I GOT A FEVER!!!!!

This is a hard time of year for me. Oh its nothing personal or anything, but March can bring out some of the worst of me. Winter has been dragging on and on for what seems like forever. There hasn't been any waterfowl hunting for awhile now.  The days are getting a little longer, but that only makes it worse. Sure, sure there are some really nice days. Temps sometimes hit the high fiftys, low sixtys but again that  just makes it harder. For what you say? Well if you have spent any time in the outdoors you know exactly what I am talking about. You won't find it mentioned in any medical journal. And you can't take any"magic" pills to make it go away. But it's real. And it's nasty! CABIN FEVER! Oh yeah, I said it. CABIN FEVER. It's one of the worst diseases in the known world. Well ok that might be a bit of an exaggeration. I mean sure you can't die from it. But it sure feels like it sometimes. Now I don't live in the great white north. So for me here in eastern Colorado, the winters are fairly mild. But when cabin fever sets in, it can feel like I live in Antartica. I mean it never fails--Monday thru Friday it will feel like spring, it will look like spring, it will smell like spring. SATURDAY and SUNDAY snow, wind, cold temps, and well you get it. But today was different. It's a Friday, and you guessed it - the weather outside was amazing. But the best part was that by some strange series of events I was able to get off work early by nearly half an hour. Now I know that doesn't seem like much. It's not much. But that very small window of time gave me something I desperatly needed. A miracle. A magic pill, if you will. There were hundreds of ducks to be seen, canada geese, snow geese. Thousands of sand hill cranes flying overhead. All preparing for something us humans can barley even comprehend, something that has been  ingrained in them for millions of years. Change! And as I stood there, hands still dripping 50 degree lakewater softly pinching a size 16 elk hair caddis fly between two fingers and gently  holding on to a 10 inch rainbow trout in the other hand, I knew I was cured. I was going to be ok. And after returning the fish to the water and packing up my things a sense of calm I haven't felt in what seems like a millenia (or at least the last month) swept over me. Then it was off to pick up the kids at daycare, grab a sixer of cold ones, and head home to be with my family. A perfect and successful fishing trip all within 5 minutes of my front door. That's happiness you can't buy. Oh and by the way, there is snow in the forcast tonight. F@$%ing March.