the snowshoe diaries:continue

So another day of snowshoeing ends, and this is what I discovered. It is easier to sweat like a beast during the winter, no one looks worried at you,and also because the dog doesn't care.She understands the panting, she thinks I'm cooling myself off.

I've started to use my husband's ski poles, and I'll have to say it's been a nice addition, to what I am doing. They are there when I need to dig in, as I'm climbing up a hill, and are great for an impromptu calf stretch, plus it's another way to get my heart pumping.

I'd like to say , I've moved out of the panting,"oh my gawd, I'm so out of shape" mode but I haven't , though I know it's coming, I'm being impatient. I should probably concentrate more on that's a good thing, that I'm doing right now, instead what will be.

I read this little blurb on snowshoeing from easternslopes.com, it was helpful, and as you look deeper into the blog, there is more on advanced snowshoeing. I wouldn't call what I am doing advanced, but I'm a little more than a beginner.

So if I was to make a snowshoe 101, entry it would mention these things;
1. wear layers, easily opened ones, or ones that breathe,and keep you warm even if they get damp or snow covered.
2.Have a hat with you or earmuffs, a frostbitten ear is never sexy.
3. I would suggest gaiters, to keep the snow off the back of your calves, but since I have well rounded, don't fit into regular gaiters, type of calves, go back to suggestion number 1.
4. Used ski poles, they add another depth to the cardiovascular work out you are getting from snowshoeing, plus they make an impromptu tripod, if you have your camera with you, and you can use them to lean into to stretch after your walk.

oh and the last thing, get up and just do it.

the snowshoe diaries

when you google the term "shoe diaries", you get many different colors,pink,red and black but no snowshoe diaries. I'm not going to change the name of my blog, but for the winter, or at least whiles we have snow, I'm going to go on about snowshoeing, and how it will possibly change me from a flabby,out of shape, forty seven year woman, to a maybe less flabby, but better in shape 47 year old woman.

So let's get this show on the road.

snow days

Last Thursday ,we had a really good snow storm, well I guess the people that had to drive in it, maybe weren't so thrilled, but I was home it was my day off, and I was psyched!(translation excited.) My son was equally psyched, as he got released early from school, and they had a two hour delay the next day.

Then comes this weekend, and on Saturday night more of the white stuff arrived, except this time I was at work.Was I afraid to drive home in it? No, secretly it thrills me, what was not so thrilling, was that the city I work in and the surrounding towns, hadn't really thought that plowing should be their first prerogative. It was Sunday morning, maybe they hit the snooze one extra time, or had one more cup of the delicious coffee, before they went out and started clearing the roads, or maybe they thought who works on the weekends?

Me, I work on the weekends, and holidays, etc, and if you want me to get to my job safely, and take care of your sick loved one in the hospital, I have to be able to get there. Hospital's are open 24/7 they don't close down on holidays (wouldn't that be nice for me) they don't close on weekends, especially Friday nights, when college students feel the need to do one too many shots, and pass out cold, and then their frightened, but drunk friends, call the ambulance to bring them in. It also doesn't close during a snow storm , for those people that feel they need to climb a ladder to clear, the snow off their roof, and end up clearing themselves off too, into a bank of snow , bruised to a royal purpleness. No we're there to take care of you. How about returning the favor? So my one small request, clear the roads, when it's been snowing for the last 3 hours.

Did I get home that Sunday, of course. It puts another notch in my snow driving belt, I can now sign an affidavit, for the Subaru Forrester people, and tell my funny story how I drove home through mostly unplowed roads, in one of the lower drive gears, I didn't slip or get stuck. I did have some precarious drive and dodge moves where I had to avoid, people that were out in the snow and should not have been, but that'll be another charming post for some other time.

Do I have snow tires for my AWD Subaru, you betcha, but that's because they don't plow much at night either, just like on the weekends. When I had to return to work that night, and the big fat fluffy snow flakes were streaming before me, was I concerned, about the less than perfect visibility, No! Because the roads were plowed perfect, and after my drive in snowy cookie dough that morning, and few thousand snowflakes were nothing.

ps: to you snow plow drivers that were out before I was on the road Sunday morning, Thank you.