Almost...

(pic added by 40oz by the end of the new trail)

40 and I finally got out biking last weekend- was a good ride as probably 70 bikers descended on Burlingame to get a winter ride in. Rode some newly cut trails (way too much wetlands- hopefully we can get a re-route...), rode some trails we knew. When I woke up it was 14 degrees, but by the time I got home it must have been over 35. 40oz should have some pictures somewhere, though I think the only ones he took were of us exercising the Spaceman set-up while changing a flat...
(pic added by 40oz)



In other news- the hockey season is getting towards playoffs- which means that the grass is... greenening... or something... Which means- Baseball, baby!

And after that- FARTAB! With how high the brook/river has been- I have been jonsing for a kayak trip. I know you all are going for a snowboard trip, but seeing as I have to miss it, I am looking forward.

Have a good time this w/e...

Fun with facial hair '07

So every year between Thanksgiving and the last week of April, I grow a beard. It's fun to not have to shave and if you can get a nice full one going, it's not a bad gig. Well last year I thought I'd have fun with saying goodbye to it for the season. I decided to bring my digi-cam into it and I took my beard from full guns to, well, just check it out for yourself.....

....Crayons, I think I left my copy of Mein Kampf at your place.

The time of year...

Post groundhog, pre-spring jitters have set in. This weekend the temp in the yard hit 60s. Nuts for new england on groundhog's day. Global Worming is upon us indeed. Our neighbors .. farmers; commented this morning that my observation that the robins didn't just get back... they never left. If that isn't a sign of something f'ing spooky is going on with the climate, I don't know what is. Other scary sh*t

The warm weather makes me want to start riding a bike to work... Getting light enough out again to walk snoops *and* ride to work in daylight. Yeeehaaa.

Also around this time, I realize I haven't been snowboarding ONCE yet this year.

Anyone up for a pre-SSRADAB night adventure at Crotch Mtn or equivalent area with snow? I gotta get the rust out of the legs before that trip.

-40.

the morning routine....

I've had a summer-morning/dawn patrol routine for a while now.... Get up at dawn and ride my bike or kayak for a while. This summer though I spent alot more mornings walking the dog....really, most of them.

In the winter I used to sleep late as I could... like 8 on the weekends. Thats late. Now that Snoopy is being a little less of a puppy, we're sleeping a little later, but not much. I'm up at the crack of dawn again in the winter too. Up with the roosters and the farmers and the paper delivery folks.

So... When we get up Snoopy and I take a walk up to the pond every morning. Kinda neat to see a spot change with the seasons and all. At the pond, the ice is thinning out a bit, but I expect it will be back before spring really breaks through.
Snoopy learned about thin ice the hard way... sniffing out something that had walked out on the ice and poking a foot through at the edge.

Here he is on his 1st birthday. Yup. Snoopy was born on Groundhog's day last year.

Spring seems to be getting close... I saw some robins on the way home sunday morning... must be a new record... Feb 3rd! Watch out for Global Worming!

-40

Another Sledding Post...

We don't have any snow left in the BeerMuda Triangle. I don't mind... gives me time to work around the yard. But... now that the CTLPs found a bad@ss place to go sledding.. I want to go!

I need a cool sled tho.. so I did some web searching for the State of the Art in sleds:

Check out the video about these sleds. We need to find someone who has one to try out.

Of course, even fancier is the hammerhead sled

Some mountains even have hammerhead racing series!

-40

A post....just a little late

OK, I just re-read this post and it sucks...not very creative, kinda boring, but hey....so's my life, so leave me alone.

For New Years, GardenGirl and I and a couple went to a B&B in Bennington VT. It was a working farm. Nice place. In the middle of nowhere and it was even better with all the snow. They got 12" of snow the night before we got there, on top of the 18" of snow already on the ground. Then New Year's Day, they got another 6" of snow. You can see some of the things working on the farm here. They had some very vocal cows who like it when we talked to them. We had a two room suite above the carriage house (aka garage). It was nice cause we stayed up late. We cooked dinner in the driveway with some charcoal and a dutch oven. Not having to go out on New Year's Eve rocks. We started drinking early, right when we got home from our adventure......you'll see pics below.
We went snowshoeing following a winter trails book that I had. It said it was an easy trail. The easy trail was only 5 miles long, which is fine during the summer, but when you are hauling extra heavy shoes around that carry snow with it, it makes it much longer. Plus the trail was pretty steep the whole way. We climb a small mountain, Mt. Olga. There's no way I would have called this trail easy. I'm not complaining, I enjoyed it, I'm just saying.
Here's me reading the book to make sure I knew where I was and I realized that there was a nudie picture stuck into the book.
And finally GardenGirl taking off, trying to get away. I kept threatening to push her over because I knew with the deep powder and her snowshoes, she would have a hard time getting up.
Anyways, it was my first time snowshoeing in really deep snow. It was great. I love winter. I wish we had more of it around here.
New Year's Day, after having baked apples and french toast at the main house of the B&B, we went snowshoeing again while the 6" of snow fell. We just went across the street from where we stayed on the trial system there. Not to anywhere in particular, more just to get out.

