Snow What?

There is nothing like a trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to gently nudge you into the next season. Of course, sometimes it kicks you in the seat of the pants and buries you up to your back pockets in the impending weather patterns.

All week long I sweated 60-degree sunshine in Alma. Sunday, I woke up in the Superior Motel to two inches of snow. By the time I ate breakfast and hit the road, there was six inches of heavy wet white stuff blanketing the forest.

A week ago I was fishing Saginaw Bay without long johns. Sunday I was fishtailing down Doe Lake Road. I got to see the first idiots of the winter along M-28, who couldn't keep it BETWEEN the ditches. The ditches this time of year haven't had time to freeze; still mud.

Nice guy that I am, I stopped and offered cellphone assistance. Actually, I just wanted to gloat once I was assured everyone was alright.

The conversation with the guy in the new Caddy went like this:

"Everyone OK?" "Yeaaah." "Did that little OnStar woman call ya when you started that slide or after you hit the ditch?" He rolled his window up.

For me snow is a good thing. It's like rain, but you don't get as wet if you get caught in it. It's a grand renewal. It hides the dirty brown left over from fall and provides an insulating blanket for spring's perennial growth. Deer hunters dream of a good "tracking snow."

I remember as a young kid, I danced and caught snowflakes on my tongue. Nooo, that was when I was drinking. We came out of the Swiss Inn in Lake George one night before opening day to one inch of snow. We all pulled out our guns and seeded the cloud cover for a couple more inches.

I don't know if the snow will stay for the opener next week, but I don't care. I scoped out my spot and there are three scrapes and a nice rub within forty yards of my ground blind.

Here's wishing the hunters luck and maybe a nice dusting of tracking snow.