Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Late winter musings

Cabin fever is real.

Call it what you want--Seasonal affective disorder, cabin fever, claustrophobia, the Yips--anyway to looks at it, this is a real, palpable affliction.

I'm not sure if you live in Arizona, or Texas or Florida if it's quite the same, but here in Nebraska I get up in the morning, look at my pale, hollow face and groan. Just like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day" it's the same face, the same groan and the same sick feeling.

When I was a teenager I wasn't aware enough to understand what was happening. My fall GPA was 4.0 and my spring GPA was a little closer to 3.0. I even remember one year in undergraduate seeing a spring report with a first number that looked suspiciously like a two.

Not pretty.

When I got older I heard of a mysterious illness called S.A.D., or seasonal affective disorder. It read something like this.

"Seasonal Affective Disorder is the body's reaction to long nights, short photoperiods and lack of essential vitamins one derives from the sun that leads people to feel down or depressed".

To me it might as well have read "Blah, blah, blah...you got the blahs".

It didn't ring scientifically true that a person's psyche could be so affected by a little old lack of sunlight. But there I was, feeling like crap, and looking at another empty half-gallon tub of butter brickle ice cream.

So I did what any reasonable Cornhusker native would do.

I took up ice fishing.

I went out and bought all the gear. I did my homework on good spots, and I used due diligence to research the sport. I hooked up with some buddies who did this kind of thing a lot.

But a funny thing happened on the way to my cure.

I realized I don't really like ice fishing.

I enjoyed being with my friends. I enjoyed catching fish when the action was good. I enjoyed the fish frys that often followed the excursions.

But I didn't really like ice fishing.

For the next twenty years I made the obligatory trips. I even mixed in some regular trips to the grassy hills and ditches to walk after pheasants. I was getting outdoors, but I still wished I lived further south where I could fish in the open water.

So this year, with a huge business deal in the works, I realized I didn't have time to go ice fishing.

Or go outdoors at all for that matter.

Life was too hectic, and since I didn't want to get on the ice, or march after upland game I stayed inside.

Now another funny thing happened.

I got sick four times in four months. I hadn't been sick four times in the last five years total! Not only did I get sick, but that cruddy depressed feeling I got when I was a teenager came back in full force. I gained 25 pounds. My complexion, which had been fine for a couple of decades suddenly returned to pubertal levels. I crankily scolded my wife for things she didn't even do. I walked around the house like a bear on a xanax and caffeine binge.

It wasn't pretty.

So what did I learn?

Well, for one thing, maybe I'd better get outside soon. It still hasn't happened, but I called my friend James in Texas and begged him to put my family up for a couple of days.

He said yes.

Just moments ago I got on an internet weather site. It read, "Dallas, next week mid 70's"

The first little good feeling I've had in 15 weeks crept up and tickled my brain stem...

Bruce, I know what you speak of...get thee to the sun.

Bruce,

For me with each passing dreary, frigid day the BLAHS just get alittle more intense. Luv my horses but the chopping of ice in the water tanks, fighting with frozen gates & slugging hay bales....ready to pack up the critters & move anywhere where the temp. doesn't get below 60 degrees. I have so many layers of clothes that I look like the Marshmellow Guy from Ghostbusters. & that's when I'm in the house.
I CAN take the sunshine & heat.....I was sent overseas to a desert location (Afghan) where it avg. 120 degrees, we did top out at 140 degrees. I did just FINE. It's been coming back to our winters that has kicked my butt.

Wishing you lots of warm breezes & sunshine. ENJOY!

Mrs. Mongo

Florida, Hawaii, the Caribbean? A week of warmth and sun does the body good!

Bruce,The weather is supposed to hit the 80's next week.Your more than welcome to come visit.You dont even have to wear your pink hat if you dont want to.

LOL!

So where is Dawson anyway? Texas is bigger than Europe.

Its about 80 miles south of Dallas,or 35 miles east of Waco(WHACKO to the locals).

Key is to keep excersising during the winter.

Snap out of it Freak!

Play some more guitar. Learn some more of those Elton John hits you've been dreaming about while wearing your pink hat.

More snow in the forecast for Pittsburgh with sub 20 F temps. Great......

Better than Europe, too.

Mrs. M, you need to start using your own login handle. I had this mental image of Dave all bundled up like a giant Michelin man, and it turned out to be all for naught once I saw your signature.

We get entirely too sick of doing horse & cattle chores in codl weather, too.

P.S. Have you ever tried tank heaters? If electric is available, they can save hours of ice chopping per day.

Bruce,

I don't want to sound like a holistic medacine advocate but, take some Cod Liver oil. It has lots of vitamin D which will help improve your mood and your immune system in the winter. Also, Your right with the getting outside thing. It helps me. I started hunting last year just for something to do outside. I even thought about taking up ice fishing this year but never got around to it. Ice fishing realy doesn't sound that apealing to me but at least I would be outside and hopefully catching fish.

