Grouse Hollow Journal for December 27, 2012

Grouse Hollow Journal for December 27, 2012 by Greg Koelker

Thanks to the blizzard last week, my newly retired better halft Ellen got her first “snow day” since she was a little kid. In all the 36 years Ellen worked at Gundersen Lutheran, she rarely got to stay home on a snow day with the boys and I. Since I teach at De Soto High School, a district that often has to call school off or at least run late or close early due to lots of drifted and icy ridges and hills, I got to stay home a few times over the years. Ben and Mark didn't get too many snow days either. When they still had to get on the bus to go to school in La Crosse, there was a lot of let's say, consternation on their part. Although I can't prove it, I think some people resent this. Angie Jesseski, who teaches up in Holmen, always sends me a wisecracking email if we close or are late; they rarely close. While Viroqua closes often enough, Seniorita Halvorsen – who used to be my next door neighbor at DHS – will routinely give me a hard time when we are and they aren't. Even the people at the Gunderen Lab were a tad jealous I think. When I would learn of a school delay or closing when El had already braved the highways to town and work, I would call in and announce to her that “I love my job!” She was used to it, but over the years, when I would call her and someone else answered, I could hear them off the receiver calling, “Hey Ellen, it's Mr. I-Love-My-Job!” I am not sure if that is very professional at all. Anyway, snow days are a nice surprise “vacation” day, but for the record, we are trading each one for a beautiful sunny June day that could be spent in the boat filling the livewell with bluegills, so there is some justice I guess.

Ellen loves snow. She loves to watch it fall. She loves to snow shoe on it. She takes pictures of it. She loves to go for walks in it. She – and I am not making this up - even loves to shovel it. On Thursday last, she came in to announce to Mr. Bah-humbug-I-love-my-job-but-not-so-much-snow, that she had been sledding! She told me that while she was shoveling off the patio, she was thinking about the old Flexible Flyer sleds that she and her brothers and sisters and we all used to use back in the day. Remember how you could sorta steer them? So she went up to the shop and dug out one of the boys' old blue plastic sled boats and tried riding it down the hill they used to call “Suicide.” She said she had to bust some brush to get to the bottom of the hill; then she had to get Scout to quit laughing. I grabbed a Nikon and took a few snaps of their fun. When El came in, she reminded me of our neighbor's old yellow lab, Sam, who used to chase the boys down the hill and grab at their scarves and coats causing no end of accidents and grief.

After a lunch of tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, we both went back out to do what I love best about snow, move it. Okay, if you believe that I love that or much anything else about snow, I have a bridge I'd like to offer to you for sale between De Soto and Lansing, IA – cash only, and you can set up a toll to make money. Anyway, she ran her shovel and I got “the beast” snarling and rattling. A couple hours later, our wet clothes were hanging by the fire in the basement – okay, that's not entirely true. The wet clothes were hanging in the basement, but there is no fire, just heat blowing out of the duct work attached to the Geo Thermal system. It dries things fine, but there was something about that wood fire on days like this.

Our bird feeder has become cardinal center. While I doubt cardinals like a blizzard, they at least are the perfect bird to complement blowing and drifting snow. I set up a camera and tripod in the kitchen to record pictures and videos of the birds at the feeder on Thursday. We had at least 30 cardinals and untold numbers of bluejays, chickadees, sparrows, and woodpeckers elbowing their way up to the birdseed.

The boys got their love of snow from their mother for sure. They live in Coloradao for the main purpose of riding on mountains of it. While they are getting dumped on now, a couple of weeks ago Ben and some friends flew to Mt. Baker, Washington to ski. He said they got 30 inches the day they got there on top of the 10 or more feet they already had. He and his buddies put “skins” on their skiis and hike up the mountain using their skiis as a sort of snow shoe. Then they ski back down. That'll get you in shape. Mark traveled to Idaho and Jackson Hole, Wyoming to snowboard about the same time. Ben takes snow pictures for the Vail Valley corporation and he wasn't finding much to photograph until last week, but he did get a shot of Mark blasting off a drift on the evening news in Denver. Mark's luxury limo business, Zone Transporation, needs the snow. People come there to ski, so if fewer people are coming, well you can do the math. I have to admit that snow on the mountains is something to see.

Finally, I have to apologize to the Bergen Township road crew. I can't repeat the words, descriptors, and/or curses, that followed the truck that plowed in the bottom of our driveway on Thursday. For crying out loud, Ellen had just shoveled that part of the driveway open. Anyway, it was no big deal and our road is open. Thank you Guys, and thanks to all of the dedicated people who take care of our roads and utilities in all weather and at all times of the year; you do a necessary and important job that takes a lot of time and guts. My brother-in-law Jamie plows for Grant County so I know first hand from him and my sister how your job affects the family and such. Anyway, if you haven't already, wish your State, County, and Town highway people, any police officer, your firemen, EMTs, your postman, UPS drivers, and Fed Ex persons a Happy Holiday and a great New Year, and tell 'em thanks.

Until next time, get out – Happy Holidays to everyone from Ellen, Scout, Gypsy, and me here at Grouse Hollow. Go Bucky! Go Pack! Enjoy.