to before the sputtering of my starving 2.9 ltr. engine would commence, was closing for the day but had gas! I filled up, there was no limit there. That was enough gas to get me back and forth to work in that little two seater until the "Gas Crisis" abruptly came to an end.

Conserving water is important for us all my friend. My friends in Canada has a rather elaborate water saving setup including rain barrels. For those interested in conservation fortunately there are loads of purpose built items available at hardware stores today. There are many useful pamphlets available from county agents and a veritable cornucopia of info online. if you thing the oil crisis was inconvenient wait until there is a worldwide water crisis. Well, I guess none of us will see that but my grand kids might. Desalinization might help. But it will take more than that. If you folks are accustomed to a good shower every night , flushing your favorite toilet when advisable or cooking, much less having ice in a drink when thirsty, Google to your hearts content. Get involved.

The blooms here have been exploding for weeks. It is worth the wait. I am however concerned we may have a long, hot, humid summer. Why did I pass on the gallon size bottle of industrial strength sunscreen I saw offered online at a very reasonable price in January?