Motivation - Springtime

Well, the batteries are low. I think I'm coming down with a flu. And it's spring, the season of mud. Most people forget that part. The robins have returned from the deep woods. I've been seeing them all this past week. They aren't the true harbingers of spring, though. Red-winged black birds are. And I think I heard one the other day.

The sap is flowing, another sign of Spring. For those people who don't know, maple syrup comes from trees, not molasses. I don't think this year is going to be a good one. The freeze was late, and not very long (only about a month and a half). The warm up weather has been wonky. For good maple syrup you need days above freezing and nights below freezing. You need about a months worth of them, while you're capturing the sap. I think we had a weeks worth. The weather just hasn't cooperated and I don't think the sap is sugary enough (about 40-60 gallons of sap will make a gallon of syrup). Well, we will find out soon. Chardon will have it's Maple Festival soon.

However, this is the time I get reminded about my first goal in professional writing. It's not to get published by paying markets (well, there is that goal). The first goal is to have earned enough to buy a new motorcycle. Yes, I ride bikes. It's something you either like or you don't, I happen to like it. The bike currently in the garage won't zoom zoom. It needs more help than I can (or want to) give it. A good new bike starts at around $5,500. And this is the time of year people bring out their bikes and invoke intense yearnings in those of us who can't be out there with them. It's not a coveting kind of thing, I don't want that person's bike. I want my own. This year has been bad for me. People were riding in December, and I've seen them on the roads since the beginning of March. Torture, just plain torture to see another person riding when you're stuck in a car.