What a week. In a few days my husband and I will celebrate 21 years of marriage. Where did the time go? I can tell you the symbol of our enduring relationship is on my finger, where it’s been 24/7 since the day we exchanged vows in a eucalyptus grove overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Fond memories of our elopement and the friends we shared it with.
It’s been incredibly cold this past week, with highs around 3-5 degrees and lows between -20 and below with wind chill. What is usually a quick comb of the hair, jacket, shoes (for me) and a leash and ready to go out the door, became much more complicated. Harness, winter coat (for the dog) and Muttluks, paw protectors which she immediately shook off and I raced around to find. It hasn’t been fun for her or for me.
On Thursday it went up to a balmy 13 degrees so we decided we’d all go to the Park before the sun went down. Winter coat for Lulu the dog (above with her birthday gift from another Lulu, a neighbor) but no booties. I took a glove off when we were playing tug with a big stick, got the snow off the stick and flicked my wrist to shake off the snow when, oops, there went my wedding band. It immediately disappeared into the snow.
We looked around to no avail, went home and deliberated alternatives. What would the Goonies kids do? It wasn’t like One-Eyed Willy left a treasure map behind, and retracing our steps was a bust.
My idea was to take a couple of kitchen sieves, because the snow was so cold it was the consistency of sand and we could mark the spot where we were standing and methodically sieve patch after patch until we found the gold ring. That didn’t work either.
Time for stronger measures. Shortly after sun-up, my husband found a solution, a metal detector. We didn’t want to buy one. Renting one could be an option. Then he came across one that we could check out for free at a Public Library ten miles away, if he only went in to renew his library card!
That’s how we became acquainted with The Bounty Hunter, yep, that’s the brand! A quick stop at the drugstore for two D batteries and we were on our way. He measured from the tree (triangulated, of course, he is a physicist by education) turned on The Bounty Hunter, placed it on the snow and got a “beep beep beep. in seconds! I stepped in with my handy scoop and sieve and voilà, my golden wedding band!
So, we got our treasure and everyone lived happily ever after. Starting Monday morning it’ll go all the way up to 20 degrees and during the week it’ll be near 40 so all the ice will melt and we’ll be back to normal. Won’t it be nice to go back to boring walks and perhaps either snow or dry grass (no mud, please) in which to chase a Chuck-It tennis ball with fellow neighbor dogs. Let’s banish the deep freeze and enforced cabin fever for Winter 2023-24. Cheers! Dee
Cooking with Dee 