Adirondacks

When you have lemons

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

When you have snow…go skiing. Travel and surgery caused me to miss the past two winters. I downhill skied once 3 years ago, traveled to Australia in 2010 and was on crutches in 2011.

20130322-074809.jpg

Yet a beautiful mountain is only 30 minutes away. And we just had 16 inches of fresh snow. And it was midweek. I gave it a try on Wednesday and was reminded how much I enjoy it. Best of all, my ankle worked ( the one that had me on crutches last winter).

What fun, even if my style hasn’t changed in 40 years. I tried out the newfangled skis, shorter than me, had a group lesson, which turned out to be a group of only me, and relished the day. Sweet.

I returned yesterday with DH who immediately wanted to go to the top – he’s a mountain hiker after all. Even though I had been to the summit, three years ago on my one day skiing, I balked.

Some male-female dynamics automatically triggered in my brain and I resisted, initially. Perhaps I have been led astray in the past? Lets just say I had not been to an ER before I met DH and now I have been there twice; first due to broken face in a boating accident; and then due to an ankle injury, which occurred while following him up one of his high peaks. Just sayin’.

So away we went and it was lovely. I’m sold. And I didn’t visit the ER. The view of Lake Placid was stunning.

20130322-080120.jpg

I’ll be back today after a half day of work. After all, we have snow.

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js

Snow is in the forecast but the birds are unaware

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

The temperature is below freezing again but hasn’t stopped the bird migration. It seems every day we hear new songs and see more species at the feeder. This morning a flock of common redpolls stopped by for a frenetic visit. Mourning doves have returned and their song echoes in the woods.

Today a plump, Tufted Titmouse was stopped by and settled in the tree among the spring buds.
tufted titmouse

As long as the birds don’t care about our Hazardous Weather Outlook, neither will we.

Ausable Chasm ice

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

The temperature is gradually turning warmer but ice abounds. I had heard the ice jams at Ausable Chasm were at their peak. I may have missed it by a few days, but it was still pretty spectacular. There were both frozen and flowing waterfalls.

20130305-084452.jpg
This is the view from the road. These amazing rock formations were purchased and made private in the late 1800’s, even before the Adirondack Park was formed. It is one of the oldest “attractions” in the United States.

20130305-084728.jpg
Can you pronounce chasm? I usually mispronounce it and our neighboring town, Schroon Lake. Think school not shroom.

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js

The chop before the storm

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Preparing for a storm is different in the north country. We don’t run out to buy milk or gas. We make sure the snowblower is accessible, the generator starts and the wood is stacked.

20130210-094905.jpg
I split a stack of poplar the other day and it was a delight. No knotty, gnarled roots. It was very gratifying. It went so well, I decided to video the process. I imagined it would be amusing, in later years, to look back and watch myself, capably, reducing logs to firewood.

Not so much. I was capable, I did split the wood beautifully but I also grunted, breathed audibly and sniffled a lot (the temperature was in the teens). The video remains in my private library.

When I was done splitting wood, I walked down to the river to straighten out my back. The river was frozen in spots but running elsewhere.

20130210-095328.jpg
There were signs of summer where the snow had melted. A beachball (?) in the culvert

20130210-095452.jpg a purple, plastic flower in the grass

20130210-095530.jpgand a rings of gold along the road.

20130210-095613.jpg

Woman’s work

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

20130204-074542.jpg
Somewhere this week, perhaps in a medical journal, I read that couples who perform traditional domestic roles at home are happiest. I am very happy. But not traditional.

Yesterday I conquered the remainder of our, phase one, wood pile. This is wood we acquired 2-3 years ago and its time has come to warm the house. I developed a new way to shorten the logs because I was having all sorts of trouble with the chain saw – most importantly, I can’t start it the first time if it’s cold outside.

I split everything but the gnarly, root like pieces of wood, made a pile, then cut them to length with the table saw. Pretty sweet. I filled the wood box, made a nice pile for future use and am ready to attack the next phase of wood, popple (poplar) which splits like buttah. Very rewarding.

My back was a little broken and I wore holes in two pairs of wool gloves. Time to darn them and make a pair of traditional Adirondack buff mittens, the loggers, like me, used to wear.

This photo is from the Adirondack Museum.

20130204-075121.jpg

I have two knitting projects, one weaving project and a quilt in the works.

