And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I have confessed here before my ignorance of the Bible, but one verse has always caused me to wonder about the reference, and that verse comes to mind every winter’s start.

“... and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land” is how it goes. It refers to spring, but I wonder what sort of voice a turtle has. I’ve caught a few, and all I ever heard was a hiss from a large snapper. Or since it deals with spring, does the verse really refer to the turtle dove?

What causes it to come to mind each winter is the sound I heard before rising and looking out the window Saturday morning, when the sound of the snow shovel was heard in our land.

By the time this gets into print, Thanksgiving Day will be over.

I hope the national political tone was muted over the holiday, but I sort of doubt if it was.

In fact, I mused there could have been a conflict when the president, as per custom, pardoned the two turkeys and sent them to safe haven for the rest of their natural lives. Most years, that goes without comment. But in my mind’s eye of possibilities, I could hear Democrats criticizing the president for doing so, on the grounds that since both birds are males, they are more likely to be Republicans, and at least one should have been a female, more likely to be a Democrat.

I had intended to watch the Iowa football team play Illinois Saturday afternoon, and had every reason to expect to be able to do so, since newspaper listings, TV guides and the network itself listed the game.

But at starting time, ESPN said it was showing the Purdue-Wisconsin game.

While that irritated me, I think I understood. That game figured to be a lot more interesting and of greater importance than Iowa versus an Illinois team rated a two touchdown underdog.

As it turned out, that was a correct assumption. Wisconsin and Purdue played a highly contested game, while Iowa’s lopsided victory over Illinois could only have held the interest of Iowa fans.

The good news from the weekend was that former Waukon High School teammates, Parker Hesse at Iowa and Marcus Weymiller of UNI, will both have a postseason game in which to wrap up great college careers.