Home Opinion Mine Creek Revelations: Ignore the Cold

Mine Creek Revelations: Ignore the Cold

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YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out of the newspaper’s window on Main Street and I am both proud and ashamed to make the following disclosure: I got in my whole neighborhood walk, Tuesday morning.

PROUD because I talked myself out of a warm bed to go out for the two-mile stroll. My Alexa said it was 41 degrees. I put on  several layers of clothing.

I am at the point of life where I really need the exercise even when it’s cold enough to set off my winter walking rule. Which is, I don’t walk when the temp is 40 or colder. So, it was pretty close, Tuesday.

ASHAMED because I have avoided walking for much of the past month or so. I tell myself it’s too cold or it’s raining. Some excuses are weaker than others.

So, getting out in the 41 degrees was a big deal at 5:15.

Once I was wrapped in several layers, the cold didn’t bother so much. And skies were clear so I got to enjoy the stars. I heard traffic moving, and there were some coyotes not too far away but you know how their sound carries.

The stroll reminded me of the vicious cold, deep snow and heavy ice that we suffered at the end of 2000 and beginning of 2001. Power lines were down and we were shivvering in the dark for days.

My wife and I put on our Eskimo gear and went out to get pictures for the newspaper. Roads were sorta clear by that time. We drove up to Umpire and came upon some rural electric linemen restoring some Rich Mountain Elec Cooperative lines.

I’m not kidding. These guys were in shirtsleeves.

“Aren’t you freezing?” I asked.

They just laughed. “Naw, this isn’t cold. We’re from North Dakota.”

So, I guess ‘cold’ is subjective, depends on what you’re accustomed to.

Shivver is the only word I know of that has v side-by-side.

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VERY PROUD OF our national champion cheer squad. If we only had more tall buildings on Main Street we could give the lasses a tickertape parade.

And I saw in the newspaper about Scrapper Band musicians who had knocked the socks off the judges at a musician competition. Congrats to these kids who have obviously spent hours in the band practice rooms (are there still practice rooms?).

A bunch of the kids got All State honors.

The benefits of band — and of being able to ‘read’ music and coordinate fingers, lips and lungs — will hang around for many years after high school.

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NOW here’s my story which combines cold with band.

In my junior year I elected not to play football, but to remain with the band. We had an out-of-town game at Bearden and it was extremely cold but that is not why Scrapper fans remember this game.

Bearden didn’t have a band, and our school graciously let us play music for their homecoming ceremonies. It was so cold that the slide on my trombone kept freezing.

Not only that, but the belt of my well-worn hand-me-down uniform broke and the uniform pants fell to my ankles revealing the blue and white cowboy pajamas I was wearing underneath the pants.

Scrapper fans remember the game because our team was getting hosed by hometown referees. It was so bad that late in the game the president of the school board went out to the bench and told the coach to take the team off the field. He did.

There’s a lot of old Scrappers who are still steamed about this. The record books still show we lost to Bearden.

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PLEASE GET the Covid-19 vaccine. Do your part to stop the spread of the virus. You can be a good example for others.

The persons who require hospitalization and ventilators in Intensive Care Units are almost all unvaccinated.

The Arkansas National Guard called up three members — all heavy equipment specialists — to help out digging graves at the veterans cemetery. Unvaccinated seniors are especially vulnerable to Covid, and you’d hate to be the one that carried the virus to a veteran, wouldn’t you?

The gov has called out more National Guardsmen to help out at covid test stations at UAMS.

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THINGS I LEARNED from opening email. 

According to the Redneck Book of Personal Hygiene: “Proper use of toiletries can forestall bathing for several days. However, if you live alone, deodorant is a waste of good money.”

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WORD GAMES. The twins: Forward and Reverse. Make up your mind. They are distantly related to To and Fro.

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HE SAID: “Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.” Isaac Newton, mathematician, astronomer and author

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SHE SAID: “I have been overcome by the beauty and richness of our life together, those early mornings setting out, those evenings gleaming with rivers and lakes below us, still holding the last light.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh, novelist, aviatrix and wife of a decorated flier

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SWEET DREAMS, Baby

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