It is not hard to understand why Minnesota, the Land of Lakes, is a fishing haven. I grew up in Ohio and my dad loved fishing. He started us fishing young on the lakes and rivers in Ohio. My three brothers, Kenny, Jeff, and Todd love fishing.
Before 1989, when my dad was
still alive, when I would go home to visit there was usually a fishing trip
involved. It was fun to fish with my dad. While visiting my brothers this past
spring and summer I did not go fishing. Jeff and Kathy (his spouse) did take us
out on their boat for a few hours and that was an awesome treat.
This morning one of my
co-volunteers, Steve, at the thrift store was sharing fishing stories with me.
It was interesting to hear. With more snow, I am beginning to hear more about
ice fishing. Beginning this Friday, the highs for the days ahead are looking
like this:
Ahhh. This explains why everyone
is getting excited! All those back-to-back days of low temperatures will mean
the lakes and rivers will freeze over.
As I was leaving the thrift store
today, Paula asked me if I was going ice fishing this weekend. I told her no,
"I plan to stay in where it is warm!" She laughed. In fact, as Joe
read the coming temperatures to me last night, I told him we were going out to
do our errands on Friday. While it was still warm. I guess I am acclimating to Minnesota
when I think a high of 7 degrees is still warm. It is all relative, of course.
About fishing in general, Steve,
agreed to hook me up with his son, grandson, or a nephew (my brain was
listening but I missed the exact relationship, and it could have been all three
as he mentioned stories about each of them) who is an ace bass fisherman and
recently kept track for a year of how many fish he caught. Keep in mind that
fishing season is generally over by September here. His goal was one thousand
fish and when challenged that he could not have kept track of every fish he
went with a new goal of 1020 to account for any percentage of error. The reason
I wanted a connection is if Jeff and Kathy want to go fishing while they are
here this coming June, they can go out with someone who knows the best places.
I really appreciate it when the
people I meet share stories with me.
My joyful moments came today
while volunteering. The volunteers are always willing to help each other. We
have people with physical limitations and other volunteers will bring them what
they need to sort or to hang clothes. I do have favorite volunteers already.
People that I always enjoy seeing because they are kind and funny in addition
to working hard at the thrift store.
Jean is one of my favorite people
to volunteer with. She happens to be married to Steve who I am also fond of
these days and not just because of the fishing connection. Steve cracks me up
with his droll sense of humor. Jean is a joy because she has the most energetic
commitment of anyone, I have ever met to the volunteer work she does. That
energy and enthusiasm is contagious. I enjoy being in her space.
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