Leisure Time

After Meeting today the 'Marmadoofus' and I took a long, exploratory cross-country ski trip on the ridgeline above my house. I really wish my camera was in working order right now because the scenery was incredible and I would like to have shared it. It was the first day of leisure that I have taken for a long time.

It was my guess that the main trail would at least be packed down by snowmobile traffic, but no. It was unbroken since the last eighteen inches of snow had fallen, except for a lone set of snowshoe tracks zigzagging around and disappearing into the woods. The snow was packed down enough under the tracks to let the skis slide easily but one had to stay alert enough to keep the skis in their place because the packed trail was so narrow (try doing back country skiing some time in deep, ungroomed powder and you will know exactly why it is better to have a packed trail). It looked like the person who made my trip easier and more interesting knew the woods well and had a preference for the older-style snowshoes, which were a little over three feet long and made of stretched rawhide on a wood frame. They also apparently used ski poles and stopped frequently to admire the scenery. It is amazing what you can learn about someone when you observe their footprints.

I am glad I decided to follow the snowshoe prints because they led me onto some beautiful woodland side trails which I never knew existed before due to their entrances being obscured by trees. This will come in handy when I am hiking in warm weather again!

The wood stove kept the shack cozy & warm and it nicely warmed the bowl of soup I left on it for my arrival back home. After heating up my insides we visited the roomies over in the trailer, watched a bit of the Super Bowl (only to discover that I still have no taste for competitive sports viewing), I only stayed for the first minute of the halftime show because Bruce Springstein seemed to be drunk or on something and I don't really like his music anyway. After soaking in the tub for an hour I find myself sleepily writing this post out of a slight pang of guilt because I don't write much any more and some of my friends in distant places only keep up with my doings on this blog. This slice of New England winter was for you guys. Jen and Jeanette, you are evil for moving to Hawaii and I am insanely jealous :-P.

I gotta go grab a few armloads of wood from the shed and then catch up on some sleep debt. I love the skiing but here's hoping March and mud season will be here soon.

Pride Comes Before The Fall, and I Get Right Back Up

Sorry for taking so long to update. My roommate brought home the most lovely flu bug and it has kept me a bit occupied. I had just been bragging to a coworker that I have a cast iron immune system and I almost never get sick enough to be kept out of work... then WHAM!!! I get taken out by nature for a week. On the upside, I feel much better now and went out for a 14 mile cross country skiing excursion today. I slid on over to the next town and explored a side trail that I'd never been on before. I chased the setting sun up over a ridge of small mountains... only to lose it behind another ridge. The trip up was a heck of a workout and the trip back down was crazy-fun, except for the fact that older cross-country skis like mine are much harder to control when careening down steep, narrow trails at high velocity. So the trip back down, while exciting, was done to the tune of "aaah, ouch, *crash* $%##@!!! *crash* ouch, ouch, *crash* %@#!!! whew! Yeeeehaaaaw!" The sunset was a beautiful shade of peach with touches of pink (curses for not bringing my camera this time) and after the sunset the landscape took on a surreal palette of blues, it almost looked like a cross between Van Gogh's 'Blue Period' and something out of a Robert Frost poem. As much as I am frustrated with the lack of culture in this area, the scenery more than makes up for it.

And as promised three posts back, here are the pics from my last cross-country ski trip.

First covered railroad bridge headed south east, the trail that I follow is part of the "Rails To Trails" program which converts old railroad lines to recreational & nature trails. This bridge is a leftover from the era when there was still a working rail line running through this very spot. Note how high the openings are (about 22 feet), this was to accommodate the high stacks on the locomotives.


Interior of the first bridge


Shot of the river taken through a gap in the boards


The second covered railroad bridge


Interior of the second bridge


Underneath the main highway bridge in Kelleyville/Newport

Ranid Posterior

I just got back from the longest cross-country ski trip I've taken in my life... I set out alone from the edge of town and traversed a total of about 10-12 miles round trip... it brought me into the next town over. Methinks I overdid it due to the fact that every muscle in my body now feels like it's made of red hot cement. Pictures of the excursion will be forthcoming, but I really don't have anything else to say or post right now, so amuse yourselves with this picture of a froggy butt that I took at work the other day (he was happily sitting, half-submerged, on the leaf of an aquatic plant in one of our aqua-terrariums).