Nona: I’m bored. What is there to do around here? It’s like the whole village cleaned out and left.

Lonely Larry Dear Larry: It was a little earlier than normal, I agree. It’s an annual phenomenon in these parts. Usually, it waits until the holiday is over, but not with how cold it’s been this winter already.

Most of Lublin relocates for the winter. You’ve heard of snowbirds, those who head to warmer climates for the winter? Not in Lublin. In Lublin, we have “icebirds.” Whole families relocate to the ice of Loch Lublin for the winter.

You should see some of these buildings they construct out on the ice. It puts the Lublin Legacy trailer park to shame.

It’s quite a competition out there. It all started out when Freddy Fishfinder couldn’t locate his shanty the night of the Lublin Rod, Gun and Quilt Club ice fishing contest. A couple years ago, the numbers were down for the Lublin Rod and Gun Club and the Lublin Quilt Club was struggling so the two groups merged. They argue a little more at meetings but now the wives know what the men are up to. So, anyway, Freddy entered himself into two competitions that day: biggest walleye and the biggest pyramid of Leinenkugel’s cans.He realized it was a bad idea for him to compete in the Leinenkugel’s competition on his own. Most of his competition was in teams. He took third anyway, which isn’t bad for one guy. But it really screwed up his chances in the walleye competition. He had a little too much Leinenkugel’s and showed up with a bluegill. And, when he was done getting laughed at, he couldn’t find his shanty. There was a lake full of little buildings, and they all looked identical.

So, when he woke up the next morning in the wrong shanty and had to explain the reasons to his wife, he vowed it would never happen again. He took a couple proactive steps. He found a buddy to do the Leinenkugel’s thing with, and he bought some battery-operated Christmas lights that he hooked around his shanty.

That got everybody going. Pretty soon, people quit decorating their houses for the holidays, and they started in on their shanties. The had to get a bunch of more extension cords run to Gilman, because it’s a little- known fact that Lublin Power and Light steals all of the town’s power from the outlet on the back side of the Clark gas station on Gilman’s south side.

It’s really beautiful out here on the lake. Stosh’s Place has a big tavern shanty set up, the fish is frying and the good old Lublin baloney- slinging over sheepshead games is at its peak.

The only problem is with all these lit up shanties, Freddy still can’t find his way home.

It’s cold out there. This will warm you up!

Nona’s Vegetable Soup Ingredients 2 cups chopped baby carrots 2 baking potatoes, cut into cubes 1 small sweet onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 (14 ounce) can great Northern beans, rinsed and drained ½ small head cabbage, chopped 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes 2 cups cut fresh green beans (1/2 inch pieces 1 (32 ounce) carton chicken broth 2 (14 ounce) cans vegetable stock 2 cups water 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil 1 pinch rubbed sage 1 pinch dried thyme leaves salt to taste

Directions

Combine the baby carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, beans, cabbage, tomatoes, green beans, chicken broth, vegetable stock, water, basil, sage, thyme, and salt in a large pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 90 minutes.