Doris L. with
Steve & Dave on the Frozen Menominee River (circa 1944)
Dear George,
I’d say winter was our
favorite season as kids. We’d
build snowmen in the yard and big forts from which we could have snowball
wars. Most years we’d try to build
an authentic igloo. The walls
would go up o.k., but we never could keep the roof from caving in. Instead we’d use packed down snow to
build a slide off the riverbank, sprinkle it with water overnight so it would
freeze, and use it to sled down and coast for twenty or thirty yards out on the
river. As soon as the river ice
was six inches thick, we’d walk across to Pig Island and explore the woods,
looking for deer antlers and other stuff.
One year we tried ice fishing by chopping a hole through the ice, but,
without a shack, it was too freezing.
At nighttime Steve and I would play basketball on our snow-covered
driveway with the hoop on the garage illuminated by light from a desk
lamp. When we begged him, our dad
would tie the family toboggan to the back of our Lincoln V-12 and pull us up
and down Riverside Boulevard. Sometimes
after a storm we’d run barefoot through the snowdrifts in the front yard. All
in all, winter was great.
I don’t know what’s happened
over the years. Maybe it’s because
I quit doing fun things, but winter has definitely become a drag. This year has been the worst –
temperatures dropping to 10 below, wind chills of minus 25, three times the
normal amount of snow, and sidewalks that have been icy for over a month. We’re just trying to last it out.
The sheepdogs look like
they’re well-equipped for cold weather, but they get ice and salt in their
paws, and I’ve temporarily cancelled their daily half-hour walks. Mike and Duffy don’t miss it. They’re not very drawn to exercise,
even under good conditions. So
instead of longer walks, we visit the front yard five or six times a day. Even that’s hazardous. Last week I walked cautiously down our
driveway with Mike and Duffy on their leash, slipped on a glassy patch of ice,
and fell flat on my back. My
shoulder and arm ached for a couple of days, but nothing was fractured. Now I’m ultra cautious.
Driving, of course, is a
hassle. After a bad January storm
I backed the SUV out of the driveway to go to my office. The car seemed to have difficulty
moving forward, and it was jiggling on what I took to be icy ruts in the
road. After about five blocks I
pulled over to see if the axles were encased in ice. Instead I found that my rear tire was flat and completely
twisted around the rim. The tire
pressure had dropped because of the cold, and then the tire had come loose from
the wheel. It took AAA two hours
to come. Amazingly, the downtown
tire service reattached the seemingly mangled tire, pumped it up, and said it
would probably be o.k. The car
still was not running well the next day, so I took it into the garage. They found that the power steering
hoses had broken, probably because of the subzero cold, and fluid had spurted
all over the engine. Just another
winter mishap, this time for $1000.
Our house has been cold
too. We have separate hot-water
furnace units in the basement and the attic, and the upstairs temperature has
been stuck well below the thermostat setting of 70 degrees. I told Katja it’s because we have a
brick house and that nobody’s’ furnaces are able to keep their houses warm with
these extreme temperatures. She
asked why the downstairs was warm, but the upstairs was cold. Drawing upon my expertise as an Upper
Peninsula native, I said it was because the upstairs is higher in the air and
more exposed to the wind, plus it has a roof rather than a protective basement
floor. Being cold upstairs is
perfectly normal, I said. There’s
nothing to do about it, and we just have to wear warmer clothes. I don’t think Katja believed me since
she called the furnace people an hour later. The guy arrived later that day, “bled” our upstairs unit to
remove an air blockage, and the second floor quickly heated up to 70
degrees. I still feel I was correct
about brick houses, roofs, wind, and second floors being inevitably cold, but I
have to admit that we’re more comfortable now.
I’ve been trying to figure
out how winter could be as much fun as it used to be. I thought about playing basketball outdoors at night behind
Clifton School or going tobogganing.
Then I decided it would make most sense to embrace winter vicariously by
drinking more red wine and watching the Sochi Olympics on TV. So far, that’s helped. It’s only three weeks till March. We can’t wait.
Love,
Dave
G-mail Comments
Gayle C-L
(2-10): David, Looks cold in the photo :) And
I cant wait until March as well... Stay warm..;) G
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