Thud. Thud. Thud.

It's cold in Anchorage again. This morning the temperature had warmed to -0.6 by the time Squirt and I went outside. On the upside, we are gaining light - today we had 5 hours and 42 minutes representing about 15 minutes more light during the day since December 21.

I found out yesterday that December 2006 was the 3rd snowiest December on record. The airport registered 37" of snow and our house on mid-hillside generally gets more due to the higher elevation. I'm guessing we had 8" more. Bonus though - we are scheduled to get another 6" tonight.

Speaking of snow, as I mentioned before, we went to Alyeska this weekend to downhill ski. Saturday started off a little rough though. We were scheduled to meet friends at 9:00 am to drive about 30 miles South arriving in time to unload the cars, get to the ski school, rent any needed equipment, etc. etc. It snowed most of the evening Friday night and we opted to set the alarm a little early in case we had to shovel before we left. If not, sweet - another hour of sleep!

The alarm sounds at 6:30am and I get up to peek out the window. Sure enough there's another 6" on the ground and still snowing. Time to shovel and throw. Squirt and I leave out the back door to do the decking and groom the doggie trails. I hear the snow thrower start up and head down the first sweep of the drive. (I am positive the neighbors were happy to hear the thrower going at 6:45am on Saturday morning!)

Shovel. Shovel. Shovel.

Pretty soon, I notice all is quiet. "Hum. I wonder if Robert is OK? Did we run out of gas? Did he fall on ice? Surely he didn't finish the entire drive and sidewalks while I only did the back deck? I'd better check once I finish up here."

Shovel. Shovel. Shovel.

Finally - finished! I head inside and don't hear Robert anywhere. I check out the window and only one swipe across the drive had been cleared. Squirt and I wander downstairs to the garage and open the door. There's the snow blower tipped over on its' back with Robert kneeling in front of it. Sure enough...Saturday was the day he ran over the rubber door mat with the snow thrower gumming up the rotating blades. He was using pliers to pull pieces of door mat out that had been chewed off. Needless to say he wasn't very happy but luckily nothing broke and he was able to finish the driveway after all. We made it to the meeting place in plenty of time and he kept telling me I really didn't need to blog about this. But how could I resist??? :)

Back to skiing!

We took another lesson on Saturday and mastered the small bunny hill. Graduating to the bigger bunny hill in the afternoon, we continued to ski and some even went on the lift to the green runs. I, however, stayed on the bigger bunny hill and happily played for about 30 minutes at a time. By the end of the first day it was dark (skiing at night really provides some fantastic snow views) and I was tired, sore and apparently over-confident as I was ready to try a green hill. Guess what happens next….

I successfully negotiate to the lift (duck walking with 5' slats for feet is not easy for me and this is a significant accomplishment), manage to get on the chair, don't fall out of the chair, keep my ski tips up for dismount, stand up, flail and fall right in the path of the other skiers getting off of the lift. This was an omen for the rest of the trip down the mountain. I get up and re-attach my skis and head to the "starting line" - which happens to contain the steepest part of the run. I'm starting to have second thoughts about this.

I take off and can't seem to turn as gracefully as I did on the bigger bunny hill and if I don't soon, I am going to go off into the woods. Solution? Sit down - ok - more like crash. I get up, get my skis on, turn around and start again. I make it all the way to the other side of the slope and crash because I can't turn. Repeat once more only this time, crash in the middle of the run for no apparent reason. Luckily this one was my last crash (that I remember - I may have lost count by then) and I made it the rest of the way down the mountain to the day lodge. By this time it was 7:30pm and I was ready to hike back to the car and call it a night. Taking off the ski boots felt really good.

Sunday, getting out of bed was a challenge. I expected my legs to hurt but my shoulders were exceptionally sore from the tow rope. Putting my coat on was rather difficult. I spent Sunday on the bigger bunny slope and didn't try any greens. The only bad part was the bunny slope was too short and the tow rope continued to wreak havoc on my shoulders and arms. Sunday night, I could barely move anything.

I can't wait to get back out to Hilltop this weekend and try it some more!

In retrospect - "Thud. Thud. Thud." was very apt for this column…