The End of Winter‏

The flag waves lazily today under cloudy skies with patches of blue. Penetrating sunlight reflects brightly in the distant ridges where the last of winters fleeting army of white is on the retreat. Not even reinforcements in March will prevent the inevitable meltdown of the oncoming new season: Spring.

My old friends, six grey mule deer, wander up the hill behind the shack. Stopping to eat the new grass beginning to bud, they quickly look up when I gently tap the upstairs window with a pen (I should hear so well!). I try to get Croco-Dog to look out the window (he likes the deer ), but despite my efforts his attention cannot be distracted from his ball.

The house, much easier to heat now that temperatures are staying above freezing, is comfortable and roomy for one person. It will soon be expanded: Opposite the kitchen and upstairs, on the back of the house, I'll add a living room with windows that face south and west. Someplace for a big screen and a pool table. This time next year I want the pictures to reflect another years work.

When I compare pictures twelve months apart I realize how much progress has been made. Like most accomplishments achieved over years on a day by day basis, looking back, it is hard to fathom the depth of the accomplishment immediately upon completion. Remember that when you stop to take a breath in your educations.

The pictures help to illustrate my feelings. Wouldn't it be nice if we could photo the human mind to graphically show and encourage the new graduate, who on occasion will look around and say, "For what did I work so hard?'' The fruit of ones labor is not always apparent to the producer.

This second summer the shack and my property will blossom dramatically if I can only apply myself as I did last year. That will be the hard part; my incentives, my fears, my desires have changed. I have waited 51 years for this Spring. With good luck my new home will be a success, a springboard, and history: sold for enough profit to do it again on property without a mortgage where I can apply what I've learned here. Can I get a Hallelujah?

With bad luck anything can happen, but I never forget that we make our own luck for the most part, and hard work goes a long way to influence an outcome in most circumstances.

With no luck (or no buyer) I'll set steel post and build the aforementioned living room.