What a crazy week! As mentioned in my previous hard-to-read Soiled mega post, the week started with a 7-mile hike on Monday, followed by a snowy 5+ mile hike on Tuesday, then as more snow arrived, morphed into slow 4+ mile snowshoe stomps on Wednesday and Thursday.
Then, on Friday, I took the day off to get a bunch of errands done and grocery shop in preparation for the coming winter storm that was due to hit. Simultaneously, Wifey took the day off and fetched B in East Lansing so he didn’t have to spend the long Martin Luther King/blizzard weekend on a nearly empty campus. (Always nice to see my B-Man!)
I spent most of the early afternoon on Friday cursing the weatherman for the storm that wasn’t coming and looking out the window. Then, around 3:30 PM, it started snowing and never stopped. Shit.
Friday’s snow, combined with the snow from earlier in the week, has us with easily over a foot of snow on the ground and pretty much housebound for a couple of days until we and the town dig out. It serves me right for mocking storm-prep-mad Michiganderburghers earlier in the week; my bad.
I saw this dude on the trail. He seemed nice.
I spent Saturday morning drinking coffee and watching some footy before shoveling the vast (not really) driveway of the Cul-De-Sac-Shack. Thank the dogs I have 16+ months of lumbering in me because 2021 me would have either thrown my back out or had a coronary “event.”
I am hopeful but realistic that I can get out on Sunday for a short stomp around before Spurs play United at 11:30 AM (4:30 in the UK). I don’t think it’s going to happen, but we’ll see.
Following the tracks of the Ranger’s hoopty.
I am also trying to be sensible about the coming week and know that with over 12″ of snow on the ground and temps in the single digits, 30-mile weeks aren’t going to happen for a minute or two. And that, of course, means that I once again have to invoke the Winter Contingency Act1.
I love my routine/habit/addiction of hiking almost every day, as does my body, and the wintry weeks and months like those coming are challenging, to say the least. So, wish me luck, and keep a straight jacket and a taser handy.
Winter, meh. At least there’s Cat 5 Cooking and goofy faces.
The photos in today’s post were taken over the last few days.
Later.
THE SOILED SOUNDS TRACK OF THE POST
Wine Lips is a psych/garage/punk rock band out of Toronto, Canada, and their song Eyes was one of my most listened-to tracks of 2023, and it never fails to get me going. It’s a minute and a half of raucous boogie.
- For those who don’t recall, the Winter Contingency Act was created by F.D.R. over 80 years ago and authorizes individuals such as myself to decrease their weekly total mileage goals from 25 to 20 with little to no cost to American taxpayers while allowing outdoor fitness enthusiasts a safe space to ward off depression, negative self-talk, body dysmorphia, and decreased motivation. To be clear, this is in no way meant to be a long-term program; it’s more of a bridge to help individuals make it through psycho-winters with their fitness goals intact and without the aid of treadmills or gyms.