Wherin it's T minus 1 and counting

It's hard to believe that a few short weeks ago we were all bemoaning the cold and snowy weather we were experiencing. Most, if not all of us, were suffering from cabin fever. Lack of exposure to sunlight and outdoor fresh aire sure made everyone edgy. You could see it on a daily basis in how people were driving like raving lunatics. It made the daily commute quite the adventure.

I commenced upon my spring/summertime chores last night. I think I was the first in the neighborhood to fire up the 'ol lawn mower and actually have to mow the grass. I had just changed out the oil on Sunday and sharpened the blades in preparation of the aforementioned. I edged the drive and walkways, I reset/repaired the landscape edging. Whilst mowing and driving the tractor past the hot tub deck I caught a whiff of something that was not quite natural or alive anymore. Something, apparently, decided to make it's final resting place a barely accessible portion of the hot tub deck. To say it smelled bad is an understatement.

I shoulda taken a picture of it to post here but in the interest of keeping everyones food down, I did not. It took a bit of digging and maneuvering with a long pole but the offending odor was found and removed. It was a dead possum. Now, my neighbor had told me about a Possum he had found in the alcove by his front door this winter. An attempt I reckon, by the doomed creature to find shelter from the bitter cold we were experiencing that day. Said neighbor had whacked the trespassing Possum with a shovel and tossed it into the field behind our houses. It was stunned but, apparently, not quite dead. I was gonna cap it with my .22 pistol but a half hour or so later the Possum had staggered off and was gone. We tried to track it in the snow to no avail. Now, in hindsight, we figure it crawled under my hot tub deck to die. Now possums are rather ugly creatures. Dead, bloated and rotting, infected and full of maggots, their even uglier....and did I mention the smell?? Thank goodness for bleach!

I enjoyed the winter, I really did. I can only attribute that to a defective gene. That being said it sure is nice to see all the activity in the neighborhood. Kids running around, riding bikes, roller blading falling down, skinning their knees. People are out and about in force doing yard work, prepping thier campers, jogging in their skimpy jogging outfits...not that I would notice....the world has come alive once again.

Tomorrow I leave for "Gods Country" to pursue trout. It's an annual rite of spring for my brothers and I. We gather together at our northern lower Michigan property to camp, eat good food, drink good drinks, smoke fine cigars and celebrate Michigan's Traditional Trout Openers. It's kinda like Deer Camp for Trout lovers. Oh, and no girls are allowed. It's not that we're sexist...far from it. It's just that Openers at camp, with a bunch of unruly guys, is no place for a woman or girl. Trust me on this one.

Trout openers, or Trout Camp, is not so much about the fishing as it is the camaraderie Sure, we fish allot when were there. However springtime conditions are sporadic at best. Sometime you hit it and catch fish up the ying-yang. Other times the weather interferes. This is Michigan after all. We've had snow, rain, freezing rain, fog and sunshine all in one day. It's crazy.

The cool thing is that we, and our experiences, are the memories and fish stories of tomorrow and it don't really get any better than that.