Blog Neglect

If you have a blog but no one reads it, does it make a sound? In other words, if you don't update, what's the big deal? Even if a bajillion people read it, it's still just a blog. Why am I even bothering addressing it? Welcome to my feeble mind.

Well, we had a classic Midcoast Maine snowstorm: Glorious powder under 2 inches of ice. As my friend Nate often says: "What a pisser." It seems to happen will some regularity. A snowstorm will move in and bring us the beautiful white stuff. Then the storm will kick us in the nuts and drop ice on top of it. The ice locks the powder away beneath an impenetrable crust. OK, that's a bit dramatic, but the net result is that you can't ski in it. Well, you could, but it would suck. You'd either slip all over the place, probably tearing a groin. Or, you'd you break through the crust at irregular times, most likely slipping you ski under the crust and your shin directly into it, which would no doubt induce bleeding and cursing. Ah, I love the coast.

All is not lost, my friends, because the good Lord has brought us the grooming machine. (He made it on the 8th day.) So, when I said you couldn't ski, I lied. You just need to go to a touring center, which isn't a bad thing because the groomer can pretty much ensure good conditions. Good conditions make me happy. Take that icy crust of doom!

D's folks were up for a visit for an early Christmas. We stayed inside for the duration of the storm on Sunday, which was a great way to spend the day just hanging out. Their flight was scheduled for Monday, and off they went. After we dropped them at the airport...err, Jetport...we headed to Pineland Farms for a ski. And, conditions were indeed quite good. The tracks were firm and nice. Good times. It was pretty windy, which was a bit of a downer, as, its name would suggest, Pineland Farms has a number of open fields. It's especially a downer if you forget your specially designed Nordic skiing underwear...which I did. I did manage to rig up a system to get an extra ski hat to stay in place in my pants to "protect the sensitive area." Click here if you want to see my underwear. (Sicko)

Because it was so windy and we didn't start skiing until later in the day, a lot of oak and beech leaves had fallen into the tracks. They were kind of sticky. Any time you picked up speed, they tended to grab a hold of the ski. It made things a bit tricky. Good to stay on your toes. In any event, we had a great ski without any thoughts of the icy crust of doom. Ah, the coast.