Countdown to Spring: Into the Wind

Okay, so I took a two-day hiatus before writing again, and for those who were reading my little spring fever love notes last year, I know I never missed a day.  Forgive me for my writer’s freeze – seems a more appropriate term than writer’s block, given the 5°F temperature presently, don’t you think?

Yes, it’s still cold.  And windy.  Let’s talk about windy.  A drafty old house lets in such quick-moving air, so I know it’s windy even before I can look out and watch trees swaying in the breeze like listeners at an outdoor folk music concert.  Take a moment to think about the fact that, given it’s 5°F and the wind is blowing at around 30 MPH, the wind chill factor is around –19°F.  Let it make you feel seriously brrr, then grab something (or someone) warm and move on.  You already know it’s cold and feels colder when the wind blows, and you’re already going to be bundling up against it as best you can.  So, what’s the point of being a slave to knowing wind chill factor?  I went and looked it up just for this entry.  Much as I’m a weather geek from way back, knowing the wind chill factor is right up there with knowing the heat index – not generally required for my existence.  Common sense is more my friend in these instances.

The wind of the last two days has made me think more of kites.  I have two, one a traditional diamond kite, and the other a delta kite that actually pops into shape and collapses back down to fit into its little circular storage bag.  I’ve had both for more than 15 years and neither has seen significant air time.  I seem to lack the skill of getting the kite up and keeping it flying for more than five seconds.  The last few years, I also lacked the supplies.  The spines for the box kite got broken, but they were easy to replace.  Decent kite string eluded me after I lost the one small winder of 25 lb.-test string I had.  Even though you can buy a kite locally, you can’t easily find the supplies to fly it.  But, someone finally gifted me with an online-purchased 1000’ spool of 100 lb.-test kite string last year for my birthday.  But then, I was reminded that I can’t tie kite string so that it stays tied and doesn’t allow the kite off its grounding leash.  You sort of need things like o-rings and tiny carabiners to keep things together and you still need to tie things down right.  Since I didn’t have the money for the accessories and still lacked the skill for knot tying, the kites remained grounded.

But, the lack of funds for the those little kite supplies, the lack of skill for knot tying as well as simply flying those silly bits of fiber, fabric and string has not deterred me.  I still want to get one or both of my kites up in the air and watch it play in the breeze high off the ground under my control.  I learned to tie a decent knot, and also learned of substitutes for the modern-day accessories to keep kite things together.  After all, our ancestors have been flying all manner of kites for centuries and they didn’t have things like plastic spines and carabiners. 

So, my kites are ready to go and go they will.  Am I going to fly either one now?
Are you crazy?  It’s 5°F out there.  Kites are more a March thing.

Well, maybe earlier if weather permits.

Only 28 days until spring.