Lockes Mills

A well-deserved pat on the back to our Greenwood road crew who worked tirelessly last week to keep our roads plowed, sanded, and as safe as possible.

The Greenwood Fire Department is giving a big present to Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico. The school will be receiving a white fire truck from us. Originally given to Greenwood by the Hope, Maryland, fire department, we have replaced it. Region 9 has a high school-level Firefighter 1 course, and they will be able to use the white one to train students taking this course. That truck is still at our fire station but will eventually go to Region 9.

The Greenwood Selectmen met last week and decided they will not pay double-time on holidays to the firefighters. If the station is staffed on a holiday, firefighters will receive straight time. At their previous meeting, Selectmen discussed the fact that for the last two years all fire departments across the State have been expected to pick up traffic control duties at emergencies. As Town Manager Kim Sparks said, “It is one more thing that is being pushed on us.” Our property taxes, and those of all other towns, appear to be helping to balance the State budget. A little food for thought there.

Dan Gibbs of Bethel bought the 1980 fire truck with a $3,800 bid. That money will go back to the fire department account.

The Town Office will be open until 4 p.m. Dec. 31 and closed New Year's Day.

The Greenwood Planning Board will be meeting only once a month until the spring.

If you enjoy winter hiking or snowshoeing, remember that the trails at Maggie's Nature Park along the Greenwood Road are a good place to go. We now have about two minutes more daylight since the solstice last week, and it's a good time to be outside. As my grandmother and my mother always said, “Go outside, get some fresh air, and blow the stink off.”

While not as pithy as the women in my family, Garrison Keillor has the following quote about winter. “Growing up in a place that has winter, you learn to avoid self-pity. Winter is not a personal experience, everybody else is as cold as you, so you shouldn't complain about it too much. You learn this as a kid, coming home crying from the cold and Mother looks down and says, 'It's only a little frostbite. You're okay.' And thus you learn to be okay.”

It's folksy and cute and goes well on a coffee cup, but it romanticizes the image of the hardy Northerner just a bit. Winter certainly controls our lives with the cold, the weather, the expense, the danger, the darkness, the driving and walking conditions. We seem to accept it and get along. And, we complain about it with either too little or too much snow and then proceed to compare it to winters of the past. Maybe the complaining is another pastime to help us get through the present winter as well as revisit winters of old. Sorry, Garrison, I think we need to complain!

Next year you can send news to me at 3taichi6@gmail.com