April 20, 2014

Switching Gears

There’s still snow in the couloirs and on the high peaks, but even this is melting off.  I do hope to ski a couple of couloirs, not to mention Logan Pass in Glacier when it opens, but that’s it.  The ground here is bare. 

It seems that I’m the only person here or elsewhere who looks at this and morns a bit.  This year, particularly given that Seeley had a real winter and Willow Alaska, where I was, didn’t, it’s left too soon.  Still, in addition to my last skijor run and the trial it gave me, I got in two skijor runs here that were a blast.  I also did a bunch of skiing before the snow disappeared.  All were either slow and on soft snow or over meter high moguls, but they were fun.

I’ll probably put the skis on again, but it won’t be more than a couple of times.  Biking, Taekwon-Do, and running will now fill out my time. 

As I write this, I have been on my bike twice.  Silver survived the winter nicely and I’m looking forward to a great summer of mountain biking.  It will be interesting to see if I ride as intensely as I did last summer when I was training with my goal of skijoring the Iditarod Trail.  Probably.  I still like to push myself.  Beyond that, I had a blast doing multi-hour rides on the dirt roads behind my house and biking hard was a part of this.

To date, I haven’t run, but my weight is okay.  It’s not where I had hoped it would be, but that was based on being out on the Iditarod Trail for a month rather than a week.  I’m still about ten pounds down from my peak, but I do want to drop another seven or eight.  Unfortunately, with spring replacing winter, I have to watch what I eat much more carefully.  Mid-winter, I’m out in the cold enough that I can eat much more and still lose weight.  I’m particularly hoping that I’ll do a better job than most years on managing that transition.

With this, I’m happy to report that the dogs are all in good condition.  Tok has some back issues and is on meloxicam for this, Tanner gets eye drops in his good eye as a prophylactic to prevent glaucoma, and Sybil is on 5 mg of prednisone three times a week for a chronic cough.  But, knock on wood, that’s it for the drugs.  With seven dogs over eleven and another six who will be ten by the time the summer ends, I feel pretty good about that. 

Vixen, my fourteen year old, still tromps around happily during yard time.  I’ll probably try running her next fall, but we’ll see.  Right now, I’m trying to help her walk something of a tightrope---she likes when the boys pay attention to her but really isn’t keen on them mounting her.  She can tell them she’s not happy but, unlike when she was younger, it’s a strain.  Still, there’s just a bit of a grin when they sniff her tushi.  She also made a pretty good try at mounting Jake---in my yard, the girls mount the boys much more often than the boys mount the girls.  

At this time, the three varieties of deciduous trees on my property, aspen, larch, and poplar, all remain bare.  That too will change soon.  With this, flowers will start blooming.  Last year was a great year for beargrass, so that’s not going to happen again for another few years, but Silly Lake still supports enough variety of wildflowers to fill out a painter’s pallet.  And, of course, the turtles will emerge from their hibernation in the mud at the bottom of Silly Lake.  Winter is my favorite season, but the only time I don’t like is the end of the autumnal mud season with its short, dark, pre-snow days.  I’ll again enjoy the spring.  I might even break a grin when I see the turtles for the first time.