Have you ever witnessed an older person sitting in a chair and staring out a window? Sometimes they remain there, unmoving, seemingly for hours. Whatever could be happening?
When I was ten, we lived by a small lake surrounded by wooded hills and about a dozen homes. The pond was Indianhead Lake and the area was dubbed Indian Hills. There were probably fifteen kids within a year of the same age, and we could always put together an impromptu baseball or football game. Football could be rugged – two of the boys that lived beyond Overholt’s Hill were the Wright brothers, Jeff and Paul. Years later, they both went on to become professional football players, and when they tackled us normal, mortal kids, we would frequently see stars. But that was just a side-show to the premiere game afoot . . . hockey and ice skating.
The Dad’s around the lake took turns shoveling off a hockey rink. It was the big draw for the local kids. Eventually, the Dad’s built a warming house, like a super-sized fish house. It had benches on either side where we could sit and strap on our skates. There was a table at one end and usually once a weekend, all winter long, the Mom’s would bring out a mid-day meal of sloppy joes or chili and crackers, along with hot apple cider. I remember that we would skate and play hockey until our ankles turned to mush, to the point where we could barely walk. But even this was not the real game afoot.
There was a certain girl, name of Claudia, who lived on the high hill on the South Slope of Indianhead. How to describe her? Every one of the neighborhood boys had their gaze fixed upon Claudia. When she arrived to skate, the hockey puck would slide unattended all the way across the rink. The goalie would abandon his post. She never played hockey with us rough-neck boys – she would just figure skate, sliding and pirouetting like a swan on glass. She had curly blond hair, blue eyes and moved like a dream. She had a white fur hat, a white wool jacket fringed with fur at the collar and sleeves.
Have you ever witnessed an older gentleman staring out a window? Maybe he is sitting in a warming house, lacing up his skates, waiting for a certain someone.
December energy tips: First of all, happy holidays and happy memories to one and all. If you are a renter, here’s some money saving tips – use CFL or LED light bulbs, they cost a little more up front, but will last much longer and save you big bucks in the end; close your drapes and blinds at night, open them on sunny days; clean dirty light bulbs – they work better; take shorter showers; run your dishwasher when full; have your landlord lower the temp on your water heater to 120 degrees; clean your dryer lint filter regularly, a dirty filter reduces energy efficiency; set your fridge temperature at 36 degrees and your freezer at 6 degrees; when cooking, use the right sized pan and put a lid on it; set your thermostat at 68 degrees and wear a sweater; put your computer and other attendant equipment on a power strip and turn it off when not using the electronics.
Tri-CAP Blog December 2018
By: Stephen Bjorklund
