Thursday, December 3, 2009

Winter




My family and friends in the northwest love winter.  I don't.  After living in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and Nebraska  for twenty plus years, I still don't like snow, Artic temperatures, or wind that tries to cut you in half and knock you down. I love Arkansas but wish it was in the Carribian from October through March. I am still looking for  consolation in our normally mild winters.

 Winter causes more defensive work and less productive work on the farm. I like to work on the farm but I like productive work, something that adds to or improves the farm. Defensive work(winterizing the well pump, constantly changing frozen water for animals, mulching in warmth loving plants, protecting my worm beds, etc., etc, etc.) isn't fun and doesn't give much satisfaction.  Mowing the yard is nonproductive. Cutting, raking, and baling hay is  productive. You want the grass to grow in the hay fields, you want the grass  in the front yard to quit growing. One of the best things about winter is that it stops the grass from growing in the yard.

 I don't hunt any more so the coming of winter no longer has the pleasant consolation  of  hunting season. I don't object to hunting. I got out of it because I  traveled so much during the last forty years. It is difficult to hunt if you don't know the countryside and don't know people willing to let you hunt on their land. I threw myself into fishing instead because there are usually public places to fish almost anywhere you go. I grew up hunting and fishing but now I  only fish. Another reason to dislike winter is the unplesantness it adds to fishing. I still catch fish in the winter but shiver in the process. 

I started forging knives this summer as time permitted. Now that winter is here there is less farm work and more time for knife making. I think this will be a cosolation for the cold. I am working on a couple of new knives now and will build a fire in the forge to heat treat them this week. I plan to anneal several pieces of steel at the same time so that  I can do some preleminary work on them. I cut up a plow bit and several pieces of a skid plate from the bottom of a Bushog. I think they will make good blade steel. There is also some blades off of an industrial meat grinder that I want to try.

I will make the best of winter. There are a lot of slab crappie in a flood control lake five miles away and my boat is in good shape. I just got more charcoal and my scrap bins are full of good blade steel. I still like spring, summer, and fall the best.

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