Slight Detour: Thinking Early Spring

I can do this.

I can think spring, at least until sometime tomorrow morning when I see that dreaded annual news from the East Coast that the groundhog has seen his shadow.

So, today I shall live in the "shadow" of bliss, thinking about baby calves, brushing away horses' winter hair, early morning daylight and inhaling comfortable spring-like air.

Turning over two calendars to the new month of February offered a little more sense of excitement than it usually does for this month.

We have some comparatively warm days this week, followed by a stretch of cold but no real deposits of snow.

Jack Filipowski's herd of Hereford cows are dropping their cute little baby calves. Yesterday I met two of the eight which have been born so far this year.

One was just an hour old, still wet, and I could possibly have caught its first real meal. The other had the dinner drill down after breathing earthly air for one day.

I told Jack I was a bit behind on checking out the babies. He said they started early this year, and he's not complaining because the easy winter has made calving season easier than usual.

So, over the next few weeks I may be taking occasional trips to Jack's bovine nursery to snap more photos of newborns.

I'm also excited that my countdown to vaccination number two is down to single digits. From what I hear, it's a bitter (slightly) sweet (happily) experience.

Pretty much across the board, I've heard that the hours after the shot (Moderna) are not exactly a walk in the park, but it that's the case, it's all good.

Those receiving the second dose report aches, pains, chills and even a fever which disspate within 36 hours. It's all good because the reaction indicates that the body is doing its work along with the vaccine.

So, a little sour medicine and some discomfort will be okay, knowing the eventual outcome of being relatively safe from Covid.

I also read this morning that the reporting of "effectiveness" in the vaccines might be a bit misinterpreted and really a much better scenario than people envision because of percentages of efficacy varying from vaccine to vaccine.

The interpretation, from what I read, is that "effectiveness" really means absolutely no chance of getting the virus or having any symptoms.

What seems to be missing from interpretations, again from the way I read the article, is that all vaccines, regardless of efficacy percentages, will keep individuals from dying and from hospitalization. This has been the case so far in all four vaccines currently being mentioned.

There was also a suggestion/explanation that we all get coronaviruses of different kinds throughout our lives, i.e. colds or flu.

What we've dealt with in the Pandemic is a specific kind of deadly coronavirus where the vaccine is expected to stop the dire effects of Covid19.

I'm sure as more is known about Covid19, vaccines and treatments will continue to improve.

So, I'm excited about getting the booster soon.

This first day of February looks a lot better weatherwise than the last day of January. Knowing that we had a day of "ugly" ahead, I suggested to Bill that we look at the "ugly" from inside the pickup rather than the house.

That suggestion needed no further convincing, so we took off toward Bonners Ferry, planning to do the Meadow Creek/Moyie River loop.

On the way, I wanted to stop at a convenience store to get my Chick-o-Stick, so we stopped at Bonners Ferry Conoco, where Chick-o-Sticks were not to be found.

The staff showed a friendly interest as I described them and shared some of my personal Chick-o-Stick history. They suggested I go across the street to Super 1.

So, I did. At first, it looked like another strike-out as I walked the candy aisle with no luck. Before giving up, I asked a staff member for help.

We both walked the aisle, and chances of finding the candy looked bleak until suddenly, my eye zeroed in on a box of Chick-o-Sticks seemingly hiding between its rival candies.

I grabbed four, walked back to the pickup and asked Bill to go back to the Conoco station where the best part of my day occurred as I handed Dylan and Dody their very own and possibly first Chick-o-Sticks ever.

Both beamed with delight, and Dylan said he now remembered having seen these cylindrical sticks of chompy yum yum.

They were also nice enough to pose with their candy.

In the years ahead, may they create their very own Chick-o-Stick memories!

For anyone who has developed an affinity with DICKS Hamburgers in Spokane, I'd say the Chick-o-Stick cult resembles the excitement elicited whenever DICKS is mentioned.

Loved meeting you, Dylan and Dody.

Well, after Bonners Ferry Conoco, Bill and I moved on, and, yes, most of the trip was pretty ugly with a sense of gloominess pretty much everywhere we went-----even to the Eastport Border crossing.

Twas nice to longingly look into Canada again, only I don't think Jan. 31 above the border was any better than what we were experiencing.

Our trip did offer a variety of views, albeit foggy at times, that we would not have gotten through our windows at home, so it was a success, and by the time we arrived home, the rain had stopped.

So, at least we escaped for a few hours as January's final hours wound down.

Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, even if it's a bit crazy.

Yesterday's trip served that purpose. Besides, we had most of the roads to ourselves.

Hello, February. Nice to see you, and I will keep up all my hopes for spring at least until tomorrow.

Happy Monday.