When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, they say.
But when life gives you snow — what then? Make snowcones? Snowballs? Snowpersons?
Nah. Just go for a run.
I thought I was underdressed yesterday when I headed out for 5K on the trails. Lately I’ve been wearing Darn Tough wool socks, some toasty old Head tights and this long-sleeved Gore cycling jersey over an ancient Patagonia Capilene base layer because it has pockets for the phone and any bits I might feel compelled to remove or add, like the Smartwool gloves or Sugoi tuque, as conditions dictate.
But I wasn’t taking anything off yesterday. I only felt overdressed at the outset because I had the wind to my back. Once I turned around into it at the Menaul trailhead I tugged the tuque down over my ears and the Gore’s zipper up over my Adam’s apple. The wind caused my right eye to tear up behind the Rudy Project shades, making me seem to be half crying, like I wasn’t really all that worked up about whatever was bothering me.
All in all, a good day for a run, though. Not many people out and those that were seemed to feel that we were all members of some open-air private club for the genially insane.
The trails were pretty crunchy; a bit of mud where the sun had shone, icy in the shade. But I managed to not fall down and/or roll an ankle, so, winning, etc. ’Ray for me.
This morning I’m getting a loaf of bread started while I try to talk myself into a bike ride. But I think it’s gonna be another run. We’re talking 33°, feels like 25°, wind from the south at 10-15 mph, and if there’s any blue in the sky I’m having trouble making it out.
Then again, tomorrow looks worse. Maybe a short ride on a fendered bike? Thank Itztlacoliuhqui we have one more meal’s worth of green chile stew waiting patiently in the fridge. Also, there is a sack of pintos that needs cooking, and it will be a frosty day in The Bad Place when I don’t have the ingredients for some variety of south-of-the-border rice, either rojo or verde.
Now that I think of it, if I just had some shredded chicken and some corn tortillas, I could make enchiladas.
Shit, I better get outside pronto. I can feel myself dollaring up like something a fella might use in a stew.
Mad Blog Media 
A stroll with Duffy this morning with a walk after for us afterwards. Good thing we got out then, because now the temp is dropping and the wind is howling with gusts to 45mph. Snow predicted for late afternoon and continuing all night. High tomorrow here in SE Aridzona is 40 degrees. What to do about it you ask? Go to the theater and watch “The Boys In The Boat” withs our buds with dinner out somewhere after that. This afternoon I’m fiddling with guitars and my amp to decide what to play for a February 15th rec center gig in geezerville. I’m leaning heavily towards the Gibson L-00 this time out.
I wussed out and went for a trail run with Herself and boom! The wind died down and the temp came up and I could’ve ridden me feckin’ bike.
Now tomorrow looks like Death. Wind, snow, the works. I will definitely make enchiladas.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. I love running in that kind of snow. Perhaps because I know that it is mostly dry. I recall a snow run day many years ago on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. I took off on a trail that if I recall correctly without pulling out the map (ie: opening another webpage), started above Emerald Bay and climbed up from there. There was 3 to 4″ of snow at the trailhead and since the trail went up, I figured I’d just see how far I could go before I’d have to plow through more that a couple feet of snow. As it turned out I made it about a mile and a half up where the snow was deep, powdery and dry. Since I turned around at the proper time, before burning myself out, coming down was a blast. Because of the cushioning effect of the snow, I could leap farther and the impact was significantly less. It was like skiing in a lower G environment without the weight of the skis. Yep, I’ll be thinking about that kind of a run, at least for a few more days until we get a little snow.
Here’s to wishing you bright and sunny weather tomorrow (it’s still yesterday where I’m at), and that you get a chance to warm up a couple of green chile and bean driven tires.
And POB, I hope the evening out was enjoyable and the ride home was safe.
Yeh, a good snow run can be fun, though keeping the feet warm and dry is always a problem.
I never learned how to downhill ski, so my mad skillz in that arena are nonexistent. I can cross country a little, classic and skate, but am completely at a loss on any extended, technical descents.
One winter when we got something like four feet of snow in one dump I stomped a snowshoe course around the Weirdcliffe property, and working that was fun until the snow finally melted, which took months. Very steep in spots, especially from the meadow bordering the county road up to the backside of the house. We’d hired a backhoe driver to carve a bobsled run for the autos along the one road in and out and you didn’t want to be taking up space on it if one of the neighbors was skidding down in the old Dodge pick-’em-up, using the snowbanks as braking aids.
I wish the TBI from the DUI hitting me on my bike hadn’t messed up so many things I use the language center of my brain for, I might still be able to throw things in a pot and get real food out of same pot after letting it sit at an appropriate temperature for an appropriate amount of time.
