There's A Lot Going On

Across the Fence #534

Where do I begin? There’s the snowstorm, ski jumping, Ground Hog Day, tobacco harvesting, lutefisk, and Valentines Day.

A few days ago I made the statement, “What a difference a year makes.” I also posted two photos showing our house and driveway a year ago with huge drifts and piles of snow. The other photo was taken on January 30th of this year, showing hardly any snow and lots of bare ground. My brother, Arden, responded, “Careful, don’t tempt the snow gods.” I should have listened to him, but too late. Looks like the snow gods heard what I said and decided to show me, and everyone else, who’s in charge. That was quite a storm that moved through the area, dumping lots of snow and whipping it around with high winds. It really drifted around our place, but we’re lucky compared to much of the Midwest and East Coast, so I won’t complain.

January 2014

January 2015

Luckily, the snow arrived on Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday when the Westby ski jumping tournament was going on. At least the snow waited until it was over. I doubt if it could have been held with the weather and wind we had on Sunday. It takes a very dedicated group of volunteers to pull off such a major event and it was quite an accomplishment. The Friday night jumping under the lights is very special.

Also on Sunday, there was a Super Bowl going on that we Packer fans think the Green Bay Packers should have been playing in. Things don’t always go the way we want, but at least the snow gods weren’t involved in the outcome. Now the Seattle Seahawk fans know how Packer fans felt two weeks before, although I think most of Wisconsin would be in a deeper depression if we had lost the Super Bowl in the last 30 seconds.

As I write this, Ground Hog Day is winding down. I hear the little rodent, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Down in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Jimmy the Ground Hog was also dragged out of his nice warm hole to face the cold weather, throngs of people, and reporters. He wasn’t a happy camper and instead of whispering his prediction in the mayor’s ear, Jimmy sunk his teeth into it. The flustered mayor then reported that Jimmy told him we’d have an early spring. Jimmy’s handlers said the mayor must have misunderstood his prediction, because the sun was shining and he could see his shadow. There would be six more weeks of winter. However, it was decided the mayor’s proclamation overruled Jimmy the ear-chomping rodent. So there you have it. I guess we’ll have to ask the snow gods. I think I’ll stick to watching my “weather rock” to see what the weather will be. At the moment it’s buried under a drift of snow. I can safely tell you that winter is still here.

I was a bit confused about what season it was the other morning when I was harvesting tobacco. There wasn’t a snowflake in sight. Now before you think I’m losing my marbles, it was a dream. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I woke up. We ran into one of my high school classmates, Barbara (Melby) Anderson, at the grocery store and I told her about my dream of harvesting tobacco. She said, “Howard, that wasn’t a dream, that was a nightmare!” I think she was right. That dream had all the ingredients to qualify as a nightmare.

We were still living in Madison and I was under heavy deadline pressure from several of my clients. That’s when Ma called to tell us Dad needed me to come up and help harvest tobacco. Next thing you know we were at the farm and the sun was barely up. Ma said that Dad was already in the tobacco field. My brothers, David and Arden, and sister, Janet, all headed out of the house and to the 10-acre tobacco field west of the barn. 

Dad quit cutting tobacco and started barking orders like a drill sergeant. “Arden, you start milking, Janet, you start piling, Howard and David start spearing. As soon as you have a load speared we’ll start hanging. Howard, you’ll be in the peak, David under him, and Arden on the rack. I looked at David, “Good Lord, I haven’t crawled in a shed for years. How are we ever gonna’ do this?” David said, “I saw a ladder in the shed. We can use the ladder to climb up.” Janet said, “I’m supposed to be working at the hospital this weekend. I hate piling tobacco.” I said, “I’ve got all kinds of work to get done and deadlines to meet. If I don’t get those jobs done on time, I’ll lose those clients.” Arden said, “What are we doing cutting tobacco this early in the morning? It’s still full of heavy dew.” Dad had the last word, “We’re gonna’ get all this tobacco harvested while all of you are here. Now get to work!”

Dad hanging tobacco.

That’s when I woke up. Boy was I relieved. Now we’ve got the big lutefisk dinner at Our Savior’s and Valentine’s Day is almost here. My weather rock is still snow covered, but life is good!

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