3/01/08

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 0 degrees, barometer up, predicting sunny skies. Wind ENE, calm. Skies clear. It is a bright, sunny morning, but colder than predicted. Cold enough for Lucky to do a three-legged hop at times, alternately keeping a foot off the cold pavement.
The woods walk was delightful, sparkling new snow dappled with shadows. One birch tree along the trail has shed its tiny seeds on the new snow, the catkins usually dropping their seeds from September through March.
I met Howard and his grand dog Rosie coming out of the woods, as they were coming in from the opposite direction. Rosie is a large Labrador who fancies herself an alpha female, and Lucky discretely kept his distance. Howard’s talk on Ojibwa maple sugaring tomorrow promises to be very interesting.
It was cold enough this morning to pull the earflaps down on my Stormy Kromer cap, a Northwoods favorite. It has an interesting history, which I will relate at some better time.
We didn’t get to the Bayfield/Town of Russell Recycle Center last Saturday, so must go this morning. It, like the post office, is one of the more reliable places to meet acquaintances and get the latest gossipy news, so it is something of a small town social setting, much like the corner tavern of my long-ago Milwaukee youth, but without the smell of tobacco smoke and stale beer.