Thin Ice

This is the season of people falling through the ice in Minnesota. On Mondays, I read the weekend's newspapers, looking for items mentioning the monastery, and each of the three papers: Saturday, Sunday and Monday, had small items in the margin of the "Local & State" section about people falling through the ice. They are headlined this way: "Cushing Man Goes through Ice;" "Man Falls through Thin Ice"; "Car Goes through Ice."  The car was actually an accident-- the woman lost control and her car tipped sideways into the lake. Two people came to her rescue.

The other two were not so lucky. One went into the lake, ATV and all, as he was heading to an ice fishing spot. The other, an elderly man, had gotten off his ATV and was walking to an ice fishing spot when he went under.

It is early December, after all. And though we've had some very cold weather, we've also had some not-so-cold weather. For the rest of the week, the paper ran warning stories about thin ice, including a pre-weekend spread with a large graphic that showed how thick ice needs to be to support a: human; b: ATV; c: automobile.

I think it's best to think of Lucy Van Pelt and her declaration that she never eats December snow. Except for ice skating on local shallow ponds, with supervision, it's probably best to stay off the ice until January, even in Minnesota.