Friday, January 20, 2012

a 'wasted' winter week

snowed in 2012 by Southworth Sailor
snowed in 2012, a photo by Southworth Sailor on Flickr.

Had we known that there would be nine days between workdays, we might have taken a Southwest road trip. The unexpected Northwest snow week left us twiddling our fingers and bemoaning the inevitable summer work days. But there's no use crying over spilt milk and we tried to make the best of things. We attacked some low priority projects. Esther washed every piece of fabric in the house and redecorated most of the rooms. I painted the basement stairwell and the hearth room desk area. We also enjoyed reading and net surfing. If this was a taste of retirement, I am not interested in it any time soon.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Pete and Repeat were on the slopes

Yesterday, fellow teacher Pete Darragh and I celebrated MLK Day with a trip to Stevens Pass. It had been four years since I last was on a snowboard. The first couple of runs were a little shaky, but I soon got my 'snow legs' and was 'burning up the slopes' :) It snowed all day, so the conditions were good. The crowds weren't bad either, given it was a holiday. Pete and I made good slope mates as we progress down the slopes at the same speed; even though he needs an extra board to go down the hill:)
The snow is unfortunately not staying in the mountains where it is supposed to be. The lowlands are getting snow as well and school is cancelled today and probably tomorrow. Looks like we'll be having 'summer school' again this year.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Calvin has a new blog


For those of you trying to follow Calvin's doings, 'Big Man Japan' just hasn't been too active lately. Well, it turns out that Calvin has been quietly starting a new blog. His first couple of posts give some details of his holiday activities. You can check it out at http://calvineb.wordpress.com/ There is a link on my sidebar to his new blog. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Closing out the old with a first

By 'first' I don't want to insinuate that there will be a second. On the final day of 2011, I joined hundreds of others in running the half and full marathons in the 'Yukon Do It'. Last year, I ran the half, so this year I wanted to attempt the full marathon. The first half felt real good at two hours, but at about mile 18 the serious PAIN started. My pace slowed to a crawl and only stubborn determination enabled me to finish in 4 hours 26 minutes. I was rewarded with a cheering family including granddaughters. My legs are suffering from the after effect. In hindsight, I think that I rushed my training a little bit and would have enjoyed it more had I taken more time to train.