People who live in the Upper Midwest are often criticized for how much we talk about the weather. Rapidly changing weather always give us something to talk about. Most of our weather is bad, so we always have something to complain about. When our weather is good, we have reason to celebrate. Even naturally taciturn people can talk about the weather.
Yesterday morning was a wet winter wonderland on the Fern Dell segment of the Ice Age Trail on Highway J northwest of Lodi.
The flakes were big. The kind that you can catch in your mouth as they melt. In the afternoon, the big snowflakes changed to a steady rain. By late afternoon, the precipitation ended enough that I was able to split firewood. The small pile to the lower right is what I split. It would have been a bigger pile, but...um, I had to shower to attend a social function.
That night we met with friends for dinner to celebrate their youngest son's upcoming wedding this summer. As we left the original location of Vintage Brewing on Whitney Way in Madison, the skies cleared to blue.
We had an after dinner drink at Delta Beer Labs on Badger Road in Madison. The photo is a little blurry, and I got cut out of it, but it was the only evidence of our get-together. I've known Dave since sixth grade. I knew bearded Chris in diapers. His lovely fiance Kylie is a special education teacher and is from "way up north." Ruth and Dave first met when Dave and I biked across Wisconsin from La Crosse to Milwaukee in 1988. The wedding will be at Kylie's parents' place near Lake Superior.
This morning, we were greeted with sun and blue skies.
That's Davey's farm. He's one of the hardest working farmers that I know. In the dead of winter, he is outside with a shovel, breaking off frozen chunks of silage to feed his small herd of steers. It's a small farm (40 acres) that he inherited from his mother, and it helps to support his retirement. He worked many years as a gravel truck driver.
If taciturn had a picture of someone next to its definition, it would be Davey. We have very short conversations--mostly about the weather.
2 comments:
Brain check, eh? Had to look up "taciturn."
Pretty sure it's the first time I've used in in a sentence, although I've come across it in reading. Doesn't exactly flow right off the tongue in conversation, which makes sense, I guess.
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