I’m working on a pair of bird mittens for a birding enthusiast. I was thrilled when I figured out how to flip the chart to reverse the pattern and to reverse the color scheme of the chart, digitally, with the flick if a switch. I was so clever, I forgot to knit the opposite chart on the second mitten.

20130204-075509.jpg

20130204-075520.jpg

20130204-075534.jpg
I put the mittens aside and started a birthday hat yesterday.
The loom is warped and I’m dazzling myself with an advancing twill.

20130204-075658.jpg
I have a lot to learn to keep happy.

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js

Mother Nature’s hot flashes

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

She’s experiencing them now.  We’re in the middle of our January Thaw.  It’s a well accepted phenomenon at mid-lattitudes, and here in the North Country, that the week surrounding January 25 has higher than expected temperatures.  It’s described as a sinusoidal pattern, the curvy line from highs to lows.  The swings in the temperature increase during the January thaw to more than 10 degrees above normal.  It’s more unusual when it doesn’t happen.

Our weather station reports that yesterday hit a high of 51.  And the wind blew all night, with gusts to 37 mph ( which beats all of 2012, with a high wind of 36 mph) the birches swayed, the house creaked, rain fell in buckets, and I was tucked happily inside.

Two days ago, this was my view.

A sweet little cabin in the woods

A sweet little cabin in the woods

Today I see this out the window.

Jan 31 thaw

I’m pretty sure this will come with a rainbow sometime today because it’s sunny, cloudy and snowing lightly.  The temperature is already dropping and is  supposed to fall to 7 degrees f by tonight.  The good news is six months from now, July 24, is predicted to be the warmest of the year.

 

City folks just don’t get it

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

20130130-182846.jpg
I’ve begun to take rural living for granted. Not much surprises me. I answer the door in my pajamas because I don’t expect visitors. I never think of stealing a car, left running in a parking lot, while the owner shops. I wave to everyone I pass (and they wave back). I love listening to the eerie sound of coyotes howling at night and following all the critter tracks during the day.

We are blessed with awesome neighbors. You never know who you are going to live near and we lucked out. We can’t see one another but we know they’re there if we need them. Too bad there’s not a review site like Yelp or Trip Advisor to find out about your potential neighbors before you move in.

I took a double take the other night though while watching TV. An ad appeared for farmersonly.com, “a dating site for farmers because city folk just don’t get it.” Really? Is dating so much different between city and country folk? I used to work crazy hours but didn’t have a dating site devoted to sleep deprived medical residents. I think the work hours are probably the biggest difference. Here’s a link to one if the commercials on YouTube. I would love to know if this commercial plays in urban/suburban areas too.

As predicted, the weather turned nasty today. It rained, was very windy and most of the beautiful snow melted and turned to mud. I stayed indoors (maybe I got dressed today) and am knitting mittens for a birder friend.

20130130-183031.jpg
And I measured a warp for my next weaving project, twill placemats.

20130130-183123.jpgThere is so much order at the outset of a weaving project. Then the fun begins.

Winter woods

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

 

Our house surrounded by snow

Our house surrounded by snow

We received about 4 inches of fresh powder yesterday while I worked.  When I woke up  I jumped out of bed and put my skis on.  Well not exactly.  I lounged around the house until 12:30 or so, then clambered outside.  I hit a new low today when I accepted a package from the FedEx man in my long johns.  My pride thrown out the window in trade for a package.

Snowy evergreens

 Skiing was awesome.  The woods were quiet and I cut new tracks along the river.  Occasionally a pine tree threw a snowball at me and freed its branch  when I skied near it.

 

There were all sorts of treasures in them there hills.

Winter view

 

 

This is the view from the hill in back of  the old homestead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next off to the little ski area next to my house.  It still operates on a quasi-private basis,  mostly on the weekends.  During the week, it’s all mine.

Rusted abandoned ski tow equipment in the woods

Rusted abandoned ski tow equipment in the woods

 

This is the first rusted equipment I found on my journey.  It’s right below an abandoned ski lift.  Supports still stand on  the hill but there aren’t  any chairs.

snow cat

snow cat

 

 

 

 

 

This guy never made it up the hill.

 

 

 

 

 

The newer equipment still shines.  Here’s the gear to get you up the hill.  Notice the benches in the bed of the truck? Sweet.

Snow cat people mover

Snow cat people mover

 

Rusted snow cat in the woods

Rusted snow cat in the woods

 

Still stream in the woods

Still stream in the woods

 

I’m glad I had a chance to play in the snow today.  It’s supposed to be 50 f and raining the next couple of days.