No snow, cupping, 16.99 mpg

So I'm struggling trying to get used to updating this more than once weekly. This post is going to be rather stream of consciousness.

Saturday: had Men's choir rehearsal at 8am. 8 frikken am. as in 08:00 hours. I love the fact that we finish by 09:00 and have the whole rest of the day to be productive. I am slowly getting used to waking up at 06:30 to do my stretches, get a smallish breakfast in so as not to upset the stomach but not to pass out during rehearsal, then I have a sizeable second breakfast when I get home such as a bagel alley bagel (1/2 with cream cheese, 1/2 with tofutti) and a bananna and some water or juice. ***Ey yo berg: watch out, some so-good-they-might-smack-you-in-the-face bagel alley bagels might be coming your way to show up your Absolut bagel-worshipping self!

This Saturday I was going to Windblown xc to do some skiing as Saturday was supposed to be great weather (middle low 30s and sun) whereas Sunday was supposed to be same temp but cloudy. A "1" day as Al Jenks of Windblown says. I realized I was shafting my Dad out of an opportunity to see this place I've been raving about for a year but never went to until around the 9th of this month and year. So I asked him if he wanted to go and snowshoe around because we weren't going to make it for the 11A group ski lesson and I am in no way ready to be a xc ski instructor. The verdict?

It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We traipsed around (please don't hunt me down for that, Karl) for about 2 hrs and though it wasn't exactly the endurance intensity workout I wanted we got a good amount of distance under our feet, climbed a good sized hill with views southeast to the Monadnock region and beyond (couldn't quite find Boston...) saw the "beaver pond" and got a sense of how big the Windblown trail network really is (not huge but big enough). its sweet! I'm hoping to go there this Sunday despite them only predicting 7-10ks of granular to be open (they got hit by the rain too, 12-20" base went to 3-8" with wet spots) because my skis are ready! Yup, the old school Fishcer Europa Crowns will finally be ridden with legit ski boots in the bindings! That time I tried to ski up to Aiken from Redstone apts senior year when there was snow on the paths and pavement while in my snowboots didn't really work and therefore doesn't count. Got some SNS classic bindings from EMS and some Atomic SNS boots from Sierra Trading Post (which is an amazing place by the way). With my sweet secondhand swix alulite poles (compliments of Biathlon bruiser Mr. Newt Rogers) I'll be ready to rip... all 8k of it.

So about that rain... we went from some beautiful snowy landscapes around these parts in the greater Nashua, NH area to bare ground and some ice mounds where plows made piles and snowblowers piled snow. It rained all day yesterday, sometimes very hard! It was getting hard to get up or down the bottom 1/2 of driveway-completely iced over from the uesday storm we got last week-but now its just dry with some water here and there. A depressing midwinter funk on the ground and in the air and in my mind. Damn. hope that expresses how bummed I am about the snow disappearing. maybe I should just go move to Monte Sainte Anne but... oh wait, they have granular surface too, probably had a thaw themselves.

Since when did winter become such a fickle thing? We all need to do our parts to reduce climate change and maybe we'll start getting some more reliable snow soon. OR maybe I'm wrong.

Got a massage today from our family's (just because my mom goes to her a lot, dad has a few times and one sister did twice) asian masseuse today. my neck was killing me after I did some furious chopping on Sunday and I woke up monday almost unable to move my head more than 2 degrees in any direction and feeling like I might pass out if I moved it too fast. ouch. a day taking it easy (no weights :( bah) with a heating pad and a hot shower and sleeping helped and this massage did too! I felt great coming out of there.
She also did cupping. do you folks know what that is? If not, read on. Its an asian detoxification approach wherein they take glass cups (bulb-shaped) that you light something along the rim of (or run a flame over) to create suction or smaller ones of plastic or rubber(?) you can physically create suction with and place them on various sections of your back and neck. I had so much hair on my middle neck the one she really wanted to stay there fell off about 8 times and only stayed on for about 20 seconds max. they pinch when they are put on and then you get used to it and for me they were tingling by the time she took them off. it is supposed to pull the toxins out of your muscles (and elsewhere? not sure...) so you can discharge them. You get bruise-like marks visible through your skin that you can freak people out with. The guy at Jomaris who was cutting my hair asked if the round mark on my neck was a bruise or a birthmark. I said neither. They're rather itchy right now and some are sore but I've consumed almost 3 liters of water since then so I'm doing my best to get whatever they brought up, out of my body.

... and I'm spent. for now. sorry this was a long post, part of this blogging thing will quickly become an exercise in being succinct for me.

peace love and bacon grease,

TheJeffCaisse

Snow

Wow. After finally getting another big storm Fri-Sat 01-02 Jan, my first xc ski sess of the year on 09 Jan and mixed emotions (despair over the disappearing really local ski-able snow vs. excitement that I could go for a ride with ease) over the early weekend melt the 15-17 Jan, ullr has coated the trees and surrounding landscape with more powdery white stuff. started as rain the 17 Jan before I went to bed and became wet snow then powder overnight into Martin Luther King Jr day. And guess who got to snowblow and shovel 90% of my driveway? yours truly. So much for "religiously" lifting Monday and Thursday every week before April. But after getting upset over the duality in my thoughts about snow (love to play in it but can't stand clearing it, that's some serious TUSB huh?) I was able to realize no, I am not a pro yet, and yes, I did get a tremendous workout lifting that packed down snow because 3 of 4 cars that were here were moved before the driveway was clear.
I can't get over how beautiful snow-covered trees are. driving to a wonderful dinner at my friend JH's house last night I was struck by how every tree, native or ornamental, held the snow. Shrubs too. In our yard the quince looks like its down for the count, the 2+ meter tall shoots I trimmed this summer are between 15 and 30 cm off the ground/snow. but that thing grew to be the massive cluster of beauty it is growing from 1 transplanted shoot so I'm sure it'll be fine. I hope?
yes, I did just use the metric system. Being 8 months out of college I'm starting to lose my handle on the metric system. I'm trying to get it back. This is what you get for reading the blog of someone with a BS in (wildlife) biology.

Any way I've spent enough time on the computer. time to start ironing out the weekly plans for training this coming year and look some more for jobs!

keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll get an interview and after that a job in something wildlife-related in New England... its tough to find