I guess it's been a rough start to 2010...the weather has seemed a little colder, darker and nastier than normal for January, there've been some medical issues around the homestead and work has been all out of kilter with lots of hours in the hotel and on the road. To put the icing on the cake, my faithful old Canon Powershot died. I took about 150,000 shots with that camera and dragged it through everything from ground-level macros to panoramas but I guess the bouncing and banging finally did in the sensor. I've recorded a lot of memories at 4 megapixels but I guess it's time to either upgrade or go back to the ancient Kodak. The last shot I tried on the Canon was colorful but not exactly what I was looking for. Maybe I should keep it for psychedelic effects...
In between all the uproars this month, I've been trying to think of the warmer times that are hopefully on the way. It's snowing big fat flakes right now on top of the slush from the last couple of days so it's kind of a long reach but hey...I can wish can't I? The forecast for further crummy weather is making it pretty hard to see spring on the horizon anytime in the immidiate future but I guess there's always hope. January has 12 days to live and February has only 28 so March can't be that far away. Even the annual season of mud that comes at the end of winter is better than the snow and cold wind.
March is sort of the round-the-corner month to me. It might still dump a blizzard on us but it can't last long and the peepers will soon be singing in the evening. A man's mind might even turn to dragging the Harley out of it's privileged parking spot in the kitchen and maybe blowing the dust off. I always used to figure that if I didn't have the SuperGlide out by the tenth of March, I was way behind schedule but these days, I'm lucky to ride much before May. The cold and wet gets to us old guys a lot more than it did when we were 25 and much warmer blooded. I'll leave the forty degree days and late spring snows to the young bucks out to prove how tough they are and the Gold Wingers with heated lowers and windshields who don't really care. I suppose if I keep getting old at this rate, I'll have to break down eventually and get a fairing of some sort. Either that or I'll end up only riding about two months out of the year at this latitude.
I'd like to get out on the leg-powered bikes too but have developed a strong aversion to frozen fingers and the multiple layers of clothing required. It's about the same thing that keeps me off the Hog this time of year. It just takes too damn long to get ready. Chris and I did manage to go out and push the pedals on one of those 'Fooled Ya' days last week. The sun was peeking out and if you were standing still, it was pretty nice. Hit the road though and I soon realized that I was severely underdressed. Fooled Ya! I nearly froze by the time we got home much to my partner's amusement as she had done a better job of preparation and so was toasty to the point of perspiration. I on the other hand, was dripping icicles from my nose and lost the ability to speak clearly or feel my extremities after about 5 miles. Besides, my tires turned white from salt even thought the road was mostly dry so I knew I was throwing high-powered corrosives all over the bike. It sure felt good to ride but I think I was wishing just a little too soon. I guess there's still a while until any of the two-wheelers get out very much. I'll still need my windshield scraper for a while and my heavy Carhartt isn't ready to retire to the closet to hibernate just yet.
I suppose there's nothing to do but dig in and hope for an early spring as I do every year. The nights are slowly getting shorter as they always do and with any luck, the worst of the winter will soon be over.
With any luck at all, these that have been the darkest of days will soon be past.
No comments:
Post a Comment