Negative 25. It’s a lovely thing to see when you step on the scales or receive an invoice with a credit balance or view your opponent’s point total. It’s considerably less charming to see that figure on the thermometer just before daybreak on a February morning, as I did today.
Negative 25 is the kind of thing it’s hard to shake loose of but I’m determined not to let that number take over my day. It helped, a little, to be reminded that here at Farm Collector, the staff is just days away from putting the May issue into production. May! “Think of that,” our artist crowed cheerily. “We’re almost half done with this year.” Brave words but cold — very cold — comfort.
May. I tried to remember what May meant. In past lifetimes, the mower would be back to work on a regular basis in May, which would mean that the grass would be green then. Call me skeptical — shoot, call me Nanook: I feel like an Eskimo — but I’m not convinced this frozen wasteland will be thawed by May.
Then my glance fell onto a copy of the 2014 Farm Collector Show Directory, just exactly what the doctor ordered. Tripping over my snow boots in a rush to get it in my hands, I fanned the pages and took in the galaxy of old iron shows offered in the U.S. this year.
The book took on a life of it’s own. Pages opened as if guided by an invisible hand to Arizona, Florida, California, Texas. I weighed the odds of successfully convincing the boss of the critically urgent need to attend a show in the Sunbelt, ideally in the next week. I pictured palm trees, cactus, convertibles.
Then I regained my senses. Negative 25 tends to keep a girl grounded in reality. Still, I got more than a few good ideas during that perusal of the directory; I folded down corners of pages, began planning itineraries. Sooner or later, this bear of a winter will inevitably draw to a close and it’ll be time to hit the road. Get your hands on a copy of the Show Directory and pick a few “don’t miss” shows. Maybe we’ll see you at one! FC