On Monday, I bit off more than I could chew during the morning’s snowshoe hike. Not physically, I felt fine, but a later start and a slower pace put me behind schedule for the day’s duties.

So, this morning, I made sure to get in the woods before sunrise with my headlamp, took out a small hunk of trail, and finished at my normal time. Yes, I had to settle for the hike being .75 miles shorter, but it’s winter, there’s snow on the ground, and I’m forced to use snowshoes, so just getting myself out the door is a victory.

The lumber was also a wee bit easier due to having broke a lot of trail yesterday. Yesterday’s pain was today’s gain. Of course, just as I was packing up, the Groomer Gal was just coming into the lot to groom and set tracks for Classic XC. So, in theory, Wednesday’s lumber should be even easier, provided the permitted foot traffic portion of the trail sets up overnight. If not, I’m back to square one.

Wifey and I were just talking the other night about how we miss going XC skiing. Neither one of us is too graceful at it, but it’s a hell of a workout, and a great excuse to get outside in the woods during the winter. We talked in the past about buying skis (our old used ones are long gone), but with the planet continuing to melt into oblivion whilst our government ignores the issue, we figured there was little point if we could only use them once or twice a year without driving 2 or more hours.

But, hey, now that the current administration has taken down any website that refers to climate change and fired all the scientists, the problem is solved, and the heavy winter snows of yesteryear will surely return in earnest to central Michigan; I guess we can go buy some now. [this is irony, please]

Not much critter action today, but I did see a few deer off in the trees, and a couple of geese swimming upstream in the river. The Red Bellied Woodpecker shot above was from our backyard on Monday afternoon.

Hoping to get everything I want to do today done by 3:15, ’cause Spurs have a mid-week match against Newcastle. I’m hopeful for 3 points, but realistic that they suck, have no attacking threat, and our keeper is unreliable with the ball at his feet. [sigh]

Later.