Decisions, Decisions

When you start a new column in a new newspaper, the very first column is very important. Sure, my Field Notes column is the same one I've been writing for more than three years but this Wednesday, it debuts in the Citizen-Record newspaper and reaches a whole new audience, many of whom don't know me from a hole in a log on the wood pile.
I can't decide what to write about for this all-important first column. You get one chance to make a first impression, you know, and a good dog trainer also taught me to "start as you mean to go on" so I'd rather write funny than poignant or opinionated. (I'm already worried about those online comments... I've already decided I won't be reading them...)
I wish my husband had been up to something lately because his antics are always good to write about. He and the dog went snowshoeing this morning and had a grand time (without me) but aside from Abby dragging home a "fresh" deer leg this afternoon, those two have been behaving themselves.
Is it too soon to write my "Why I don't like spring" column? After the all the snowstorms of the last two months, complaining about spring may hit too many raw nerves. At least I can work the dog and the deer leg into that one.
My doctor said something very interesting to me last week when I was in for my annual check up. I should write it down because I'm going to forget it -- and it's such a great argument for country living. It needs to be shared but as a first column? 
I'm leaning towards a 4H column, inspired by Saturday's County Rally in Pugwash and everything I saw there. These kids are remarkable. They make me feel like a right chicken shit. Someone should call me out for hiding behind a camera instead of participating in the Woodsmen competition (please don't!). I'll make up for it with a shout-out to Becky for grace under pressure -- and under fire. So to speak.
It's not bad to have more ideas than I know what to do with. I'd scaled Field Notes back to once a month in the Journal because I felt like I had tapped all there was to write but now that the column will be a combination of Field Notes and In Conversation With, there's been a renewal of energy and an unplugging of the flow of creative juices.
There's nothing quite like the challenge of expanding one's horizons.