Woods & Water by Dick Herfindahl

 

The weather outside is frightful and the inside might be delightful, but I am not going to say let it snow because I do believe that we have had more than enough to last us for a while.

When I think back a few years during a winter when we had some very strong winds, I was driving on Bridge Avenue by the dam when I noticed a man chasing his Clam fish house as it was being blown across the lake. It was a pretty funny sight to see, but I know it didn’t seem very funny to the guy chasing his fish house.

When you talk about the outdoors there are a lot of things that can happen that are almost too funny to believe. After watching the snowfall this week, I was reminded of the days of my youth growing up north of town when us kids would always try to find a new way to put some speed in our sledding. After thinking of this, I went into my garage to see if my old Radio Flyer sled was still hanging there, it was. I guess it is true what my wife always says “you never throw anything away”.

I had gotten the sled for Christmas one year from my mom and dad. It was one of my most prized possessions while growing up. At the very least, it ranked right up there with my Red Ryder BB gun, my Tobin Rote football and my first “new” bike, a Coast-to-Coast model.

Getting back to the sled, it was supposed to steer with that cross piece that had two holes in it for the pull-rope. I have to say that short turns were never going to happen with that thing. I found that dragging a toe and leaning worked just about as well.

Roger, one of the older neighbor kids, lived on the end of the row of houses next to a hill that led into a field that wasn’t real steep but it was long and just about perfect for sledding.

Roger probably liked speed about as much as he liked beating up on the neighbor kids. He had decided to gather all the troops to help him build this masterpiece of a sled run. We worked on this run every night after school for quite a few nights until we had what we thought would compare to any Olympic bobsled run. It had a couple of turns and the run was packed down and watered to give it a glare ice effect.

The leader of our little gang of adventurers was the first to try our new sled run and I have to say that he really flew down that thing. The rest of us finally got to go and it was quite a trip to the bottom. If you wiped out, you paid the price because there was no soft cushion of snow.

We enjoyed this sled track for about a week until one of the kids wiped out and another one of us hit him with the old Radio Flyer right in the cheek. He had a nasty gash that required stitches.

Once the word spread through the neighborhood there was a ban put on the track by all the moms to protect their little “Angels” from the dangers of the track. Once again, the art of creating our own form of fun was dealt a blow by the keepers of little kids called moms. I wonder how many times I heard those famous words “it’s for your own good.” I’m sure I was curious as to how much fun it would be if it weren’t for my own good.

I believe that we, as kids, always felt that things were a lot more fun when there was a little danger involved. I know for a fact that our moms were never on board with anything that we came up with if it involved a little hint of danger.

After I married and had a family of my own, I could hear myself saying a lot of the things to my boys that were said to me when I was growing up. I also caught myself hoping that they weren’t doing some of the “fun” things that I did when I was their age.

 

Boat hosts needed for Governor’s Fishing Opener

Until next time, we have been getting good responses for our need of fishing hosts, but we still have a long way to go in reaching the number of hosts needed to make this event a success. I would like to encourage anyone who is a registered boat owner and would like to participate, or knows someone that might be interested in the Governor’s Fishing Opener by being a boat host to sign up online. The easiest way to do that is by going to www.mngovernorsopener.com look for the search box and type in boat host, click on search glass and it will take you to the page. Select boat host information and follow the instructions. You may also stop by the CVB office to pick up a registration form or call me at 507-383-2231 for more information. This is our chance to showcase this great community that we choose to live in and one that we are proud to call home.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers during the year 2019. They are the reason we are able to enjoy all of these wonderful freedoms we enjoy today.