Feb 20

Tracks

Skis

Pileated woodpecker

Skiplane

Snowshoes

Finalists in paper airplane show

Also rans.

Feb 19

Just to the left of the flags on the diagonal branch of a birch tree, Jim spotted an owl. Well, first he spotted a number of blue jays frantically calling, "Thief! Thief!" And as he watched, it became clear that the owl was a target for yelling blue jays.

A barred owl says, "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?" Mostly it was annoyed that I was disturbing its daytime rest.

This one is Linda Blair in the Exorcist, swiveling her head full circle to keep me in view. We watched it preen and clean off its talons for the evening meal. "Who cooks for you?"

Feb 18

The view at the lake on a weekday is a lone unoccupied fish shack, and an occasional snowmobile.

Taking advantage of yesterday's sunny and warm day, the pilot and his flight instructor landed on the lake to grab a spare headset from home, then posed and admired.

This belies the terror at the moment of landing and shortly thereafter, bouncing over frozen snowmobile tracks, roaring through slushy snow, struggling to keep the front of the airplane from nosing over, and the noise, the noise! Oh, yeah, no headsets.

Looks deceptively peaceful and romantic.

Feb 17

No breakfast yesterday. It was two hours, instead, to get the car out of the snowbank after it coasted/slid backwards on the ice, unsuccessful at the first run of the driveway. That's why it's a Sissy car.

So after that extraction, the car was parked at the road by the mailbox. The 4 wheel drive truck brought us over the ice, to the lake, and the comfort of waking up to the Bandeirante (pronounced Bonner Ronnie) flying overhead at its usual time to deliver the UPS packages to Lewiston.

Several days of paper airplane folding awaits. I haven't been here since January 18. The sun is up. It's 15 degrees. Time to plan the next adventure.

Feb 16

The driveway is one long sheet of ice requiring special traction on the shoes for our walk to the mailbox.

Usually Daisy's 4-paw drive is helpful for extra traction. But even she struggles with this mess.

Today we are going to our Wednesday airport breakfast and someone will have to make an attempt to navigate the ice. The almanac says winter's back is broken today. Hope it doesn't drag us down with it.

Feb 15

In lieu of a steam room, a hot shower.

Tea instead of coffee.

Congested chest cold in place of pranayama breathing.

My thumb instead of an onion.

Cut

-Sylvia Plath

For Susan O'Neill Roe

What a thrill --

My thumb instead of an onion,

The top quite gone

Except for a sort of a hinge

Of skin,

A flap like a hat,

Dead white.

Then that red plush.

Little pilgrim,

the Indian's axed your scalp.

Your turkey wattle

Carpet rolls

Straight from the heart.

I step on it,

Clutching my bottle

Of pink fizz.

A celebration, this is.

Out of a gap

A million soldiers run,

Redcoats, every one.

Whose side are they on?

O my

Homunculus, I am ill.
I have taken a pill to kill

The thin

Papery feeling.

Saboteur,

Kamikaze man --

The stain on your

Gauze Ku Klux Klan

Babushka

Darkens and tarnishes and when

The balled

Pulp of your heart

Confronts its small

Mill of silence

How you jump --

Trepanned veteran,

Dirty girl,

Thumb stump.

Happy Valentine's Day

There are a lot of red and pink things in this house as well as heart-shaped items. Just opening one drawer reveals several objects that could be construed as perfect for a Valentine's Day gift.


The cardboard hearts from last year or two years ago are still taped on the ceiling lamp over the dining table. Jim asks, "What did you get me for Valentine's Day?"

I answer, "Same thing you got me."

Feb 13

Snow, snow everywhere and not a drop to drink.



For some reason, what comes to mind is a canvas with the beginnings of an oil painting, trying to capture the essence of water.

My brother finds water in the form of a brown and smelly creek crossing.

We used both skis and snowshoes to break trail. I did 108 steps in skis and 54 in shoes and that was the limit of my trailbreaking.

Mike was allowed in front a few times. Deep stuff.

Our Blue Lakes Hut was cozy, some would say hot, after the fire was lit in the woodstove.

The outhouse path was covered with a foot of new snow the night after our afternoon arrival.

But the view from there was quite splendid at dawn with Venus barely showing.

Jet lagged and wondering what to think of it all, if at all. The piper is calling. Moving on.

Feb 12

Deja vu.

The skiers observed Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday in the Blue Lakes Hut this past Tuesday and Wednesday with great pomp and circumstance. So it was a surprise when last night's review of the almanac showed Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday really occuring in March, not February. Same days, different month.

Jeez, and I had already given up snowshoeing for Lent. Those skiers who follow us will be scratching their heads and wondering about the references in the hut journal to Wild Tchoupitoulas and uptown rulers.

Like Groundhog Day, the movie, we can celebrate Fat Tuesday all over again.

This is an opportunity, isn't it?

Feb 7

Today we begin our hut trip. We'll be heading to the right of the tallest peak, Mount Sneffels, in the picture above. Goob Luck!

Go Packers!

Driving through the tunnel past Bear Creek, we move into acclimation mode at Ironton, Colorado, and an elevation of 9,800 feet.

It's a bright sunny day with wind at the top of the peaks making lenticular clouds.

The trail is nicely groomed,

and the ghost mining town provides a photo opportunity and skiing into powder around the abandoned buildings.

We pull off the road to admire the courage or foolishness of the ice climbers outside Ouray.

All creatures at 9,800 feet need more salt to replenish what is lost in activity. We take ours in the form of margaritas at the Camp Robber restaurant. The next day on Grand Mesa, elevation 11,000 feet, it is too blizzardy for the sissy boys.

There, a deputy stuck in a ditch waves us off when we stop to help her.

We abort the Mesa choice for a more reasonable Black Canyon and everyone is happy.

We are Packed for the hut trip tomorrow if weather permits. Today, it's Go Pack Go!

Jan 31

Back on February 12, 2011. Hope to see you then.
Meanwhile, Rabbit Rabbit,
Happy Groundhog Day,
And Go Packers!