Swoosh Swoosh

Second day at Whistler and we headed up Blackcomb mountain today. Conditions are decidedly spring skiing. There are sections of ice, sections of slush, the whole range....

Sinan had  a short day yesterday on Whistler mountain and had to go down to the village before us since he was having problems with altitude and breathing. I caught up with him back at the hotel after a couple more runs in the clouds. Whistler mountaintop was really whiteout conditions. It freaked me out several times since I could not see more than 10 feet in front of me. Luckily we were in areas where there where orange markers for the edge of the ski area so we just followed them down out of the clouds.

Anyway today we headed up Blackcomb and the weather was clearer we even got sunshine. Unfortunately the run down from the top started on a section of really bad ice and Sinan wore himself out fighting it. I was not too happy with it either and my butt is really unhappy with the hardness of the snow up here! After we made it down that bit we realized that Sinan was going to need rest and possibly a helicopter to get down! I finally sent off Nick and Jocelyn and got Sinan to get up and walk a bit. He started walking down so I kicked off my board and carried skies and board down behind him. Pretty soon Nick and Jocelyn came by again with Nick's friend who kindly put Sinan's skis on his pack and head off to where Sinan was. He got him to ski down some more and pretty soon we got down to a chair where we could head on down a cat track while the rest of them went up the chair. That began an epic cat track run/hike. We had to stop a lot and let Sinan's legs stop shaking and we alternated walking and riding/skiing. I did manage to perfect my goofy foot forward riding since my normal turns where towards the cliff and trees. I also managed to learn how to turn 360s on the snow..... Pretty cool. My legs at this point are pretty much worthless though. 

We did eventually make it down to a chair lift which could take us down to the bottom. We got off walked across the street and sat down in the bar and had water beer and veggie burgers. That helped a lot! Walking back tot the hotel was a bit of a trial but getting there and hitting the shower was heaven! 

"Minky" the Axolotl

This was the weekend of the GSAS auction - I was uncharacteristically restrained this year but I did well in my mission to revamp the boxes of water at the house. I got rid of all the Bolivian Rams I have raised up over the last few years - They are great fish and I highly recommend them! But I wanted to delve in to different species and I especially wanted to set up a tank for a mudskipper. I saw them a few weeks ago at a shop in West Seattle. I want to set up a species tank for one! One thing I could not resist though was a very cute little axolotl. He has been dubbed "Minky" by a friend who had pointed the species out to me some time back....

Tandem Jaunt

So it was a pretty busy weekend. Some of the gang from work hit the slopes on Friday and spent a very nice day snowboarding and skiing. I had a very good day, hardly fell at all except for one memorable tumble on a packed cat track which made me quite happy to have a helmet. Even with the helmet I came out of it slightly stunned and with a sore head. I of course accused Sinan of taking us up that run just to get rid of me. Dick explained to him that he should have invested in a breakaway helmet for me.
Anyway we had a great time and on the drive down I got a call from Max my tandem buddy. She wanted to know if we were riding the next day, Saturday. See we made plans (wine might have been involved) to do a 100k and 200k in early March. So some time on the bike was in order! We agreed that around noon was a great time to start out.
So Saturday after a bit of a lie in and some excellent oatmeal (plus some house cleaning but let’s not go there) we set off for an unknown distance on an unknown route. It was a beautiful spring day so the route gradually morphed into one with a maximum of lakeside riding eventually ending up as a south lake Washington loop route. Max was really feeling her oats and pushed the pace any time any racer boys had the temerity to get close or even worse pass us. I on the other hand was feeling the snowboarding I had done the day before. The legs were a little tired, but it was such a nice day it did not really matter and we flew down towards Seward park. In one of the route morphs we decided to do a south lake loop and so I made an abrupt turn to head up. In the turn I felt that strange out of control feel in the bike that told me that we had a flat. On stopping we found the rear tire soft but not flat so decided to pump it and go on. A few miles down the road in a busy Rainier avenue we had to stop and pump again at which point we knew we had to change the tire but decided to see if we could get to a more pleasant spot to do it. After a quick pump we went off and around the Renton airport and rolled to a stop in a Boeing walkway to change the tube. At this point I realized several things: only 1 of my two spares was the correct size, I was being particularly clutzy and my patch kit had migrated elsewhere. So between the being a clutzy and being extra careful I took forever to change that tube. In randonneur mode I could have had dinner and a nap in the time it took! No worries though no one was waiting for us or laughing at us so off we went…. Eventually….
After a quick stop for some supplies at target and a bathroom stop at Gene Coulin park we continued on around the lake when another turn and I felt that same squirelly feeling along with a sinking feeling about the lack of patches or spares…. No we had not missed a piece of glass this flat was due to a defect in the rubber near the stem. In any case we called for a pickup and started walking. Pretty soon an older gentleman came along and offered help. He had a patch kit and a lecture on being more prepared for us and pretty soon we were on our way…..

Triops a no go

Well just a follow on to the Triops experiment. They were a no-show. I never saw any hatch out and so finally today I rinsed out the tank and set it up for some fish fry I hope to have soon….
Somewhere along the way waiting for them I kind of lost interest so I am going to let them drop.

Triops

Yep - yet another aquatic thing to try. Someone mentioned Triops on the GSAS alias and I figured what the hey - sounds interesting - I poked around on the web and found some more info on them. They are a slightly horseshoe crab like thing that has 3 eyes and grows to about 2 inches. Their native environment are ponds which go dry so they are a bit like killifishes and such like. They have short lives and their eggs expect to go through a dry period before hatching when the pond fills up again.

So I went down to “Science Art and More” a great place to buy misc. toys, glassware and such. I get long glass “eye” droppers there to feed and dose tanks plus grandkid presents…. I found some triops eggs in a cute little kit. It included some dried pond muck (aka - nutrient material) and the eggs. I set up a small tank and put them in a glass dish in its water to soak yesterday. Didn’t see anything today.

More later!

Don't run in Holey Socks

So the exercise kick is on and I hit the gym early with the thought to start training for the Danskin Triathlon My worry about Triathlons has always been the running leg so I figured I should see if I can get to a point where I can run the distance. Hopefully before the drop dead date for registration I can at least decide whether or not my body will put up with the run leg.
Anyway 10 minutes in to the treadmill workout - a 3.6mph walking pace with a minute of 5mph jogs now and then - I realized that the socks I had put on where the ones with a hole in the left heal. So now I have a hole in my left heal with a cushy band aid over it. Sigh…. I did manage a little over a mile and a little over 17 minutes on the treadmill.

It's the end of the world as we know it....

Wooooeeey it is wet out there - Snow started on Saturday afternoon and then turned to rain that night and it has been coming down in buckets ever since then. I got to work and half the parking lot was flooded. I parked on the edge of one of the lakes and am hoping the car is not knee deep when I leave tonight!
Sinan stayed home today. he is much better but still not back to normal. I would like to be at home with a hot cup of coffee and a good book!