First Day of Spring

30° and snowing this morning on this first day of spring. About an inch of new snow fell last night, nothing too much to write home about, but it’s currently coming down hard and is supposed to last all day and night. Time to head out on the skis and take stock of the situation.

Decided to head up towards Center Mountain with Elaine, enjoying a nice, steady wet snowfall that got progressively fluffier as we climbed. Not much wildlife activity this morning, save a few squirrels scurrying about. The animals are smart. This is supposed to be a big storm, and I suspect they are holed up waiting it out. Animals are a lot better doing that than humans are I think.

The snow clung to the sides of the aspen and pine trees, making for a pretty winter postcard as we climbed up the hill. There are few better ways to start a day than to climb a mountain. At the top, we made a decision to take a slightly trickier way down. A brisk wind from the east greeted us as we took off our skins on the ridgeline, blowing them every direction but where we wanted them to be! The skiing back down was delightful, with a little soft snow on top of the frozen surface below making the going a little easier. The trees at the bottom are so tight that we had to grab them in places to ease ourselves down to the next open area. It’s good for a human to challenge themselves from time-to-time and have a little adventure.

Back at the cabin, and every perch and table quickly became a drying rack for our sopping wet clothes! It was a well-soaked ski, but the cabin is warm and a bowl of granola with bananas, some sausage and some pumpkin spice black tea with honey makes for a fine start to the day.

We ventured into work today. A snow storm on the way down, but the roads are empty because of the illness. On a normal day, the traffic heading up to the ski resort would have been heavy. Got to work and the power promptly went out, so we sat in the dark and caught up on recent events. More than 475 people died yesterday in Italy, and that’s sobering. We live in trying times, but I suspect we’ll get thru it. After a very slow day, made a venture to the market. It was quiet and the store was well-stocked, minus pasta which seems to be the staple of choice! Lots of people avoidance and hand washing, and then back home to the cabin and sanity. I’m cautious about working right now, but it’ll be good to build up the bank account, and I also think folks need other people to talk to. Even if we don’t sell a single ski boot, that’s a good service to provide and makes me feel like I’m giving back to the effort in some manner.

The long climb back up the mountain, to home in Happy Valley, the cabin, a completely eaten bird feeder, and lots of snow, about a foot in places. The temperature has dropped to a crisp 23° and it’s still snowing lightly. Burgers are cooking on the grill, the fire is roaring, and I’ve got nice hard cover book from the library to dive into tonight over a couple cups of spicy vanilla tea. That’ll do just fine.