I remember anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Captain Midnight Secret De-coder Ring. Nearly a year of eating cereal I didn’t particularly enjoy finally provided enough box tops to send off for that bad-boy! Now all I had to do was await its arrival.
(I remember my mother warning me that removing a box top before the cereal box was completely empty would lead to the death of us all…she knew about bacterial illnesses long before the CDC considered such a possibility.)
Back in those days the mailman came to our mailbox twice daily: Mr. Thilker climbed our porch stairs faithfully each weekday around 9:30 and then again at 3:30, just as I was getting home from school.
He was a kindly sort of person; he never seemed to tire of my daily requests to search the bottom of his “US Mail” satchel, just in case the missing decoder ring was caught between the folds of the enormous leather bag slung over his shoulder.
Nothing…until two weeks after school ended and summer vacation had already begun. The longed-for package finally arrived; but what was the point?
To whom could I boast about my new hi-tech (circa 1957) device? Most of my buddies were on their way to summer camp and my bragging would go un-noticed.
Sad but true, I learned between first and second grade, life has its disappointments. The grand unveiling of my digital device (back in 1957 a digital device was something worn on a digit, such as a Captain Midnight Secret De-coder Ring) would have to wait.
For the last month I have been awaiting the arrival of winter; you know, that season of cold weather and gloomy cloud cover…remember?
If Mr. Thilker was around I would ask him to check deep in his satchel in case it (my treasured cold weather) was caught between the folds.
Yes, I enjoy winter. It provides my favorite type of bass fishing. I relish those gentle “tap-taps” of a magnum spotted bass 50-feet beneath my feet, hidden away in submerged ancient tree tops, succumbing to my perfectly placed finesse jig or drop shot.
It was a pattern I could repeat all day long; I felt confident every time I launched my boat from an icy ramp that I was going to “wear them out”.
Last August I began looking with expectancy toward the frigid days of January, not unlike a 6-year-old looking forward to the arrival of his Captain Midnight Secret De-coder Ring.
Today, according to the Access WDUN forecast, it is supposed to be in the low 70s; my calendar shows we are in the center week of the month of January. What is going on? Mr. Thilker, where is my winter?
Oh well…I guess I’ll join the crowds fishing as shallow as possible, right up on the sun-drenched banks. That’s where the fish are and there should be a law prohibiting such behavior!
By all rights I should be sitting over 70-feet of water seducing magnum spotted bass out of a tree top 50-feet beneath the surface…but those fish are enjoying the sunshine and warming water provided by Lanier’s abundant hard, red clay banks.
This week could return us to normalcy: on Friday Mr. Trump will become President Trump and I know he fill find my missing decoder ring and vacationing magnum spotted bass.
Life is good.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/1/492891/wheres-my-winter