Welcome 2008!

I've decided to start keeping a weather journal again. The journals were an important part of the WAS experience. At least 3 times a day, I would log on to the local weather report and take notes, then journal what I observed about the weather, and how animals, birds, and even plants reacted. After graduation, I got lazy, and haven't kept one since June.

At 8 am it's 36 degrees, the humidity is at 80%, and the sky is light, with high, streaky clouds. There's a brisk breeze bouncing the tree tops around. We are under a wind advisory until 10pm. There's a bit of snow on the mountain peak that I can see from my front window. I love living where the mountains are close enough to see every day. Stevens Pass is 40 miles to the east...if I were a skier, that's where I'd be today.


Some years back, we (the Rat B*****d and I) went to Colorado with friends who had access to a cabin near Monarch Pass in the Sangre de Cristo range. The Wet Mountain Valley is still one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. There was a small ski resort called Conquistador at the little town of Westcliff. The first year was a spur-of -the-moment thing. We took group lessons and I stunk. I struggled the whole weekend to stay upright on the skis, and found the ski lifts to be a really scary experience. Conquistador was on the flight path of the Air Force Academy, and planes would zip just over the tree tops at high speed, flying so low that the pilot's faces were visible for the fraction of a second that they were overhead. When sitting on what amounted to a moving, suspended park bench, I swear I could see them smile.

The most interesting thing I learned about skiing that first year was that the young, good-looking instructors gave the private lessons. I started saving money right away so that I could get a day's instruction the next year. On our next trip, I happily paid for a day's lesson...her name was Monique, and the guys all thought she was very attractive. I know that she earned her money that day. I lost count of how many times she picked me up out of the snow, and how many times she drug me off the ski lift and out of the way so the next person wouldn't run me down. At he end of the day we were both exhausted...but the last run down the mountain (green bunny slope) was amazing...By being slow, I was the last person on the trail, snow was falling, and it was absolutely silent. That was the only good ski run I had in 3 years of trying.

The next year, we had a horrible experience in a white-out on the road, and I never put on skis again. I'll tell you about that in a later post on inutition.

6:30 pm- I'm home from my part-time job at Ben Franklin's here in Monroe...the wind is still gusty, and the area remains under an advisory. I can't see stars like I did last night...the sky is hazy, the temperature is 37 degrees, and the humidity is 75%.