snow sends swarming siskins seeking seed satiation.

it seems a bit of a let down…this 4 inches of snow. 

pretty, but disappointing. 

great base for skiing, once the groomers get off their asses and hit the trails. 

yesterday was spent stacking and covering wood and removing the detritus of my paltry existance from the yard where, if such steps were not taken, come january i would wonder what those bumps were under the snow.  i finished just as the heavy stuff started to fall and then sat in front of the jotul until i unceremoniously went to sleep at 8. 

that seems so wrong.

solar panels were covered with a crust of snow this morning and so i put on my flip-flops and scraped until most panels were free.  heavy clouds right now so mr. infra red will likely not have much of an impact on me today. 

flip-flops in 4 inches of snow.   

i don’t know what i was thinking.

i’m all over this…the snow and cold and winds like maniacal bellows,  off the lake.  

bring it on john dee, meteorologists, lame-o snow birds.  those who bitch about any season besides summer,  for i am truly ready….

….for life flight.

ski season sits on the front porch like a familiar, former girlfriend who never accepted i didn’t hear her knocking at the door. 

i heard you. 

i was just waxing my skis.   

when the snow comes, i have my priorities.

if it comes as they say it might, i will gladly shovel my 200-foot long driveway by hand while the nearest neighbor fires up a  many bowls and drives back and forth on the road, piling a 3-foot drift in front of my humble abode, using it as a non-verbal, yet common form of communication on superior’s north shore known as “fuck you neighbor.” 

i’m all over this.

bizzatch.

wind and snow and cold and subtle suggestions from former and future lovers cats.

winter sends me into a prose-filled tizzy.

i am (again) a poet.

i am (again) centered.  at least until march.

evidently, my decision to reveal the salacious side of my life has resulted in a two-fold increase in readership.

four people are now reading this blog.

that’s good, because i am all about voyeurism. 

and owls. 

it is a day off from the rigors of public service and my smarmy approach to life  is evidence thereof.  there is much i could do, but why do it on my day off when the week-end is looming like stomach cramps after a happy meal.

plus, there is a new container of stinging orbs on the table and the squirrels are getting brave.

now that’s entertainment!

if winter arrives, the first 3 weeks of skiing will be painful.  i have started walking and am beginning to mix in a bit of running, even though it is hard to distinguish the two when i am so engaged. 

yesterday, i received a letter from a citizen who was less than happy with my direct approach to problem solving.  i am not sure, but i don’t think it is physically possible to fit that appendage up my ass.  maybe after some wine and onion rings, but never upon demand.

silly bastard. 

any day the sun shines is a good day off the grid.  it is shining today.  full and unadulterated, with nary a blemish.  sam and moose are sprawled like sea lions on the couch.  lazy cats.

lazy cat owner.

shoulders have lost some of their slouch. 

come on snow. 

i think i have a better perspective now. time will do that for the downtrodden.

not that i’m downtrodden.  perhaps naive, perhaps dumb as a fencepost. 

nevertheless, i eagerly await my perspective if i turn 70. 

and just as george w. bush did when he got back up off the floor and finished watching the football game and eating his bag of pretzels, i will persevere. 

perspective, me boy.  that’s it. move forward.  unslump those shoulders. stay away from heroin and buffalo wings.

while lutsen mountains are pleased to announce the start of snow making, i am an enthusiastic believer that winter does not start with the advent of making artificial snow. that’s just wrong.

many rifles in the woods this morning.  many gunshots.  no  life flight yet.  it’s coming.  it has been my experience that at least once every hunting season, someone wanders onto my land with the look of exasperation.  most of the time it’s my neighbor, after a 24-box of miller light.  sometimes, it’s a lost hunter.

as an owl aside, i am trying to figure if i will continue with my spring surveys.  lotta work, little reward. 

story of my life.

after my public service was done yesterday, a couple of co-workers and i engaged in conversation, seasoned with several “bell’s two hearted ales”   🙂 .  we got into an interesting discussion about karma, collectively agreeing we were all on the debit side of karma’s audit.  good shit’s gonna happen.

but it always happens to someone else.

stick a fork in it.  the migration has come to a (non)ceremonious close.  oh, there may be a couple of stragglers, but my idle time spent in mindless contemplation is more important than them.

now, it’s time to watch hockey and curling.  oh wait…i don’t have tv. 

i am moving forward.  still confused and a bit ambivalent.  i need to start doing drugs.  or something.

i know…i’ll ski.  yes, that should do it nicely. 

i’ve had a red-bellied woodpecker at my house for the last couple of weeks.  she’s a noisy girl.  so far, the “native” peckers don’t seem to mind her fine self.  

melancholy.  still.

it probably shows.