“Where in the world is there enough ice to need that thing?” my neighbor asked as he watched me unloading my auger and other ice fishing equipment from the back of my truck. I had just returned from an unsuccessful visit to some of the lakes near my cottage and was wondering the same thing myself.

“The refrigerator. My freezer,” I joked.

And then on a slightly more serious note I mentioned a lake or two a hundred fifty miles north that I thought “might” be iced over.

And then I thought harder about his question. What do you do when it doesn’t snow and when ice doesn’t form? What do you do when you’d like to be tracking bunnies through the white stuff and cutting holes for fishing through the hard stuff? For one thing I guess you read!

Fortunately, Michigan has some excellent publications that can take you to dreams and fantasies of other more predictable seasons. Michigan Outdoors and Woods-n-WaterNewsare among the better ones. And should this crazy weather continue, a trip to the library and a discussion with the librarian could result in the discovery of some good books. We could even park ourselves in front of some of the outdoor shows on television.

Unfortunately, the fresh air and exercise that outdoor activities are known for will be completely lacking. And “couch potatoes” seldom enjoy good meals of fish and game that those activities provide.

But back to books for a minute. And back to discussions with librarians. To get those discussions off to a productive start, ask them about books by Patrick F. McManus or Roland Cheek. The former has written some ten or twelve collections of short stories that are so humorous that you might just forget about El Nino and what other phenomenon got us into the winterless mess. And Cheek, a guide gone writer, turns his adventures in the Rockie Mountains into page turning thrillers where you learn about bears and elk and the mountains.

“Learning to Talk Bear” is one I would suggest, although there are at least three others that will stir your imagination and perhaps start you packing for a trip into Cheek’s mountains.

Now back to the fresh air and exercise I mentioned earlier. An outside job I can’t seem to get excited about is as close as my backyard. A storm came through my property about a month ago and downed about half of the willow on the corner of my property. As I said, I can’t get excited about removing it but I’d really like to see it removed. So the first fellow with a pickup truck and a sharp chainsaw who wants to remove it—be my guest! You can even have the wood for your fireplace, although I need to warn you that willow isn’t the best of firewood.

But enough of this mostly “tongue-in-cheek” collection of suggestions on how to pass a warm winter. Check out your den, garage and basement and I’ll bet you can find a dozen or so little jobs that have needed doing for a long time. Rods needing new line, tackle boxes needing sorting, guns needing a “good” cleaning, you know! Only if you’re getting ready to cut up my tree can you be excused from these tasks.

O.K. Let’s get busy with something that will take our minds off this crazy season and maybe we’ll find something more interesting to talk about next time!