<VV> The end of Corvair season--minimal Corvair

[Norman C. Witte]

I had a great summer working on my Corvair, but winter has definitely come
to mid-Michigan.  With blowing snow and temperatures in the 20's, there's no
point in kidding myself anymore.  It's almost comical how every year when
the first snowfall hits there are some people whose memories are apparently
only three months long.  They race along on the freeway just like it was 70
degrees out and clog the overpasses with their fender benders. I guess it
gives the body shops something to do.  I just tip-toe past them.  Slow and
steady, that'd be me.

Last night I got home from the office at about 6:30 p.m., though it feels
much later, as dark as it gets.  I had procrastinated long enough on getting
my camper ready for winter.  I got the antifreeze my wife had picked up at
Meijer out of the back of the Suburban and headed up to the barn.  Found my
funnel, my hose and my trouble light and went behind the barn where the
camper is parked.  In all these years I have never winterized my camper on
one of those warm Indian summer days.  It's a deed always done in the dark,
with the cold wind howling.  I suppose better planning would solve this
problem, but it seems better, somehow, to do it this way.  Kinda like
stretching before you jog--time to get used to the discomforts of winter.
It'll be a long time until spring.

When I fiinshed with the camper I went in the barn and disconnected the
battery to the '63 Olds.  The on-board trickle chargers on both Corvairs
were already plugged in.  The Firebird was still unplugged, but because
Joy's Suburban was in for recall work I drove the Firebird yesterday so that
she could use my Suburban to haul kids.  Hopefully I will have a chance to
sneak the FIrebird out and wash it before it gets put to sleep. I probably
should get a few boxes of D-Con to put around.

I dug around and found the snow scraper that I had taken out of the Suburban
last spring.  I'm going to need that.  I spent a few more minutes just
looking at the Corvairs and thinking about the projects I had finished over
the last year and work that remains unfinished.  Closing the door was like
saying goodbye to some old friends.

I walked down to the house looking and the iron gray sky, snow scraper in
hand.  Snow was accumulating on the ground now and continuing to fall.  I
wondered why on earth I would chose to live in such an unfriendly climate.
No matter; it's not going to change.  I'll build models with the boys over
the winter.  Sometime in March a warm day will come and I will pull the toys
out of the barn.  That first day with the top down will feel like nothing
else on this earth.  I don't know if that makes trudging through the winter
worth it, but it is some compensation.  I don't imagine all that many people
in Southern California really appreciate how incredible it is to go outside
without a coat on and actually be -- comfortable.

I'll enjoy the winter because it is part of my life.  This is my home, and
if it means that some of my hobbies have to rest for part of the year, so be
it.  I don't think I'll ever more away from Michigan, so enjoying the winter
is a choice I make.  To choose otherwise is to choose to live half my life
in unhappiness, and that is one state I would prefer not to visit.

I had a great summer working on my Corvair, but winter has definitely come
to mid-Michigan.

Norm Witte