What’s the buzz?

 What’s the Buzz?

Since it’s not bee season and there are no electric razors in the immediate vicinity and atmospheric conditions provided a long awaited opportunity the most likely origin of the sound that starts just before dawn and lingers well after the moon emerges —what the heck..let’s get to the point it’s snowmobile season.  The buzz?  Well it’s not the vintage 1901 steam-powered log puller that started this craze or the long-forgotten experimental Model T equipped with skis and a propeller.  It’s probably not a classic antique that weighed about half a ton and topped out at 20mph.  It is mostly a herd of two and four stroke  one or two passenger sleds sporting a 2 or 4 stroke engine and maybe an electric engine (but not likely around here)…. It’s a sleek machine with a fast response track and independent front suspension and the people who ride them  happily claim they are freedom machines leading to a feeling of speed and excitement in the quiet of nature.  

Well… we have no real ground covered with snow or not to stand on to dispute what most snowmobile riders might perceive, however, the data would suggest only some are freed by this winter sled like 7 out of 8 riders are male and most have some disposable income as owning and using these things costs an average of somewhere between $300 and $350 per month and over half the time guys with a little extra cash are hauling them somewhere  just to be able to ride.  Conclusion —freedom in the form of your Polaris, Yamaha, or Ski-doo isn’t for everyone and isn’t really free.  Oh and as a side note while this blog treats some syntax principles very loosely it should be noted that sometimes punctuation and spelling have significant and meaningful implications.  For example “ski-Doo” is one of the largest names in recreational craft  on water and snow… however the intended name was “Ski-Dog” but this mistake slipped through the editing process which smelled like doo  dog dog?   Oh this serves as such a reminder of how nuts English as a language has become.  How hard is it to avoid terrible mistakes?  Well let’s just say there is a fairly significant difference between  man’s laughter  and manslaughter as claimed by the apostrophe  and the precisely placed space.  

Now back to the buzz and what it might mean in the seeking peace and joy universe

Winter weather often represents a barrier to freedom and so do thoughts and routines that impact one’s ability to fully engage in change… so maybe people need to fight against such barriers?  If so the buzz is a happy sound.  Maybe the riders feel like they are in control of their lives and can conquer nature and will go to extraordinary lengths to prove it… and learn that such efforts are very costly and perhaps when one tries to conquer nature instead of honoring it’s cycles seeking peace and joy out of context might just be costly?  Then the buzz becomes a reminder that sometimes are efforts to conquer nature  only leaves us with a buzzing in our heads that is not particularly pleasant to anyone  after a while?  

On the other hand maybe some of the sled jockeys stop from time to time and take in the beauty of the land, smile at the sunlight shining on a newly coated winters cape and realize that we all spend a lot of time just skimming the surface  without daring to know what lies beneath?    

There is some fear that many sledders just go around and around on the same path and only worry about how fast they might be able to go while in the end they really didn’t see much or go far and maybe it’s important to ask what was their buzz worth?  And by extension maybe seeking peace and joy usually requires asking what’s the buzz and what is it worth?  

Stay safe