Digging in the Archives Again

I’ve been digging around in my digital vault again. There is a lot of material that I have drummed out of my fingertips, but never had the courage to post. My Mom and a few of my friends know that I like to hear myself write. They keep encouraging me to post my blogs instead of tucking them safely away in my hard drive. But the problem with being published is that people actually read what you have written. I have big problems with letting people actually READ what I have written. And even though I sometimes feel like I am walking the plank when I post a composition, I am posting when I have something to say that might not make your eyes glaze over too badly.

So, anyway, I was digging around looking at stuff in my short lived digital journal. Now that Spring is on the horizon, it is easy to wax nostalgic about Winter. The following was written in January 2009. I hope it doesn’t put you to sleep.

Before I get started, I should probably explain the picture. That was my first car. You will read a little about it below. My friend took the picture standing on the roof of my folk's garage. That car was amphibious. I kid you not. But that is a story for another day when I’ve had a chance to make sure Mom has had enough to drink before she sees it.


They say this is the coldest winter since 1985. I remember that winter. That winter I came home from my after school job one day and nobody was home. We heated with wood. The fire was out. I burned the entire Tulsa phone book, a page at a time, trying to get a fire going. My efforts were unrewarded. My folks came home to find me in bed wearing long-johns, a robe, and down coat; under an electric blanket, with every other blanket in the house covering me. Turned out I was trying to start the fire with wet kindling.

That was the winter I had no defroster in my car because the heater core leaked. I learned the surest way to get my car fixed was to pull into the garage when my folks were gone and start dismantling. Once the pieces were scattered over both stalls, the folks had to help me fix it in order to park their cars inside. Of course that old car was uncomplicated. It could be repaired with duct tape and bailing wire.

Yes, that winter was cold. My mom bought me tires for Christmas that year. The guys at the tire shop had a tough time getting the equipment thawed enough to mount the tires. The roads were icy, but I don't remember it slowing me down one bit.

My folks had a three-wheeler. (Remember those?) I had the best old time screaming around on the snow and ice. At the end of the day my arms would be unbearably sore. But the next chance I got, I would be out there again, riding full throttle until I ran out of gas and had to push the bike home. In those days I was happiest when I had the wind in my hair. Going fast, spinning, jumping, climbing, riding, all made me feel alive.

But it was cold. We had a paradise fish and the water in his bowl froze over. It didn't bother him, he hibernated. I worked at a pet shop and somebody returned him because he was mean to the other fish in their aquarium. He couldn't be returned to the general population in the store because he would contaminate the store's tanks. They were going to flush him, so I brought him home. I came home with a fish and a jar of food. No fish bowl. I guess I thought he could live in a Mason jar. Likely, I didn't think about it at all.

He had a lot of personality for a fish. He was always jumping. I taught him to jump up and take a flake of food from my finger. But he was always jumping out of his bowl. Finally, Mom converted a unused terrarium into a fish bowl. It had a tapered neck and he couldn't jump out. Anyway, he didn't do any jumping when his bowl had a layer of ice on it.

And like all winters, that long, cold winter finally met with the inevitable Spring. So shall this one. These short dreary days will give way to tumultuous pre-Spring and finally full blown Spring with sunshine and blossoms and warmth.