A Lot Going On, Part 1

Sorry to have been absent so long, but a lot has been going on. A person might think that a small town in the late fall would be a quiet place with people getting ready to hunker down for the winter season. Not so. When November rolls around, Alma, Nebraska, gets crowded.

It's hunting season and it seems like half the state is here in camouflage (or camos, as is the new lingo) to hunt for deer, waterfowl, pheasant, quail, turkey, you name it. The two motels in town have "No Vacancy" signs hung out, which helps to explain why the Super 8 Motel chain is working frantically to finish their newest addition on Highway 183. It is currently set for a January, 2008, opening. This area is regarded as one of the "primo" hunting areas in the state, and the primary hunting season starts in November. Luckily, it's been a mild, if not warm, autumn, so those guys crouched down in the duck blinds at dawn aren't going to freeze to death.

It's been warm enough that my neighbor and I went fishing near the dam and while I got blanked, my neighbor, Steve, got two nice wipers (5 and 8 pounds) and a largemouth bass, not to mention two nice hookups that he lost. I didn't even get a bite. How is it that two people can stand essentially side by side, casting the same lure (silver and blue rattletrap) into the same locations and one gets the fish while the other (yours truly) draws a blank?

Deer season ends tomorrow, November 18, and that is good news for my walking habit. My daughter Eva and I have had to give up using the walkway built by the city because there are too many deer hunters out there and we don't want to run the risk of being a hunting casualty. Like any large group of people, 99% of the hunters are good at what they do and observe the rules of rifle and hunting safety. It's the 1 % who are idiots with guns that we worry about, so we have been meandering through town in the mornings trying to get our walking mileage in. With the season ending tomorrow at midnight, we will be back to our old routine on Monday.

Drop into Bugbee's restaurant at any time of the day and you will find that half the crowd is wearing camos or flourescent caps and vests while they eat their meals and scarf down the coffee. These are the hunters taking a break.

Another breed of hunter here is that of the archers. Archery deer season ended just before the rifle season began, and it was a smashing success. A combination mini-market gas station here is called the "Short Stop", and it is also a deer check-in station for those who have accomplished their mission. When I filled up with gas on the last day of archery season and commented on two deer that were strapped to pickup trucks in the parking area, the lady behind the counter said that they had logged in over 90 deer and one of them was the biggest whitetail deer she had ever seen. That's just one check-in station in one small town. This area draws a lot of people who, by staying at the motels, dining at the various eateries and shopping at the local stores pump a lot of money into the Alma Economy.

In the summer, of course, it is Harlan County Lake that brings people in. It's the second largest lake in Nebraska and the fishing and water sports keep the motels and RV parks reasonably full for the entire summer season. Some people in Lincoln (three hours away) and Omaha (four hours) park their RVs here for the summer and drive down every chance they can find to get away from work.

This is a remarkably busy little place. A cell phone company recently constructed a new tower across Highway 183 from Bugbee's, and companies don't do those kinds of things without market research that says the market here will expand. That gives us two cell phone options in town, now, so we're expecting the competition to produce some reduced monthly plans. Only time will tell.