About two weeks ago, I interviewed a guy about his Coast Guard career. He lives deep in the woods now, but he served the Coast Guard on the Great Lakes, North Atlantic and the Pacific (during Vietnam) for close to 30 years. Interesting guy. Nice fellow, who just turned 72.
The interview was for an article I wrote for our annual veterans issue, which we have been working on for the last few weeks.
As I was leaving, I saw a deer on his lawn. It's the kind of deer that doesn't move when you walk up to it, with an inch or two of snow on his wooden back. "Hey," I said in jest, "I see you have a deer on your lawn."
"Yes, we have them here all the time." He was taking me seriously--no laugh in his voice--so I looked around. He was looking out another window, and there [I]were [/I]real live deer out that window.
It seems the guy puts out bales of alfalfa for the deer during winter (which is still hanging on up here), about 20 yards from his house. I looked out, and there they were ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedA-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
It was lunchtime, and we watched as more deer walked through the trees to the buffet, while others left ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedB-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
He saw I was interested in getting pictures. "I'll see if I can get them to come a little closer." We went outside, and he went to a shed, where he keeps some of the feed he puts out (never corn, he says; it makes them fat), filled up a coffee can and threw out some of it on a far corner of his driveway, where it had been plowed ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedC-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
Some of the deer were already looking. Moments later, they started moving in. But there was a guy with a camera standing nearby, and the thing would click at times. Loud enough so the deer backed off.
The Coast Guard vet shook my hand, said goodbye and headed inside, while I got into my car. But as I glanced off to my left, I noticed the deer were starting to move back in ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedD-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
And as I sat there, watching, more started moving in ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedE-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
In just a few minutes, quite a crowd had gathered--with a few standing watch ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/DeerfeedG-3-08.jpg[/IMG]
So it was a good morning to be a deer--at least a deer living near this fellow.
****
Overall, though, winter has dragged on way too long up here. It's not that we're still getting occasional snow. That's to be expected. The problem is that it's still so cold, and we really haven't gotten even a sniff of warmer weather. I just checked yesterday--we haven't had a high temperature of 45F or above (+7C) since back on Nov. 14, over four months ago. The advance forecasts call for more of the same.
It's gotten me down, I guess. Winter has had its time, and now it's time for it to move on. It has outlasted its welcome. Winter: Take the hint. When spring started last week, I deliberately stopped using my long winter coat and switched to my spring jacket (which is still heavy enough to ward off all but winter's worst).
It's just a lot of waiting and impatience now. The next big thing for us is the trip to Chicago, for that huge quilt show my wife wants to attend. It takes place over the second weekend of April. We are trying to decide on a schedule and whether we can visit S and her husband, either on the way south or on the trip back north. (All of us want to visit, but it's hard for her husband to get time off from his jobs (plural).)
Also, I need to do some research. Last night I spent some time on Google Earth, getting reacquainted with the highways around Chicago--in particular, the Tri-State Tollway near O'Hare Field, the area where the megashow takes place.
For my safety and sanity, I think it's in our best interests to focus on the show and not on other sightseeing or shopping. My wife gets tired, especially her feet, when she's been walking around all day (shopping, for example), and I really don't want her feeling worn out halfway through the show.
If we do a lot of shopping the day before the show, her legs won't be 100% for the big day. Of course, sitting in the car all day isn't the best thing, either. Basketball and football coaches always talk about the "bus legs" their players get when they have to make a long ride to the site of a game.
I want to take my camera to the show, and I probably will. But my main job description will be as pack mule--carrying around all the stuff she picks up at the different booths--and, of course, chauffeur. So I'm expecting to be walking around the show with the camera around my neck, trudging around while carrying several heavy bags of stuff.
After the show, she will be able to rest. We'll probably spend that night very quietly at the motel. The next day, we point the car back north.
That is also the first weekend of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The tradeoff for the pack mule is that he will be watching hockey on the motel's TV the night before the show. The night after, she won't care--her feet will be tired, and she'll be too busy looking over all the stuff we picked up at the show. Unless she zonks out from sensory overload.
That's two weeks away. This weekend, it's Draft Day for the fantasy baseball league I run. I've done that for years, but last year I stopped running my own team. Frankly, I'm just not as interested in baseball as I used to be, for a number of reasons. This year, though, I will be drafting players for someone else's team. He has to be out of town (for work) that day, so I said I would pinch-hit for him.
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