Waiting for winter; Shopping and swapping for skis

We had a good run this season. Now its time to replenish the soil with natural fertilizer

My majestic elm trees are bare, but their leaves live on in my garden.

AUBURN, Maine — I want to thank November for being so kind to us the last couple of days. For people who enjoy the outdoors, the warm sun was a welcome sight.

We should count our lucky stars in Maine. We didn't experience the brunt of Hurricane Sandy and last week's Nor'easter produced only a dusting of snow that melted in a cold rain that same day.

November is a bipolar month. When it comes to warm and cold weather, November can go either way without a day's notice. 

Veterans Day was cloudy but warm on Sunday. Monday turned out to be bright and warmer. But I know what lies ahead, and there won't be a day at the beach until May.

I have seen Thanksgivings so cold that the skin on my face felt like a sheet of ice. And then there are those rare Thanksgivings when all you needed was a sweater to watch a Turkey Day football game at Paul Revere Stadium in Revere, Mass.

But I will give thanks to two spectacular days for giving me the opportunity to vacuum up the leaves with my Craftsman-built lawnmower and get the garden ready for next season.

I will never understand homeowners who spend days raking leaves when all you really have to do is mulch the stuff with a good lawnmower. Your lawn will appreciate it.

Cutting the lawn one more time meant I could cover and preserve the topsoil in the garden with mulched leaves and grass clippings. The winter will take care of all this mulch, pulverizing it into a sloppy mess over the course of the next five months. 

All this slop adds up to free fertilizer, courtesy of Mother Nature, who is a woman only a  gardener could love.

Shop and swap

Buying skis is a big-bucks purchase. It is right up there with buying a refrigerator or washer. 

My son, Anthony, is a ski patroller at Lost Valley in Auburn. I am proud of him and I like the company he keeps on the slopes. This select group of skiers are responsible for making sure all skiers are safe on the mountain.

Of course, I am on a budget. And the economy still resembles the aftermath of being hit by tsunami. So there's not a lot of cash on hand.

But despite our finances, Anthony still needed skis. We turned to the Auburn Ski Association's Ski Swap, which was held at Auburn Middle School on Sunday. We figured the Swap might just prevent us from taking a third mortgage on the house.

It was packed with skiers looking for a good deal. I had my check book in my hand as I prayed for a  bargain to come my way.

It did!

From out of the blue came Bob Sullivan — avid skier and all-around nice guy with the patience of a saint.

Mr. Sullivan has the knowledge of Olympian Jean-Claude Killy when it comes to ski equipment.

He found us skis, poles, boots and gloves ($212.00 total) we could afford, allowing us to outfit Anthony without forcing us to turn to a life of crime. We also sold a pair of skis for $57.00 at the Swap, knocking down our bill.

We live in difficult times, but Mr. Sullivan made it easier for this family of three to swing such a big purchase.

His help will keep Anthony on the slopes and us out of the poor house.

Thank you, sir.

Hitting the slopes

 

"Skiing is a dance, and the mountain always leads." 

                                                                 Author Unknown

AUBURN, Maine — He's tried his hand at baseball, kicked around a soccer ball, ran track one summer, swam miles in an Olympic-size pool without drowning, but when my son slipped on a pair of skis and raced down white powdery slopes, he found another passion in the dead of winter on a wind-swept, snow-covered mountain.

Where did I go wrong!

Who would have figured my lanky 14 year old would rather barrel down the side of a frigid mountain than play catch or toss around the old pigskin with his dear-old dad.

Just what the heck happened here, anyway? He is about to become a ski bum. Fellow skiers will start calling him DUDE! I will continue to address him as Anthony even though he is joining the high-flyin' clan at Dude World.

He had to go and choose one of the most expensive outdoor sports, where snow, wind and cold wreak havoc on a soul. Paying for swimming lessons is like a drop in the bucket compared to buying a season pass and skis. I am a cash-strapped dad who will need to apply for a second mortgage on my house to pay for his need for speed on winter-whipped days. Track and swimming require shorts, sneakers and goggles. All you need for baseball is a glove, ball and bat. Soccer is easy on the wallet, too.

Most sane people remain indoors when Old Man Winter gets his dander up, but my son ignores Arctic blasts from Canada and heads up the mountain despite bone-chilling cold and falling snow. He is like "Jeremiah Johnson" and "Grizzly Adams" all rolled into one when it comes to the Great Outdoors - and I love him for his tenacity when it comes to his love of nature.

I watch from the huge windows at Lost Valley as he waves from the lift. My heart is my mouth when he takes that slow ride to the top. We both understand there is a great deal of risk that comes with gliding through the snow on a pair of skis. There is danger in this sport, and people have been injured on the slopes around the world.

I worry, but I am so damn proud of him. I believe it takes a certain amount of courage and insanity to speed down a mountain on two narrow skis. 


Just standing on skis without crashing to the ground is an accomplishment for me.

But how can I say no to an honor student who prefers books to video games and the vast wasteland of television. I would rather see him doing laps in a warm pool. Watching him whizzing around snow-packed slopes on cold winter days gives me the chills.

I know he still enjoys swimming, but skiing is now a part of his life, and I would rather see him criss-cross the slopes than have a joy stick in his lap and eyes trained on a video game. There is also a risk when a precious child spends hours in front of a computer monitor and ignores his parents and the outdoors.

I am betting the entire family will become nomads in the winter, spending a lot of time at lodges around Maine next season. But while he skis, I will be traipsing around the base of the mountain on snowshoes.

I can't let him have all the fun - and snowshoeing will help me keep my mind off my son as he traverses the snowy slopes.