Hurray! It’s Groundhog Day! But what does that mean?
Supposedly if the Groundhog sees his shadow, we get six more weeks of winter. If not, only two more weeks. Either way, here in the north we are winners. Only two weeks? Unbelievable! Only six more weeks? What a stroke of luck!
First let’s get the status of the Groundhog sorted out. It’s definitely a him. He’s up and out looking for a mate. No self respecting female would be crawling out of bed two months early for a bit of mid-winter romance. The male on the other hand, anytime, anywhere…. As long as they can immediately go back to sleep afterwards.
Here in the north celebrating Groundhog Day during Covid 19 Lockdown takes on a whole new meaning. You hardly see anyone on the streets. And if you do you are immediately suspicious and wary of getting too close.
I see Abby out fairly regularly and he inquires if I am still bored? Definite yes there. I inquire how he’s making out with his heated toilet seat protocols. “Nine times around the donut with the hair dryer set to high is about perfect,” he replies. Abby detests a cold butt.
Moose powers past me under full throttle. Exercise he states is important. Must be to keep his health up as like the rest of us he has more runway behind him than ahead of him. Can’t be for breeding conditioning as he must be well past that stage of life.
Pickle is pretty scarce. No point in snowmobiling as when he gets to the end of the trail, he can’t visit anyone due to the lockdown. And the ice fishing hut? How many hours can you spend alone, staring at a hole slowly refreezing, waiting futilely for fish that never bite? I suspect he spends most of his time in his heated shop, sorting and re-sorting his collection of used bolts, v-belts, screws and bent nails. A worthy pursuit as I will probably be around to bum something come spring renovation season. Meantime perhaps I would drop off a pail of bent nails or used drywall screws to stimulate you.
Haven’t seen the Runt either. Probably been sorting out his tackle box…. For the fifth time this winter and ordering more items online that he’ll never get around to using. But organization is important.
Here in the big house, I have been engaged in debating the great issues of life with my granddaughter Chloe as we sort through the Pearl of the Orient, my late wife’s, life-long collection of memories. Hard to let go.
But I have new projects. I am building up a new trike and have disassembled pieces scattered across the living room in front of the TV where I can review the YouTube instructions. The Pearl would not be impressed.
A further extension of the hobby is going online and filling my “Cart” with every item I can imagine I ever wanted or needed as it applies to tools or bike parts. Then at the critical moment hitting the “cancel” button to “delete” everything. Who says real men don’t shop?
OH NO! I just hit the “Order”, not the “Cancel” button! Too late now! Anybody need some spare bike parts? How about a 20mm reamer?
