Saturday, January 03, 2009

A New Year's Grab Bag


The new year, like little boys, can sneak up on you!
Happy New Year to all my loyal readers. The last few weeks have flown by, and now the holidays are over, the visiting families have all returned to their own homes, and things are quiet once again. Don’t get me wrong, it was joyous having them all here, but now the world is back to normal, there is a list as long as my arm of things to do, pictures to edit, house fixit jobs, and just 108 days to go in my current career! So, in that line of thinking, here is a New Year’s Grab Bag of newsy items…
Icicles are fun!
Two posts ago; I posted a question as to the identification of a piece of fruit. No longer had I hit the “publish” button, than the phone rang. My daughter-in-law, Christina is the winner. Now, all of the answers were right, it is an Osage (or mock) orange! So, besides the fact that she was first, and that she is family, I have declared her the winner of the random box of peppermint bark. I will have another contest in weeks to come.
Snowing, looking out the front door...
It’s been snowing! I know that it’s a new flash to some of you, but hey, it’s news. We had a warm couple of days, then last night a front hit, and it was 15 degrees with a few inches of new snow this morning.

8 AM, today; 15 degrees...
Next up, I already have 22 miles on the Barcroft! It was windy and mild yesterday, so I snuck out for an hour and a half of riding and picture taking. Of course, to commemorate the first ride of the year, I got rained on, too! No flats this time, so all in all, a nice ride. I can never complain about getting real miles in January. Kathy gave me a gift of very warm base layers for cycling, and I intend to ride as much as time will allow, even in winter.
My first cycling picture of the year!
In Big Cottonwood Canyon...
Last week, I had the opportunity to take a lesson in cross-country skate skiing. I went with my sister Nancy to Solitude Nordic Center, and we had a fine time stumbling around on our own, and later we enjoyed a one-hour lesson from an instructor who actually competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Aram Hajiyan of Armenia had a great time with us, and was an immense help.
My sister, Nan, and her new friend, Aram...
Attached you will find a short video of yours truly attempting a nice V-1 type technique. Next up, Aram is going to teach me to climb!
This is "V-1" after 4 hours of skiing....
More news next week from the bike, err or the ski tracks!
Jim

1 comment:

Dan's Mom said...

Thanks for the video clips. They are fantastic! And Nancy looks pretty sexy too. A real snow bunny.