Return to Winter

Two inches of snow last night. Winter visiting one more time. Reminding us that seasons do not always change neatly. That there is a return to the old before we once more can enjoy the new. Like life itself. We move forward, confidently. And then something happens, a snow storm in our lives, and we are stopped. However, spring will come with brighter days. As in our lives.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Life’s journey is often two steps forward with one step back.


COMING EVENTS:

March 31, 5:30 P.M. Joint Council of Extension Professionals Conference, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. “A Better Tomorrow: One Eye on the Past: One Eye on the Future.”

April 17, 9:15 A.M. Jefferson County History and Historic Preservation Conference, Hoard Museum, Fort Atkinson. “Lighter Side of Country Living.”

April 18, 1:45 P.M. Fox Cities Book Festival. Little Chute Public Library. Old Farm: A History.

April 19, 1:00 P.M. Historic Point Basse, Nekoosa. Old Farm: A History

April 23, 7:00 P.M. Richfield Historical Society. Richfield Town Hall. Lighter Side of
Country Living.

April 25, 1:30 P.M. Books and Company, First Congregational Church of Christ, 815 S. Concord Rd. Oconomowoc. Old Farm A History.

April 27, 6:30 P.M. Lake Geneva Public Library. Old Farm: A History.

May 1, 9:30 A.M. WEAC-Retired, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Stories From the Land.

Fond du Lac Public Library

It is spring. Says so on the calendar anyway. Says so in my yard, too. I uncovered my daffodils and tulips yesterday. They are alive, well, and poking their little yellowish green spikes out of the cold, but now frost free ground.

Robins were singing their hearts out this morning, punctuated by a cardinal whistle and the backdrop of sandhill crane calls. I am waiting for a hint of green grass to convince me that winter has retreated to where winter lives during the other seasons of the year.

Hats off to the Fond du Lac Public Library and their March Fond du Lac Reads program. Ruth and I attended their chili supper and program last Thursday evening, which they held at the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac campus. About 100 people turned out for the supper; around 160 attended the program.

The Fond du Lac Library selected my book LIVING A COUNTRY YEAR for the month-long program with several book discussion groups meeting throughout the month. What a great way to encourage reading, discussion and story telling. It surely hurries up March, too.

For those who may want a copy of the Fond du Lac Reads book, or related books: IN A PICKLE and OLD FARM: A HISTORY, visit your nearest bookstore, or order directly from my website.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Happiness comes from doing interesting and worthwhile things. Most of us find happiness when are not looking for it.


COMING EVENTS:

March 26, 6:00 P.M. Watertown and Jefferson County Agri-Business Clubs, Watertown. The lighter Side of Country Living.

March 31, 5:30 P.M. Joint Council of Extension Professionals Conference, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. “A Better Tomorrow: One Eye on the Past: One Eye on the Future.”

April 17, 9:15 A.M. Jefferson County History and Historic Preservation Conference, Hoard Museum, Fort Atkinson. “Lighter Side of Country Living.”

April 18, 1:45 P.M. Fox Cities Book Festival. Little Chute Public Library. Old Farm: A History.

April 19, 1:00 P.M. Historic Point Basse, Nekoosa. Old Farm: A History

April 23, 7:00 P.M. Richfield Historical Society. Richfield Town Hall. Lighter Side of
Country Living.

April 25, 1:30 P.M. Books and Company, First Congregational Church of Christ, 815 S. Concord Rd. Oconomowoc. Old Farm A History.

April 27, 6:30 P.M. Lake Geneva Public Library. Old Farm: A History.

May 1, 9:30 A.M. WEAC-Retired, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Stories From the Land.

Better Than Me

Why is someone always better than me? I have heard that question again and again over the years. I suspect I have asked it myself from time to time. Why does so and so make more money than I do, live in a bigger house, have a better job, look younger (and thinner) and on and on.

No question pulls down a person’s spirit more than that one. The constant comparing, the ensuing competing, and the resulting jealousy.

Far better, I believe, is to compare you to yourself, to come out from behind yourself and take a good look, accept what you see and be pleased.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to improve, try to better ourselves, set goals and have hopes. But the competition and comparison is with us, not with others.

My dad said it best: Do the best you can with what you have got. He kept saying that well into his 90s, when his capacities for doing were considerably diminished. But he kept doing, and he had long before quit comparing himself with his peers.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Who you are is more important than what you have accomplished.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 17, Watertown Public Library. 6:30 P.M. Lighter Side of Country Living.

March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library. 6:00 P.M. Chili supper. UW-FDL Commons and Prairie Theater. Featuring Living a County Year.

Sounds of Spring

I heard a robin on my morning walk the other day. The first one this spring, clear, confident, optimistic. Looking for the early worm?

A day later, when we traveled near Waupun, I saw several flocks of Canada Geese winging north, calling to each other and to us. Sounds of seasonal change. Announcements of spring.

I remember well the sounds of spring when I was a kid, and how we looked forward to them after a long and hard central Wisconsin winter. Some sounds were subtle such as the dripping of melting snow from the barn roof. Other sounds were melodious, at least for me. A small gully in the twenty-acre field north of our farmstead had been filled with field stones to stop the washing. When the snow melted, it ran through and over the rocks making the most beautiful of sounds.

Some spring sounds were loud and window rattling. The first thunderstorm of the season for instance.

Are you listening? Spring is announcing its presence.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In spring we shake loose the shackles of winter and make big plans and think big thoughts. We celebrate what has passed and look forward to the future with joy and hope.


UPCOMING EVENTS:


March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living

March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m. Chili supper. UW-FDL Commons and Prairie Theater. Featuring LIVING A COUNTRY YEAR.

March Meant Mud

March is upon us. A transition month. A month filled with hope and anticipation as once more the seasons change and we look forward to winter retreating and spring blossoming forth in all its glory.

But when I was kid, March meant mud. Oozing, sticky, boot grabbing, mud. My brothers and I walked to our country school, which was a little less than a mile from our farm, along a dirt road that almost overnight turned from a smooth, snow packed surface to deep rutted mud. The morning walk was fine because the mud froze over night. But the return trip in the afternoon was memorable, if one could call sloshing through mud memorable. It was the fault of the milk truck, mostly. With a heavy load of milk cans, the milk hauler scarcely made it through on these warming days of March, creating new and deeper ruts each day it seemed.

Every spring at least someone lost a boot to the sucking mud as we made our way home from school. Of course one of us would retrieve it from the muck, chuckling at the misfortune of our brother who stood on one leg, waiting for his boot. The one who retrieved the boot didn’t hurry either. On those muddy days, there was little to smile about. A brother losing a boot was as funny as it got.

The Old Timer Says: Watch out for them fellas that use a lot of big words. Like as not if they knew what the words meant, they would not use them.

Upcoming Events:

March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.

March 5, Bridgewood Resort Hotel, Neenah. International Right of Way Association annual meeting. Old Farm: A History

March 7, Governor Dodge Convention Center. Platteville. 3:00 PM. Doing a Genealogy of Your Land.

March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living

March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m.