Winter isn't as dreary with a dose of vitamin D

It seems like the month of January was very long and very cold this year. The temperature has been dropping down to the teens at night and up to the 40s and 50s during the day time. And I'm getting crabby. I decided to lie down outside on the south side of our deck and see if that will help. We all need some time in the sunshine, even during the winter. But how much time? If you spend a lot of time in the sun you may think that you're getting more than enough vitamin D because we wear clothes, and perhaps just 10 percent of our needed vitamin D comes from the sun.

Doctors say that the sun's skin-wrinkling is strongest at high altitudes where the air is thinner, like here in Fish Springs where the elevation is 5,200 feet. Skin cancers can certainly be a serious problem and we also need to slather on lots of sunscreen to protect us in fighting wrinkles. To be most effective, sunscreens should be applied to the skin at least a half hour before going outside.    

So I thought all this over and decided to take a short nap but it was still too cold outside even with the sun shining. I put a blanket down next to a bottle of water and tried to get comfortable. I was only there a few minutes before a loud noise started coming my way. It was the Care Flight helicopter and it rumbled right above me. Then a small white airplane came flying very low over me also. To top it all off, a pair of striking golden eagles circled above me over and over again. There was no noise at all and it was really great to watch them.

That might have been the same spectacular pair of golden eagles that many residents of Fish Springs saw last winter. I guess winter isn't as dreary after all, and I'm not crabby anymore.

Oops! I just saw another problem with winter. Last Sunday our garage door opener broke and our car was locked inside the garage. Luckily our diesel truck was parked outside so we had transportation to town and made it to church on time. The only thing, the passenger door of the truck was completely covered with ice and the door would not close at all. I had to pull on it all the way to church.

n Linda Monohan may be reached at

782-5802.