Did that crash take your cooking away from you? That sucks. I can’t say that I really love cooking, or that I’m some sort of whiz at it, but I do enjoy figuring out what might be good to eat, acquiring all the components, and then assembling them.
The cleanup is a bitch, though. Especially with a gas cooktop. We’re thinking about going electrical glasstop but I dunno. I’ve never had a really good one, but then this old KitchenAid gas deal isn’t exactly cutting-edge either.
I recently got my dream setup. We were dishwasher shopping when I came across a Bosch- induction cooktop and convection oven. It was a floor model that they wanted gone. Black stainless and not a mark on it. Picked it up for 55% of list, delivered and installed. We couldn’t afford it any other way.
Yes, a few pieces of cookware had to be replaced, but a few were “induction ready”. And of course, good old dependable cast iron works just fine. The heat transfer is off the scale. One of the first tests was a pot of liquid for soup. Four cold quarts boiling in less than 90 sec.
Oven is pretty sweet too. Roasting and baking time as reduced and results are nicer. Outsides are nice and browned and the insides moister. Ms B proofed some pastry dough. She didn’t think it could hold 100F, and put a thermometer in, but it was perfect. Best rise in years.
Well, this morning is 25 degrees and about an inch of snow on everything except the roads. Even with a high of 40 degrees, I expect the snow to be gone by this afternoon. Folks around here don’t deal with snow very well. But, I expect my snow bird neighbor, who got back last night from a holiday trip to International Falls, will be rolling out for his ride this morning.
Dammit, I just cleared the driveway of last night’s light snowfall and here it is coming down again. 24° and looks like we could be in for some serious wind, which will make the motoring around and about … interesting. I may have to reconsider my enchilada plans. It’s still possible to whip up a mess of green chile, some beans, and rice with what I have on hand. I wonder if I could talk Herself into having a stab at some high-altitude baking-powder biscuits. …
Sheeyit. A city snowplow/sand truck just rolled through and added a little traction to the cul-de-sac. Never seen that before. …
POG if you were in Michigan they would have dumped a ton of salt instead of sand which would….begin eating at any concrete it touches and also attach to cars and bikes even months later when it’s hidden dust mixes with rain. Yessir we loves our salt on roadways alright and car washes REALLY love it too.
Back in the day, when I was old enough to drive but too ignorant to move away from the snow, I lived in Waukegan, Illinois. Cars there didn’t wear out, they rusted out from the salt they spread on the road in the winter. When you drove, you were essentially soaking your car in salt water that would get in every nook and cranny of the frame and body. Now I live in Aridzona, and bought steel frames. But, I still coated the inside of the frame with Weigle Frame Saver before installing components.
Paddy and Herb, y’ould salts, it seems The Duck! City salts its streets after a snowstorm, just like the Great White Midwest.
Almost immediately after that “sand” truck rolled through the cul-de-sac, the snow vanished like a fart in a whirlwind.
“Hm,” I sez to myself I sez. “Never seen plain red sand do the business quite like that. Maybe they’re using red chile.”
Nope. After a wee bit of research I found that The Duck! City’s management apparently likes its roads extra salty. I don’t believe this was the practice in Bibleburg, which was not in the habit of spending any more money on the citizenry than was absolutely necessary because Freedom, etc.
In Fanta Se I expect the People’s Department of Transportation uses pink Himalayan salt or Diamond Crystal kosher.
I’ma need to wash Ole Sue afore she turns into a heap of rust chips in the garage.
Indeed. Don’t forget to rinse off the underside as well. Makes you think about riding a SOMA when there is wet salt on the road, heh? But, I think they have treated the inside of their tubes at the factory for at least a decade, maybe more.
Happily, I don’t drive much. But I suggested to Herself that she lay a wash on her CR-V before its bits start dropping off like leaves in winter.
I tend to leave the bikes in the garage in wintry weather. The sand (and salt, it appears) makes for sketchy riding on the shoulders and the trails are a mess that wheels only make worse. So I go for short runs instead, as a change of pace.
This cold snap goes on much longer I may be compelled to affix a bike to the old Cateye trainer and do some indoor cycling. Ick.
Oh god no….not the wind trainer! I’d rather pull loaded pickup trucks uphills with a rope than pervert a perfectly good outdoor activity like cycling. Back to the Carmel Salted Cars. As the salt/chem laden snow and water drips onto the garage floor, it insidiously begins eating the concrete. Next thing ya know (even with a working floor drain) you gots Michigan Floor Acne. Not fun or easy to fix.
Got 2 inches of very slushy snow this morning at 6:30 am and by 9 am the salt trucks had blanketed the roads. Meanwhile, the temp warmed to 37 and the rain took care of my sidewalks and driveway. But all the road salt is now flushing into groundwater, streams and creeks along with its chemical compounds and we wonder why we continue to screw over Mother Earth.