How Embarrassing
March 11, 2009
It has been way too long since I last blogged. It’s embarrassing, I know, especially since I worked pretty hard to get approval for Glacier to blog. Bill Hayden was kindly reminding me of that fact this morning, so I told him I’d write today. I also know a lot of you have emailed me wondering why I haven’t blogged in awhile and have encouraged me to pick up the pace.
So what’s my defense? Chalk it up to cabin fever. I have it bad, and I have had it for a long time now. Winter is long in West Glacier. Days are usually cloudy, gray, and dark. When it snows, it often snows a lot all at once. When it stops, we usually receive a lot of rain a few days later. While I have managed quite nicely the last few years in enjoying winter in the Rockies, this year has taken its toll on me. I have been craving sunshine and warm temperatures, the temperatures you find in the summer when the hiking is good. Don’t get me wrong, we do have days of sun in the winter, and I love it, but my boots need to touch soil instead of snow.
So what have I been doing to combat this funk I’ve been in? I have been exercising a lot – running and lifting. It’s hard getting up at 6:00am and walking in sub-zero temps to our fitness room, but like a friend once told me, “The first mile is about talking your body into doing it.” Once I’m there, I pop in a DVD to watch and queue up my workout playlist on the iPod and go for about an hour and a half. My goal is to hike comfortably this summer without losing my breath. Bill Hayden and I have some adventures planned and it’s always nice to enjoy those adventures rather than cursing the fact that you’re out of shape.
When it has been nice out (I’m beginning to think I’ve turned into a fair-weather enthusiast) my family and I have been out sledding. There are a few secret spots in the park where there are some nice sledding hills. After tumbling off the sleds, my kids usually want to climb big mounds of snow. It is interesting and fascinating to see my children take to the outdoors and wanting to climb “mountains”. I myself recently began climbing, so it has been fun spotting them and encouraging them as they make it up their own Mount Cleveland. We have also “tended” to the snowmen here and there. I’m not sure if I should admit that since more often than not this year, they have looked pretty sad. When the snow was packable, we did our best to keep them looking like snowmen.
Evenings have been quite fun. For a month now, coyotes have entertained us with loud barking and howling. For awhile, they were right behind my house making a ruckus each night. Sometimes they would go on for hours, often waking me up. I never thought I would be so fascinated with coyotes. They have made a long winter very interesting for me.
The not so fun stuff has consisted of a lot of shoveling. One week we received a huge dumping of snow that kept me busy. Before that dumping came, I promised two friends that I would take care of their driveways while they were in the Virgin Islands and Seattle. They apparently watch the weather reports more carefully than I do, because the event caught me off guard. I actually had to bust out the snow blower that week. I shouldn’t complain, because our Road Crew was incredibly busy taking care of the park that week, moving much more snow than I can even fathom. Kudos to them.
So, exercising, sledding, shoveling, and listening to coyotes are just a few things I’ve been focused on to help pass my long winter. I need to focus more on blogging and sharing what is happening in the park. I promise to do that.