Beermuda Triangle Work Exchange Program

Hello!
Another busy week and weekend around the BeerMuda triangle. CTLP found a potential solution to the snowplow digging up our gravel driveways... cover the cutting edge with a piece of pipe. After some research on Plowsite.com, we confirmed this is the hot setup for our problem. So.. We packed up some pipe (snicker), and headed over to the FlatTires world famous workshop. You might recall this is where the plow got stuck on my truck in the firstplace.

FlatTires and I figured the easiest way to attach to the plow is to weld it on. The westsider CTLP disagreed and bolted his on. Eh.. his Big Red Truck and plow is waaayy fancier than mine, and I figure i can alway take the pipe off in a couple mintues with a die-grinder and a cutoff wheel. FlatTires rocked... had both plows all fixed up in no time.


Last weekend we split about 3-4 cords w a splitter over the 40s house. FlatTires had wood too (*more snickering*) that he needed split, so we hit it with a maul, wedge, etc.

Here is a particularly stubborn piece... CTLP got the maul stuck, then the wedge, and when FlatTires tried to liberate them with the chainsaw,, that got stuck too! F-U Mr Oak!!!

Overall, I figure we split/stacked 2-3 cords or so. Check it out:


This morning I could barely lift my arms. Wood is heavy. (giggle.)

keep warm... see you soon!

-40

Dirty Little Secrets...

As much as I hate to post right after the CTLP's excellent posts... I have to admit I'm hooked. These 30 second-5 minutes blurbs are perfect for watching while eating dinner, or while waiting for the Mister/Missus/Youngin getting ready to go out.

Web TV. Alright... I've found only a couple of these so far worth watching. All are homemade, self produced, micro-funded, full of YouTube-ry that you'll either puke or want to at least give them 5 seconds to check out the next video.

The 'Burg is pretty old(its oh so 2006), but still somewhat entertaining in small doses of Williamsburg hipster culture. . I couldn't get through the last couple episodes but.. eh... make sure you at least watch the My Humps and Beer shorts.

The Bicyclist Boy moves to Portland, rides a bike to impress the girl, and (spoiler alert) gets the girl. Watch out for the Demon SUV... Ha! So Funny!. blech.

Now, Go read CTLPs post. Cya. -40

Sledding- the redux

I knew it was just up the street, but never stopped to check it out. Until today. 40 has posted a few on sledding, and I have always enjoyed it in the past- but considering 'hills' are hard to come by around here, I have to admit I was somewhat happily surprised by the fun that I had sledding (and building) at 40's house a few weeks back.

So- I did my homework and checked it out. Behold, the new hottness:

From a third of the way looking down

The last third


Yep. That is right. The abandoned ski place. Some of the trails are still quite clear. Granted, there is not a lift anymore, but does that matter? Increased exercise and it will make us appreciate the downhill adventure all the more. I was so excited that I am going to go out and buy myself a snowboard (because hiking in ski boots blows) so that I can enjoy this wonderment.


The state bought the property back in the early 80's, and most of it is run down or overgrown:



Again, does that matter? It still has a mighty 300' of elevation drop- which seems silly, I know- but it is more of a drop than the only operational ski place in the state...

It seems like the only people taking advantage of the property are the ATV's- lots of trails at the top of the hill. I followed one of them a ways to the East and it would be a fantastic sledding trail. Narrow. Banked (eroded) edges. Downhill. Who knows where it goes, but there is one good way to find out!

I am going to have to do a little investigating into the reasoning and rationale as apparently two of the main trails were recently clearcut:


Midway looking up


Near the summit looking down


It would be interesting to know why this was done in this fashion. Since they left so much burnable hard wood lying on the ground. What a waste. I can think of a couple of hungry Garns that could have used that fuel... On the positive side, the bundles of branches do form sweet jumps! This one is a six footer, covered in snow it would be a monster...




All in all, it was a good little walk. And one can see the potential for a winter weekend fun-time activity which could be enjoyed by males and females alike? Bask in the family enjoyment and behold the possibilities with snow, sleds, canines, snowboards and frosty barley pops!

Crayons and Mrs. Taste Like Crayons (and Canine Crayons) OUT.

Late gift...

Yeah.

I was going to post this as a 'Happy Holidays' to all- but figured that it would be better served during the post-holiday winter doldrum period. So, without futher ado- I give you
HCWD

Roam around a little, I swear it will make you chuckle... My favorites are the comments.

While I like Velvet, I have to say,
Cro'Bagnon is one of my favorites. Best comment: 'His picture ate my soul'. Money!