Awkward Silence...

Haven't blogged in a while cause I really haven't had much to say. Of course by saying that I'm implying that I've had something to say before when we all know that's preposterous. My blog, to date, has been mindless drivel that has, more or less, leaked out of my left ear and made its way onto my blog by way of my finners.

The whole blog thing... Don't know exactly where it started (lie) or why I thought it would be a good idea (true), but here it is. I know it started as a place to bemoan and whine about how unfair life has been. I've thrown in a few posts about my running aspirations, car repairs, bike upgrades, and exploits with the children; but this just hasn't ever really been what I thought it would be.

I think it's my computer's fault. If I had a better computer, maybe the blog thing would be better. Maybe I'd be more inspired.

Maybe.

Back to the bike upgrades, I'd like about $400 to upgrade a few more things on my mountain bike for the 2009 season.

Car repairs? Been busy there too. Thanks to You Tube I've completely cleaned the throttle body and replaced the upper motor mount on my Saturn. It's amazing how much better the car seems to run with just the replacement of the motor mount. One of these days I'm going to actually find out how much money I saved doing that myself.

I've registered to run the Buffalo Run 50K next month. March 28th. Antelope Island. I'm excited although you wouldn't know it by the amount of training I put in today. Zero. Had numerous opportunities too. Let 'em all slide right on by. It's my computer's fault. I bet if I had a better computer I'd be more motivated.

A garden snake snuck into the house recently. I'm thinking February is a bit on the cold side of the year to be finding snakes around; but I guess if they're going to be around, inside the house would be where they'd be. It was kind of funny though. Mom wanted to find an old scrap book and went into the bedroom in which they were stored. As she opened the door, this thing fell from the top of the door frame and bounced off her landing on the floor. Turned out it was a decent sized garden snake. It's a good thing mom didn't realize at first what it was or I may have had to call 911. It all makes me a bit nervous... How many more snakes are calling the inside of this house home?

Went snowshoeing again today.

Alone.

Dad said he was a bit worried about me on account of a mountain lion sighting he and mom had a while back.

He didn't tell me he was worried about that until I got back though.

Lost my camera in the snow.

Found it.

Didn't make it up to the Timpooneke Road as I had planned due to exhaustion, but I was close. Real close.

The snow was so deep where I turned around that, even with snowshoes on, my feet were sinking in the snow up to my knees!


I enjoyed being the first one to traipse through the freshly fallen snow, but it sure was a workout. My legs are going to hurt tomorrow.

I almost didn't go. Glad I did. Probably should have gone to work though. At least for half a day.

Oh well.

Good times.

I need some good pants to wear snowshoeing...

Snowshoeing

I've been wanting to go snowshoeing with the boy for a while but things have just never come together. The weekend rolls around and he's off snowboarding or hanging with his buds, or I've got something going on--there's always something.

So earlier in the week I mentioned to the boy my intent to go snowshoeing on Saturday, and he said OK. So Friday night when I picked him up he had two of his buddies in tow--left me thinking, "so much for snowshoeing...".

Well, we didn't go as early as I had planned, but we did make it up to the canyon sometime around 2 or 3. The drive up the canyon had rain falling on the windshield pretty much the whole way, but as soon as we pulled into the Dell the rain turned to snow. We checked in with my folks, donned the snowshoes, and headed up the Bear Canyon trail.

About 3/4ths of the first mile was fairly well traveled with packed snow--could have done without the snowshoes, but the remainder of the trail was mostly unspoilt snow. We got to the fork in the trail, about a 1/4 mile from the Timpooneke Road when the boy had had enough.

On the way down, the boy wanted to go off trail and down the side of the mountain. We did. (Note to self: don't forget to put in the contact lenses and to empty your pockets next time. I didn't lose anything, but I was worried about it the whole time and my glasses were constantly fogged or fogging up. What a pain!) Anyways, we rolled, slid, crashed our way down the side of the mountain to where the trail switched back and then went back to the cabin.

We had a good time. I want to go back and do it again! I'd like some better pants though--denim jeans don't quite cut it. And I can't forget to ditch the glasses and put in the contacts next time either! And empty the pockets!

We saw no wildlife, but we did pass a couple of guys from the granola crowd as they were heading down the trail. They had gone up sans snow shoes and I noticed from their tracks that they both had little feet. Smaller than mine even.

I wonder if people following my footsteps stop and think, "Man! That dude has averaged sized feet!"

Would it be bad for me to go back up there this afternoon by my lonesome and go for a hike?