Back Home

Back home again after a couple weeks in the sunny south. Back to the land of snow banks and icicles, slippery roads and yes, the beauty of a good old-fashioned winter.

We were in Florida for a couple weeks, visiting places like the John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota, and watching the surf roll in from the Gulf of Mexico (no traces of oil by the way).

We drove the near 1,400 hundreds miles so had a chance to see what winter was like in Illinois, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Georgia and of course in Florida. Winter is rather bleak and unappealing in these states. Drab and dull until we got to south Georgia and began to see some green grass.

Good to be home, even though my arms ache from shoveling and my back reminds me I’m not thirty years old anymore. Back home in time to watch the Super Bowl. Little talk of this great event in Florida, except for a chuckle or two that Dallas has snow and ice. “The cheeseheads must have brought their weather with them to Texas,” was the common comment.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The Eskimos had 52 names for snow. One name seems sufficient when you have to shovel it.

CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS: TRAVELS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS is in the bookstores. My son, Steve and I have canoed in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for 25 years. This is our story.

COMING EVENTS:
February 12, 2:00 p.m., Richland Center City Auditorium. Film: County Schools—One Room—One Nation, followed by panel discussion.

March 2, 7:00 p.m. River Falls Library. Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America By Food.” Farming History.

March 5, 3:00 p.m. City Hall, Platteville: Old Farm. 7:00 p.m. Museum-405 E. Main: Horse Drawn Days.

March 6, 2:00 p.m. Pioneer Dinner, Milton House Museum, Milton: Remembering our Rural Heritage.

March 9, 11:45-12:30 Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio: Campfires and Loon Calls.

March 11, Presentations: Friday, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia, Alliant Center, Madison: Campfires and Loon Calls.

March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.

March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls.

March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.

March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. Our Rural Heritage.

March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. Horse Drawn Days.

March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library, In a Pickle.