Thursday, February 28, 2008

February Wanes/Airplanes/and Hawks
















February has probably always been my least favorite month. Nothing really except the weather is the reason. Although the shortest month, even with this year being "leap" year and being 29 days....tomorrow will end this most boring of all the calender pages.

The reason February is slow in my mind, is basically because, there is still little to do outside. Baseball is a month away, we usually start umpiring in late March, this year being the 31st due to Easter being early....I always looking forward to fishing season, the past few years I have not done much much drowning of bait, but plan on looking for some new fishing holes this season. With our Grand Lake becoming no longer viable to catch anything but Carp, the fishing season still seems many weeks away, the poles are ready, but unless I try Ice Fishing, which I won't, I will be awhile getting out to the water. Even when living in Wisconsin, Ice fishing never really appealed to me, sitting in a semi-heated shack, breathing in fumes from kero heaters reminded me to much of my Security Police days in the dead winter of northern New York....cold weather fishing is not my thing, give me 75 degrees and light winds....only thing I ever enjoyed doing in the snow was skiing back in New York in the early 1970s and northern Wisconsin in the later 70s and 80s.

Basically February is for getting your house, outdoor equipment, and body in physical shape for the coming spring and summer, turning 59 this March, I'm sure it will take even longer than usual, especially since I've spent the fall and winter battling Spinal Stenosis.....speaking of which, since the low point in November until the epidural the week before Christmas, the progress had been slow and steady in January and February...reaching what I thought was 80% last week....after using the snow blower and doing some shoveling this past week, it slipped back a bit, but still compared to the week before Christmas....there is no comparison, I actually can enjoy life again, hopefully the improvement will last. Blood Pressure has been in the 125/70 range and better, as I continue with the prescription, the weight loss has begun, down about 5 pounds in the past 2 weeks, and the mobility is pretty good, although I am not quite ready to go out and do a 5 mile walk. I have been walking most days, and lifting weights in the basement 3 or 4 days a week....it's been strictly a repetition regiment rather than the "pumping iron" days of my past.

Sam is getting ready to head out to Santa Fe Springs, California, with a Damon RV for delivery.....should get there Monday for the fly back. Yesterday I headed down to Columbus to pick him up, as luck would have it, the same time our Marxist in training President to be Barack Hussein Obama was at Ohio State, although I missed the traffic, I couldn't help noticing the smell from his supporters permeating the Capital City and University area....OK nuff' political comment....Sam ended up in Columbus rather than Dayton because of the delays in flights out of Philadelphia...he arrived in Cleveland Tuesday night about 10 minutes before his Dayton flight, but by the time he got to the gate, the doors were locked and Sam and a few others were left without a flight to Dayton until Wednesday morning...instead he grabbed a flight to Columbus and stayed with a friend....his bags went to Dayton, but Continental did the right thing and drove them the 75 miles to Celina last night, and dropped them off at the house.

Last night Garry, Sam, and I, made the snowy 23 mile trip to Van Wert for the 2nd of 7 local umpire rules meetings, you need to make at least 4...

Back to February though...this February, along with the recent studies have pretty much put a dent into the Global Warming nonsense....records snows, record cold, and the fact that this winter, worldwide, the temperature cooling has negated the warming "gain" of the past 65 years....I wonder if that idiot Al Gore will give back his Oscar? There I go with politics again....The bottom line is...I AM SICK OF WINTER, I'M READY FOR SPRING!


photos-The back yard feeders in this extended season has been getting a work out, the ever present sparrows are always there, rain, shine, or snow storm, the 5 or 6 back yard squirrels have been getting there share of bird seed and tossed out cereal. Meanwhile a pair of Cardinals and a Robin or two have joined the fray. I have not seen the Hawk for a few days and I noticed this morning when in the garage, that the Pigeons have returned.....I thinking the Hawk needs to return for a feeding.....the back yard population and my fishing poles, ready for spring...cleaned, oiled, and re-lined.




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After posting this a couple of hours ago....our Hawk returned, and I shot the two photos shown about as he was feeding on a sparrow who was not quick enough.....we have a few hundred of those little buggers, so not much of a loss there.

11 comments:

Buck said...

The bottom line is...I AM SICK OF WINTER, I'M READY FOR SPRING!

You and me both, Bro! There's brilliant white light in my tunnel, though. High 60s yesterday, mid-70s today. I got a moto ride in yesterday, but she'll stay covered today... more wind. But the wind is a harbinger of Spring. So I'll take it!

Buck said...

Just noticed you installed Site Meter... You'll come to hate it or love it, and most often BOTH ...in the space of a minute or three, LOL!! But it's always fun, especially looking at what brings the googlers to your door... ;-)

Anonymous said...

I'm just getting started with back issues, been at doctors all last week and most of this week seems like. So if misery loves company, you've got company!

PRH said...

Buck: 38 and sunny today, but more snow/mix tonight...it will turn spring...someday!

Hermit...bad time of year for illness, I've been lucky(other than the back issues), I been taking Vitiman C for the past 10 years and have managed to get by with few illnesses...not sure if that is the reason, but I'm sticking to it.

PRH said...

Buck: The sitemeter is fun, interesting to see where and when they stopped by, sometimes by accident, and stay -0- seconds, or just a few....but I've had a few that have stopped by from far off places and stuck around for the read......

Cookie..... said...

Regarding being sick of winter...join the club amigo. Right now its -7 with windchill and we ain't seen anything green since October. Upstate NY winters are brutal. BTW...glad ya enjoy the music I sometimes post.

We got a bald eagle that's been flyin around fer a few months and I've been trying to get a picture of it...carry my camera everytime I go out...

PRH said...

Cookie: I remember that first winter at Griffis(70-71) when we were hit with triple digit snowfall...the gawdam snow on the flightline piles didn't totally melt until the first week of July....that spring, June 5, 1971, I was guarding a C-5A and we had snow flakes as big as half dollars...what a winter!

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

I too hate this month and yes, it will take some time for me to warm up this spring. I on the exercise bike again, but man building up is slow these days.

Nancy said...

Oh, I'm so glad you're still doing well.

Fishing does sound good just now, though, I prefer temps in the 80's and at night.

GUYK said...

Looks like an old MItchell 300 on that yellow rod..Eagle Claw maybe?

Some of the most reliable tackle ever built.

PRH said...

GuyK...the large one on the yellow rod is an Ocean Star #56...made in the early 1950s....it belonged to my dad, and has been in the family for over 50 years.

I've fished with it from both sides of Florida(west and east coast), all the way to Lake Erie and Lake Tagamung in Central Ontariio.

Before February Ends...

The plan is, is to get at least a post a month here for 2024...so here we are in later February so let's do it... It has been, for the m...