A Mid Winter Thaw?!?

Christmas is over. A good Christmas it was. I think this is the first year I've had both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. A little disorienting. I also have New Years Eve and New Years Day off this year. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself just yet.....

I spent Christmas Day with the family. Of course I was out of bed late since it was one of my few days off this week. Got some pretty cool gifts. An awesome pair of swim goggles that I can't wait to use when the lake thaws. Since I'll do anything to make people laugh, I wore them the entire day. While we opened presents, while we ate dinner, while I napped, while I played the wii (which I think helped my awesomeness at boxing), and by the end of the day I had the biggest rings around my eyes. Unfortunately I had to take them off to drive home since it was dark and the goggles are tinted....it just didn't seem too safe. I also got a new game for the wii. It is some medical game, I haven't opened it just yet. Can't wait to get a bunch of my doctor and nurse friends to come over and see how much we really suck. I also got several books and a bunch of odds and ends.

Last night the temps in Gaylord rose up into the 40s. Today I think it got as high as 48. A lot of wind, fog and rain. A lot of our snow has melted and it almost feels like spring outside. I was going to go out and do ski patrol today, but they opted to close the hill instead due to the rain. Bummer. If it were March, I would be extremely thrilled about this weather. Instead, it is still December and I know that tomorrow morning we will be under another winter storm watch with blizzard like conditions. This weather is just crazy!! However, it has helped my driveway problem somewhat. I was able to go out to the end of the driveway in the pouring rain and widen my driveway a bit until my arms couldn't lift the heavy snow any longer. That stuff was so heavy it was like shoveling cement. Not fun! I guess I'm ready for the snow to come back so I can go out and do some more skiing and snowshoeing.......

Merry Christmas!

It has been awhile since I've posted anything, so I figured I better do something about that. First I better wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Since it is officially Christmas now....

Haven't been up to too much, just a lot of work and not very much play. The weather in Gaylord has been.....frigid. With a ton of snow. It seems that it has pretty much been snowing everyday for the past month. My driveway is rather messy. The end of it has gotten rather narrow and the "Early hump" has turned into quite the curb. I'm not too sure my mailbox is still connected to the post, and think that the snowplow may have knocked it off when it came flying by. The neighbors is missing, so it is possible. Either way, if it did get knocked off, it is cemented into the snowbank and I won't know for sure until the snow melts. Whenever that may be. I feel that it should be the middle of February and that the snow should start to melt, the days should be getting longer, and that things should start to warm up. But they are not. Instead, it is only something like the 4th day of winter.

I started doing ski patrol last week. It is kinda fun. I didn't get the opportunity to head out to go skiing when I went, but hope to next time. Besides, the temperatures were so frigid the day I went, most of the other people just sat in the hut and monitored the hills from there. There was one tubing accident, but no injuries. Plus I've met a lot of really cool people who love the outdoors as much as I do. I've already gotten all sorts of invitations for hiking and biking trips for next summer. So I'm pretty pumped about that. Afterward some of us headed over to one guys house who just so happens to own a hot tub, and has been the designated hangout post ski patrol. For whatever reason, while we were sitting in the hot tub all nice and toasty shooting the shit, and of course drinking, we decided to jump out real quick and do some snow angels. That is highly NOT recommended. Although I am slightly inspired to do the polar bear dip this year. I did end up with a huge bruise on my knee from running back into the hot tub and sliding all over. But I am definitely looking forward to doing ski patrol again.

Other than a bunch of work related stories I cannot share, but oh so wish I could, that about sums up my past week. I better head to bed so that Santa stops by the house for a visit....

A Hodge Podge of Events

First off, not only is it raining in the middle of December in Gaylord, it is also thundering. What is up with that? It better not melt all of the snow we have. I do hope it takes care of the huge hump I have at the end of the driveway though......referred to every year as "The Early Hump." Towards the end of the year it is like driving over a curb. Pretty ridiculous.

So I have to brag that I am the Foosball Champion!! There has been trash talk for the past week about this foosball competition we had the other night. I was unstoppable, everyone I played I put to shame. They even ganged up on me, 2-1, and I still rocked! I do have a huge blister on my thumb from the night. We played for 3 straight hours. I was exhausted by the end of the night!

Finally got the house decorated for Christmas. Normally I cut my own tree down, but the tree farm I go to had all their trees brought in this year. I opted to support the Boy Scouts and bought my tree from them. The kids were hilarious, curious about everything. Very helpful little guys, I think they would have come home and helped me set the tree up in the house if I would have asked. I also finally got the outdoor lights up on the porch. I love sitting in the living room at night in the dark with all the Christmas lights on, it makes it just bright enough that you can walk around without running into things. Always a good thing.

So depending on when this rain stops, I may or may not go out snowshoeing tomorrow. I'll be awful disappointed if I don't, but such is life......

I've been spending way too much time surfing the internet lately. In particular spending time on White Blaze, reading all the trail journals of the people who have attempted thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail. Lets just say, I've got that itch again. Wish I could win the lottery so that I could afford to take 6 months out of my life to just hike everyday. Guess maybe I should start by playing the lotto......

Enjoying the Snow!

I finally have a few days off. I've worked the past 7 days, including an all nighter last night. I was made extremely jealous by a friend of mine who would tell me almost daily that she went out skiing and how awesome the conditions have been. I finally made it out today. Of course I didn't roll out of bed until almost 3pm, but immediately got up and headed out to the Pine Baron. The trails are excellent! Of course I'm extremely worn out, so I went home had dinner and took a nap. There is a huge full moon tonight, and tomorrow it is supposed to be the largest full moon of the year since it is so close to the earth. I snow blowed the end of the driveway around 1030pm, and decided that I couldn't let the opportunity pass so I would go out skiing, again. I headed out to Aspen Park, which is normally lit up at night, but wasn't expecting the lights to be on at 1130. Luckily they were, since when I went to put my headlamp on, I found out the batteries were dead. It was a perfect night to be out there. Temps in the teens, with a nice light snowfall. Gosh I love the winter!!

I can't wait to get up and do some more skiing tomorrow. I've also decided to start doing ski patrol out at Hanson Hills. It is voluntary, but you get compensated with free skiing and tubing, so I decided I couldn't pass that up. I have some sort of meeting there tomorrow, followed by a big foosball competition at a friends house!! I need to get my rest, off to bed I go...

And God said, "Let it Snow"

And than it snowed, and snowed and snowed some more. Gaylord is under a winter storm warning until Friday morning. It is projected that we could get 1 to 2 feet of snow. If you ask me, that is quite a range, but either way the snow is coming. And has been coming for a week now. So exciting! Yesterday I headed over toward Oscoda, mainly to take pictures of the big dumping, but also just to get outside. The closer I got to Lake Huron, the less snow they had. I took a 6 mile hike along the Ausable River. Didn't even need my skis or snowshoes. It was cold, and a bit blustery, but so worth it. Luckily they didn't have so much snow that my four wheel drive wasn't able to take me way back in the woods. It appears that these trails aren't used for skiing during the winter. Or maybe they used to be, but it is not in the budget, yet again this year. Who knows. Anyways, attached are some pictures.

Tomorrow, it is back to work....