TheBanyanTree: Cabin Fever

[Margaret R. Kramer]

After two weekends being cooped up in the house because of Storm 1 and Storm
2, it was great to have a sunny, blue sky, almost 50 degrees Fahrenheit day
yesterday, and it will be again today, and for most of the upcoming week.
Axel the beagle is able to roam around his backyard again without drowning
in snow drifts.  Those piles of snow should be almost gone by next weekend.

March is a funny time of year for Minnesotans, because it’s not really
spring, we just think it is.  The ground is still frozen.  It still gets
below freezing at night.  We’ve gone on daylight saving time early, so we’ll
really going to get antsy.  And the NCAA Tournament selection show is this
evening and we’ll begin our annual March  tradition of watching hours and
hours of men’s (and women’s, too) basketball.  The bright side is that
Minnesotans don’t have to worry about the Gophers (men or women, except the
women have a shot at the NIT) getting into any tournament.  They’re awful
and will continue to be awful for the foreseeable future.

I’ve been fighting off a cold all week – it comes and goes and sometimes I
feel OK and other times I feel sick.  But I couldn’t let that first warm
sunny Saturday pass me by without spending some time outside reveling in it.
I was going to go for a walk by myself, but then decided to stop by the
grandsons’ house and see what they were doing.  I’m rarely spontaneous, I
usually plan every minute of every day, but I have my moments where I just
do something without thinking it through first.

Well, the boys were home, and they certainly were up to getting out of the
house, so off we went.  We stopped at the Humane Society first to look at
dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, a chinchilla, and guinea pigs.  I would love to
get another dog, but I can’t justify the expense right now, so Axel will
have to make do with our cats for friends.  If I had tons of money, the
Humane Society is where a lot of it would go, that’s for sure.  I’ll let
Bill Gates worry about AIDS and stuff like that, certainly worthy causes,
but I would take care of the animals.

Instead of going for a walk, we decided to stop at Como Zoo.  Como Zoo is a
public zoo.  They take donations, but it’s basically free.  It’s not the
best zoo in the world, but it’s come a long way from when I was a little
girl and the animals were kept in small cages.  Over the years, the animals
have been moved into more natural settings.  Como Zoo has lions, tigers,
seals, monkeys, gorillas, birds, bison, giraffes, and other animals.  It’s
open 365 days a year.

Como has added a tropical area which connects to the Conservatory.  The
Conservatory is HUGE and a wonderful place to see tropical plants all year
round.  The Conservatory has a great Japanese garden and also holds a
beautiful Japanese lantern lighting ceremony in the summer.  Nagasaki, Japan
is St. Paul’s sister city.

We didn’t go into the Conservatory, because it’s not a place for boys with
spring fever, but we did enjoy the tropical walk way with its turtles and
exotic fish and a small anaconda.

We ate lunch, and then wandered through the different buildings.  The day
was gorgeous.  We spent most of our time at the polar bear exhibit, as my
youngest grandson, the six year old, is a “polar bear expert.”

I dropped the boys off at their home.  Then I went home to walk Axel, have
dinner, and then collapse on the couch because my cold was acting up again.

Today I’m struggling with the time change, my body is an hour late, but I’m
ready to enjoy another nice day, a teaser of spring.  We still have to get
through the rest of March and then April, too, before spring really comes.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows
cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
~Charles Dickens