Dalton Roberts, Commentary

The first night winter walks through my walls and stakes a claim to every square inch of my house, I start thinking about what I am going to do to get through it with some small degree of aplomb.

Last winter I wrote a column on how I hate winter. It was good to just get it out and say it. Two great psychologists, Sigmund Freud and my personal counselor, Ziggman Frogg, both say that of all the psychological defense mechanisms, denial is the worst. I guess that’s because we must first admit something to consciousness before we can begin to deal with it.

I was in denial for years. I even wrote a column for Tennessee Town and City titled “I Love Winter in Tennessee.” I wish I could blame it on the liquor, but George Dickel and I had already parted company when I told that lie. Let’s see, I think that was about the time I was in a car wreck and took a hard blow to my head. I remember now. That explains it.

There was a dab or two of truth in that column. I do love the naked trees when all the leaves are gone. After a freezing rain they are starkly beautiful with thousands of icicles reflecting the sun.

I love cleaning out my birdhouses so they will be ready for inspection when bird hormones start perking up in March. I have noticed that bluebirds and chickadees check out houses throughout winter. Just last week, two bluebirds soundly checked out one of my boxes. Fortunately I had removed last year’s nests from it. In that box I saw a chickadee couple and two bluebird couples raise families last spring and summer.

When you clean out your boxes, be sure to put a teaspoonful of sulphur in the bottom. Mites are a big problem for all birds and the sulphur will take care of the mites. Mites can actually kill baby birds. You can get a little bottle of sulphur for just a few bucks at drug or hardware stores.

Another reward of winter is a sharp increase in bird populations in your feeding area. Diversify your feeding program by adding suet and shelled peanuts. The fat helps them brave the cold winter days. I only have a small safflower/sunflower feeder in the summer but I add a large sunflower feeder in wintertime.

My body has never liked real cold weather, and it was a happy day when I quit acting like a heman and bought myself some insulated underwear.

Al Harvey once told me, “For many winters I wore shortsleeved shirts in cold weather, but I have now chickened out on the elements.” I, too, chickened out and discovered that insulated underwear and socks enable me to continue some of my favorite activities through the winter like walks on the Tennessee Riverwalk and feeding the ducks at the Chickamauga Lake boat dock. Those are two things I often cannot do in the extreme heat of summer.

My old Indian buddy, New Moon Crowe, has called me “Rainwalker” since learning how much I love walking in the rain. With long handles and warm socks, that yellow plastic rain-walking outfit is perfectly comfortable on the coldest days of the year. This year I think I’ll add a face mask and goggles to break the wind away from my eyes. Each winter gives us a chance to improve on our program of learning to maximize our enjoyment of the season.

About all you can grow in a garden in the winter are greens and lettuces. What is more delicious on a cold winter day than a salad of mixed lettuces? I am told that an Earth Box enables one to grow lettuce all winter. I have two to try out.

Keep your fingers crossed. This may be our best winter ever.

E-mail Dalton Roberts at

DownhomeP@aol.com

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