I took the day off from lumbering on Wednesday due to overnight snow, the need to shovel out a driveway, and a strong desire to not leave the house after I was finished.
So, today I was off like a herd of turtles at daybreak (two full hours after I woke), and eager to be in the snowy woods. Until I got to the snowy woods.
Tuesday, 7:25 AM
I was up at my customary 5:20 AM to feed Lola and coffee up before getting ready for my lumber. Sadly, Ma Nature would throw me a snowy curveball.
There was no weekend lumbering or photo creeping, but it was still pretty swell.
Wifey and I were up at the ass crack of dawn on Saturday to eat breakfast, coffee up, and dump out before the Jingle All The Way 5K in town at 8:30 AM. Wifey was running it, and I was there to cheer her on and get some photographs.
4.25 miles, packed frozen snow, ice, and a “Real Feel” temperature in the single digits was all that stood between me and a W.C.A. [Winter Contingency Act] approved 25-Mile/5-Day Week.
The week of lumbering has been OK, but not my best. Monday through Wednesday, snowshoes were needed to make things more efficient, and today (Thursday), I opted to strap on my Kahtoola Micro Spikes1 in an effort to speed up the lumber over the snow, which the Groomer Gal and her magic sled have packed down tight.2 And to be honest, I should have just used the snowshoes; there was a 0% improvement in my overall time, it was just less noisy.
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.
Part I, The Orneriness
The long (too long) weekend brought our first substantial snowfall of the season, with about 6″ dropped in our area. While I am no fan of winter and snow, I do appreciate the normalcy of snow when it’s supposed to snow. Way to normal up, Ma Nature, bravo.
We did luck out with the timing of the storm, when it was pushed back from starting early Saturday morning to late that afternoon, which allowed Brennan to stay another night and still safely dive back to East Lansing before the snow fell in earnest. Again, bravo Ma Nature, bravo
Ah, the mid-week update of my mundane life/micro-adventures. It’s the post that no one needed or wanted (not even me), but since I’m not in the people-pleasing business, I’m posting it anyway.
After a weekend of boring nothingness, I was eager to get back into the woods on Monday morning, but I was admittedly a little apprehensive due to deer season being only 3 days old.
The past two days were filled with lumbered miles, and more bucks looking for a good time. It was all the LAST of my leaf cleanup (I SWEAR!!) around the Cul-De-Sac Shack.