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It is mornings like today that convince me that the concept of calendar art must have started in Minnesota.  Today is a “Currier-Ives” kind of winter wonderland. On the drive in I saw a horse pawing at the snow in search of grass to eat.  I do believe that Brown & Bigelow is a Minnesota company.  What city did they start in?

On days like this, when I was a teenager in Upsala, we would look forward to the opportunity to pile into Bob’s old 52 Chevy and head into the Burtrum Hills to test ourselves.  We had shovels in the trunk and lots of muscle with the only goal to try and get through the drifts and race around knowing full well that the Sheriff would not likely be out there.  Maybe we did have a 12 pack, maybe we didn’t.  I am not sure who thought of it, but I remember tying the hood of an old car to the bumper of another and “riding the snow surf” in the ditches.  How we escaped injury or death is a miracle.  We were the original “Dumb and Dumber” gang.  Now we simply try to keep from slipping on the ice and breaking a hip or a wrist.  Remember, if you are a guy over 60, hire someone else to shovel this “widow maker” white stuff.  Also, you should be taking a baby aspirin every day.

This week Live from Here with Chris Thile is back live with a broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Special guests include Dr. Dog, musical duo Ibeyi, and comic Dan Naturman. Tune in on your local public radio station or watch live (Saturday, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Central Time) at www.livefromhere.org

“Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay.  Love is the perfume of that wonderous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with love, earth is heaven, and we are gods.”  Robert Green Ingersoll.