Someone asked Ellen and I if we had been up to anything exciting this winter. Well, just staying home a lot I guess. We take turns getting the paper and mail and tossing a tennis ball for Scout. We read the paper together over breakfast and coffee. We had been going ice fishing some, but the catching is so slow that it is hard to get up the ambition for an ice expedition. Ellen and Scout take a hike or snowshoe up the ridge and down one of our logging roads or the Grouse Hollow path every day. I go to the gym a few times a week or go for a walk on the road. She keeps the bird feeders full. I watch the birds. I practice a bit with my new crossbow. She uses the pellet rifle to keep the squirrels off the bird feeders - nonlethally up to this point. There have been a few times where we had to move some snow. She volunteers at Stoddard Elementary and I sub at De Soto High School occasionally. We go out for lunch - our favorite is a cheeseburger and fries at The Thirsty Turtle in Stoddard. We went to Cassville last week and took my mom out for a Valentine’s Day lunch at J & J’s Sandbar, visited Ellen’s sister Kathy, and picked up our finished venison summer sausage. Mom said she had heard from my sister Carolyn and her husband who went to Florida for a week - the temperature never got above 60 while they were there though. (Their round trip flights from Chicago were only $116!) My other sister Diane and her husband, are in Texas where it has been cold too. We both have read numerous books. I read “All the Light We Cannot See” in January and I just finished “Commander in Chief” by Tom Clancy. She reread “To Kill A Mockingbird” and is reading the latest Khaled Hosseini novel, “And the Mountains Echoed.” I am writing a few short articles and journals and taking a few pictures I guess. El has been getting some great snow shots. El cleans house and does the wash and cooks. I make messes, get my clothes dirty, and eat at least three squares plus a day. We talk to our mountain kids a couple times a week. We both check out our Facebook accounts and email occasionally. Ellen bakes cookies, granola, dessert crisps, and her famous “crack bars” - so sweet they might crack your teeth the kids say. She made a fantastic toasted cheese sandwich with Popeye bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. along with a bowl of her unmatched tomato soup one cold morning this last week. I am quality control in the kitchen. We watch movies and “our shows” like “Downton Abbey, The Middle, Modern Family, Last Man Standing, Pioneer Woman, and Cook’s Country.” Now that football is over for the winter, we have been watching the Bo-less Badger Basketball team. Can you say, may I have this dance? We make plans together. We talk about our trip to Canada in June and Colorado some time this year and maybe a jaunt to Washington, DC or just up north for a fishing trip a couple times. Anyway, pretty normal and boring stuff I guess, but that is life, normal boring stretches with some occasional excitement thrown in that makes you appreciate a snowstorm and a good book by the fire at home. Of course, what is normal? It is just a setting on the washing machine I am told.
Until next time, get out - we have neither one watched any political debate this election season. It is much more interesting (and probably more relevant to most of us) to check the woods for wildlife sign. That said, I checked a trail camera yesterday and all of the bucks in the pictures had dropped their antlers. Enjoy.
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