Spring is right around the corner just hang in there for about 3-5 more weeks.

Bruce, Get your mind right by recalling that you are alive and that is the MAIN thing!

I have found that Beer makes you feel better for a while.

I know your pain - I have the same disorder. When I lived in NC I just couldn't WAIT for spring! Spring was my favorite time of year. You couldn't catch me in class on a beautiful spring day - I would truely get spring fever! The best cure is to move to Florida where the winter is the best time of the year - it is like spring down here from November through April. I have a mild relapse once in a while if we go for a few days of cloudy rainy weather with no sunshine, but those days are rare. Enjoy your trip down to Texas and before you know it, the daffodils will be popping up and the sun will be shining!

My wife hates it when I say this but, "It could be worse!" Can you imagine going to your ice shanty and finding this?

Looks cozy warm! HAHA Looks like my deer stand one day in the late season...

OK Bruce, I may have been too harsh with that "get your mind right" comment. I don't think so, though!

I feel for you Bruce, and everyone else in the cold weather. Come visit anytime - except July. I have no concept of why people live in the cold. It's nice to visit.

If you visit me in July/August you'll understand why people live up north.

Everyone around me gets sick all winter long! Wife, kids, friends, family. The only time I ever get "sick" is during the second and third weekends in March- "March Madness" I have never been to school or work on those days!

Good to hear relief from the winter blues is on the way Bruce! Get some good photos and take a trip to Overtons if its not too far.

If you go to see Todd,Im only 20 minutes off 45.Your welcome to stop by.

Thank you for the offer. That's super generous.

Looks like we're going to be going straight to Dallas to spend about 40 hours with a pondmeister supremo.

If you get the itch to head even further south, you can come see tilapia overwintering.

We've never had a fishing legend on site before. You could be the first, Bruce!

You know, this is one of the few places in the world where that phrase doesn't sound about as interesting as watching the paint dry, the grass die, or the bread rise.

...legend in my own mind.

a buddy sent me an e-mail full of interesting quotes:

for your late winter musing...

"My favorite CRYPTOQUOTES (Solved from the Argus Newspaper) by Gerald Temple



1) Civilization will really start when the Power of Love replaces the Love of Power. Source Unknown, 1-31-09


2) The Art of Living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. Bernard M. Karuch, 5-24-08

3) Some people think that it is holding on that makes one strong.
Sometimes it’s letting go. Sylvia Robinson, 8-25-08

4) Never cherish the worries that you meet each day. For the better you treat them, the longer they stay. Source Obscure, 3-10-08

5) The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory. Paul Fix, 4-28-08

6) The best time to hold your tongue is the time when you fell you must say something or bust. Josh Billings, 4-24-08

7) The one person that has more illusions than the Dreamer is the Man of Action. Oscar Wilde, 4-23-08

8) You cannot depend on you eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark Twain, 4-22-08

9) What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child. George Bernard Shaw, 4-16-08

10) The wonderful thing bout a theory is that any fool can propose one. Gary b. Wright, 4-17-08

11) Improve your spare moments and they will become the brightest gems in your life. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 4-9-08

12) You cannot push a man up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself. Andrew Carnegie, 4-7-08

13) Happiness is not a matter of Intensity but of Balance, Order, Rhythm and Harmony. Thomas Merton, 4-10-08

14) You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. Galileo Galilei, 5-1-08

15) Let us not go over old ground; let us rather prepare for what is to come. Cicero, 5-19-08

16) The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life. William James, 5-29-08

17) Happiness often sneaks through a door you didn’t know you left open. John Barrymore, 5-26-08

18)You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends. Joseph Conrad, 6-3-08

19) Life is like a cash register in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale is registered and recorded. Fulton Sheen, 6-10-08

20) Never give a party if you will be the most interesting person there. Mickey Friedman, 6-24-08

21) Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness. Chinese Proverb, 17-08

22) The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. Fran Lebowitz, 7-1-08

23) Stopping at third base adds no more to the score than striking out. E. Joseph Cossman, 7-15-08

24) A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. Arnold Glasow, 7-16-08

25) The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it. John Ruskin, 7-17-08

26) Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway. John Wayne, 6-26-08

27) To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life. Robert L. Stevenson, 7-21-08

28) Drive in banks were invented so that automobiles could visit their real owners. Anonymous, 7-23-08

29) Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully for its hidden assets. Michael Korda, 7-26-08

30) Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up. G.K. Chesterton, 8-5-08

31) It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them. Mark Twain, 8-7-08

32) What a lot of people are saving for a rainy day is somebody else’s umbrella. Caroline Clark, 8-12-08

33) The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. Elizabeth Foley, 8-13-08

34) You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time. Charles F. Kettering, 8-2-08

35) Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. Albert Einstein, 4-29-08

36) The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein, 5-27-08