This is the No News for the Mink
Creek column, Dec 31, 2013. If you are
reading this online it will be a bit different than usual. Usual?—I post
the column that comes out that week in the Citizen, plus a bit more of
my blather. This week I didn’t have
anything in the rural news spot because my own paper arrives in the mail,
sometimes afternoon; this time it
arrived on Dec. 24th, and in it was a blurb stating the deadline for
those columns was at noon that day.
Nope, not from me, too late for anything. However, I thought those of you who read it
in this format would still be expecting to hear about life in these hills and I
love writing about that. So, enjoy (or
not, as suits your fancy.)
There have
been plenty of visitors here, spending good family time. The holidays are
nearly a thing of the past, tonight being New Year’s Eve. I note that there are two philosophies about
the decorating for this seasonal thing.
One is that Christmas is over, let’s get that tree and its
accompaniments down and out, put away the baubles, etc. and get on with a less
messy life. That certainly straightens a
person’s living space back into order.
The other view is to hold on to the decorations that remind them of the
season, maybe of past memories, until a day or so after the New Year
arrives. Then get back to “normal.” Of course both are good---and if you have a
live tree that has become brittle and dropping the needles it is time to move
it elsewhere.
The
neighborhood gift exchanges have been a regular part of the last couple of
weeks. Some has been in the form of
service, others in the form of various goodies:
popcorn ( in all its stages and flavors), fudge,
soda, cookies, and cookies, fancied pretzels, rice krispie treats with a
holiday flair, granola loaded with nuts, packaged mixes, soups, and on and on.
Along with all of this is the knowing that others care and hope good
things for you, a gift in itself.
We don’t
have much snow throughout our community, but there must be a bit more up in our
canyons because the snowmobiling set has kept the highway busy in that
direction. Around here we have plenty of
dry brown patches of dirt and lots of slick ice due to the weather warming
enough to melt the top of the snow and turn it into a sheet of sliding. I have not heard of any broken bones as a
result of this condition.
We have had
the invasion of a winter flu bug. This
is no 24 hour variety. Some have said it hangs around for a couple
of weeks, and barely leaves the doorstep before turning around for another
visit.
I had best
save whatever else might be “newsy” until it is in paper print. Happy New Year, 2014, thanks for reading.
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