26th
2008
A Gorgeous Day for Skiing: Today was a picture perfect day for a bit of cross country skiing on the pond. The sky was partly cloudy with a 3 mph breeze, and the temp. rose to 26F. Last year, we had so little snow that I never did get out on my skis, so I was excited at the prospect of nice conditions today.
Those who truly know me just shake their heads and smile when I say that I am going to do anything athletic, for I am the most unathletic woman one can imagine. It has been two years since I donned my skis, and I forgot how to clamp my ski boots into the skis. I’ll bet that I was out on the pond for at least 20 minutes trying to figure this out. Luckily, no one was around to witness my clumsiness. But, I finally figured it out after lots of trial and error (picking up the skis, pushing on the release button, trying every conceivable way to find the clamp mechanism). (So, I will use this space as a reminder…Laurie, the clamp is at the back edge of the raised white rubber section).
The snow was a crisp and dry covering on the ice and my skis crunched through the top skin as I travelled northward along the eastern shore. I found it easier to break my own trail than to travel in the snowmobile tracks. My goal for this trip was to find animal slides in the snow of the shoreline where mink or beaver might have been. I found three slides on the western shore, and many areas where there were abundant tracks from the forest onto the ice. I also found two areas on the western shore that had yet to freeze, and there was a bit of open water hugging the shoreline (this after many nights near 0F).
As I neared the end of my circumnavigation of the pond, 5 snowmobiles began doing speed trials up and down the length of the pond. They can go amazingly fast and were lots of fun to watch. My entire trip was only 1.3 miles, but I made it last for 1.5 hours with all my investigations. Fun ;-)
