Back in the Groove: Whatever That Is

 

No school in Lake Pend Oreille School District today.

So, they aren't back in the groove.

This announcement would not have surprised me last night after seeing predictions for several days that Monday would be involved a snow dump, even with gusty winds.

I also learned that if there was no school today, Willie had plans for when his team would practice. 

Probably not a bad idea for the kids and staff who may have come in contact with Covid to have one extra day before they all come together at the school. 

I also dreaded the idea of another big snow dump, knowing how much work we would face in the early morning hours, just to get the chores done.

Well, big surprise!  

I looked out the garage door at just before 5 a.m. and saw light flurries falling on a soft, light coating of snow. 

Heck, it was so light that I almost didn't change into my boots to take Bridie out for her first business session. 

Since that time (and I'm writing at 7:18), the situation hasn't changed much. 

Maybe the big stuff is yet to come, but I'm not complaining because the hardest chores of the day are done, and in the daylight we can get ahead of the situation. 

And, so on this Monday morning, I'm thinking about this year marking the 20th year since I haven't yearned for snow days in the middle of the winter.

Yep, 20 years of retirement this year, and I'm wondering where the time has gone since I taught my last English class in 2002. 

Regardless of how long we're away from teaching, we still maintain a close eye on what's happening in the schools, and when they have a snow day, we're happy. 

Even with the snow day, my mindset has returned to "the groove" because we no longer have holidays to give us an excuse to be lazy. 

Time to get back to life and all the busYness that keeps us filling in dates on the new calendars.

One of mine downstairs includes an appointment tomorrow for Bridie to get her booster as well as an eye appointment Jan. 13.  

Though it's not on the calendar, I also have a short writing assignment to do in the next few days.

I also promised my dentist that I'd start getting needed dental work done this month but will probably wait until after the eye appointment to set that first date. 

This year may mean a dramatic development with my eyes, at least one of them.  Following the trend of all the babyboomers and former students (ARE THEY AT THAT POINT?) who have announced that they can now "see clearly,"  I may jump on the cataract-removal bandwagon.

We'll see what the doctor says, and that seems to be the one surgery almost guaranteed to make people happy. 

Also, in January, I'll probably be hearing from Trish again, reminding all her Sandpoint Magazine writers that it's time to start thinking of stories for the summer edition. 

In my case, one story assignment is constant:  Natives and Newcomers. 

So, it won't be long before I approach two natives of the area and two newcomers to see if they want to be featured in the next edition of the magazine.

Yup, that's back in the groove, for sure. 

Bill and I have talked about some changes we'll probably plan for this year to make life easier for me in dealing with the horses next winter. 

New fence.  Relocated gates.  Maybe some time of overhang built above the side doors to the barn, allowing them to be open and for horses to come in and out as they please. 

If we can accomplish those changes, my knees should be much happier. 

January makes a nice month for planning, especially because the plans involve visions of spring and gardening and mowing grass and color and all the good stuff that seems so far off at this time of the year.

Now that he's finished up on another year of forest tax exemptions, we'll also have more time to load up in the pickup, take along some of those Wood's German sausages, stop somewhere pretty and cook 'em up on a grill. 

I loved that aspect of our Pandemic winter last year.  So, we'll definitely put that in the "back in the groove" file. 

As I type now at 7:41, the snowfall outside has increased.  It's serious stuff now, but again, those morning chores, in the dark, are done. 

So, let it fall. 

I posted this photo of Bridie engaged in her puppy toilet-paper art on Facebook.

Her efforts reminded me of a time in my youth when some of my friends from Carter Hall at the University of Idaho transformed a boring evening literally into a campus-wide art piece.

We were among the lot of frosh who had no money and no dates----just a lot of time on our hands and, happily a closet at the end of the hallway loaded with rolls of toilet paper. 

No Pandemic shortage way back then.

I don't know who came up with the crazy idea, but I do know that I participated. 

We gathered some rolls of toilet paper, took them to someone's room, opened the window, unrolled a segment of paper from one of the rolls and sent that portion out the window. 

Well, it's important to note that the wind often blew briskly in Moscow. 

Once we started that section of TP out the window, it took off into the wind, with the force pulling more and more from the roll to the point it was spinning wildly. 

Twas truly magical AND fun. 

Suddenly, someone got the idea to tie the end of that roll to the beginning of another. 

It took coordination and skill, but we got 'er done and then did so again and again, giggling our heads off as we watched long white ribbons of TP wafting through the night air, to where, we did not know. 

We had discovered and created a late-night phenomenon and it was much too fun to quit. 

I don't remember how many rolls of Carter Hall toilet paper went out that window, but I do know how fun it was to walk across campus to class the next day and see evidence of our Charmin creativity in some rather odd places. 

No, we never got caught, and I don't even recall our housemother making an announcement about the importance of toilet-paper conservation. 

And, so when I saw Bridie's handiwork the other day, all I could do was chuckle and remember another time, another place and another group of youthful minds at work. 

Happy Monday.