While another foot of snow falls on the Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters, (I’ve got a date with a snowblower as soon as this is written), other fly fishermen are posting pictures of great big mayflies and talking about the joys of spring fly fishing, and at times, it can make you question your decision to live in the mountains.

Spring comes late up here, a fact that was made abundantly clear when I was putting down lots of miles on the road bike.

Some of us would show up at the early season rides all pasty white – proud of the few miles we’d gotten in under cold/wet/snowy conditions – while the Central Valley riders were tanned and looked like they hadn’t taken so much as a week off (they hadn’t).

The payoff for mountain folks comes later in the year, when it’s 110+ in the Central Valley yet comfortable up here (even cool due to the altitude).

And yes, let’s face it; the real payoff for fly fishermen comes as soon as the trout streams are fishable (due to the end of the runoff or legal fiat, whichever comes first).

Fly fishing’s diversified a lot over the last decade, and trout can no longer claim sole occupancy of the Most Desirable Species category (a good thing), but if you fish for the experience as much as fish, then you have to admit that trout still occupy some of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Even with a lot of cold, wet snow removal in my immediate future, simply typing that makes me feel better.

Speaking of Feeling Better

For a while, I occupied the same medical niche as that old guy shuffling around the mall – the one who scowled whenever kids got too close because they weren’t careful enough and he was fragile, dammit.

Today, the sack of medicine and unpleasant gurgling are both behind me, and there’s even some hope on the work front.

In a week or two, we finally launch that big new website (correction: new Online Presence) for an organization a lot of the Undergrounders know, and though a couple of smaller projects are hiding behind that one big tree, it’s clear there may just be some… (wait for it…) writing time in my future.

Gasp.

A lot of things have deserted me this winter; my health, reasonable workloads, (at times) my sense of humor, and any semblance of time to write.

Right now, the snowblower is calling and a website needs trimming and Little Meski is waking up, but as I’ve noted in the past, fly fishermen subsist largely on vitamins and hope.

More on this later (when I’ve got time).

See you at the keyboard, Tom Chandler.

Important Photographic Update

broken snow shovel

Yeah, you could say the snow was heavy.

 

Posted in Writing.