Dear God, Mother Earth, Father Christmas, Baby New Year, Idols, Charms and Spirits

[CycleChic06]

I actually heard someone was skiing last weekend at Killington and the conditions were pretty good. Let me know how the conditions were, maybe I will go to Killington this weekend instead of Mt Snow.

Emily

[telegirl]

Hey Emily- If you are interested, I just got off the phone with hubby. He skied Killington this afternoon and was suprised at the number of people who were skiing midweek - Then again, it is still right around the holiday and some people still have time off. But he said it wasn't too bad. Of course, areas get scraped off, but the snow wasn't bad. They were still making snow up top.

I don't know how it would compare to Mt. Snow, but it is skiable.....that's something, right??

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa - new snowshoes are a small investment to be sitting in a closet. Sadly, we purchased TWO BRAND NEW SNOWMOBILES this year, and there is no place to ride...

Yeah, snowshoes ARE a small investment- especially since you don't have to keep buying gas to keep them running! I sympathize with you about the brand new snowmobiles. Seriously, though, as with buying my bike, I did consider the added good environmental feeling of getting something that ran on leg power alone. I do so MANY errands into town on foot or by bike now instead of using my car like I used to.
Around here, we are seeing AMAZING numbers of boats, RV's, pickup trucks, campers, skidoos, Jetskis, kids' scooters, and off road vehicles sitting by the sides of the roads EVERYWHERE with For Sale signs on them. You practically can't even give them away at this point, what with gas prices so high and our paycheck power shrinking every day.
I also like the feeling of knowing I will be able to get into town for supplies if gas becomes totally unavailable and the roads are all closed in a blizzard. (ever the optimist!)

[anakiwa]

I was listening to the Eye on the Sky forecast this morning on VPR. They said that all the warm weather we're having is NOT global warming, it's El Nino. I feel better knowing that maybe it will all be better next year.

Supposedly there's still cross-country skiing in Stowe- I have most of tomorrow off and am planning on getting a long ski in before it all melts this weekend.

[tygab]

I love winter and this is the 2nd winterless winter. It is kind of worrying me, though on another level I am not minding not having snow to scrape and having to wear gloves, hat and coat everywhere I go.

But, this thought's stuck in my head - a few years ago I read that w/global warming aka climate change, our climate would become more like Atlanta's is today (or at least what we think of it as) at the end of the century. No skiing in winter. In fact it'd be rare to even get snow. And we'd have hot muggy summers.

Um, isn't that what we've had the last two years? I know, two years are meteorologically speaking a poor statistical sampling. But it just has stuck in my head that the future is here a few years early.

Anyway, yeah, I'd like some snow. I didn't ski last season at all. I haven't skied in New England yet this year. Robyn and I have plans to snowshoe if there's ever enough. Last year's Tubbs Snowshoe 5k was in mud, not snow. This year's is looking the same way (and I'm not registered, mostly for this reason).

It's not quite warm and bright enough to entice me out on the bike, though if it's going to be 60 that's about the right temp to get me out there...

[Crankin]

OK, even though I love being able to get out on my bike, I feel weird about this weather. First, it feels like the season has never ended. Not that there's enough light to ride after work now, but in another couple of weeks, there will be, for me at least. But I've had my bike on the trainer, back outside, back in, for weeks now. Every time I ride outside and it's 50 degrees, I feel like it might be my last outdoor ride for awhile. Then it isn't. The really cold weather (less than 35 or so) allows me to feel totally not guilty for trying to ride outside in the cold. So far, I've only had this happen once this year. I really do want to use my snow shoes and x country skis. We are going up to NH at the end of January. Hopefully, there will be some snow. I sort of feel like I'm back in Arizona. Cold nights and fairly warm days at this time of year.

Am I the only one who feels strange?

[Teddyparker]

OK, Am I the only one who feels strange?

I feel the same as you. Its January 5 and I was out on the trails slogging through mud and water. I am glad to be riding but prefer lower 40s and frozen dry trails. I am a bit disappointed that its going to rain tomorrow though(I was thinking road ride). Sunday will be better.
However, being a teacher, this is the time of year I like to watch weather forecasts hoping for those days off so I can have fun in the snow (snowshoeing, xcountry skiiing and shoveling ). I have feeling we will get our snow soon and these days will be fond memory.

[DebW]

OK, even though I love being able to get out on my bike, I feel weird about this weather.

Am I the only one who feels strange?

Yup, very strange. I was sitting outside in shirt sleeves working a sudoku puzzle this evening at 7 pm and cooking on the grill.

[KnottedYet]

Geez.... some people have all the luck! (Deb... this means you!)

- Knot shivering in her 2 pr socks, long undies, fuzzy pants, sweater, wool vest, wool ear-flap hat, and INSIDE with the heat on and sippin' a hot toddy.

[tygab]

well, I guess it's a good thing it was nearly 60 today, cause the oil burner decided to break today. It does this about once a year... and always on a weekend This time it's the power fan thingy, guy has to come back tomorrow with a part. And no, we have not been using the heat a lot this year (it's all programmed and we use it about 1 hr in the am and maybe around 4 hrs at night before sleeping). Anyway, tho the house is a touch cooler than usual, nothing a hot bath and an extra blanket can't handle! If it were say 20F out tho I'd be shivering right about now!

Edit, and yes, it feels very strange. I do not feel like we are in New England at all!

[SheFly]

My furnace in Maine has gone south on the COLDEST day of the year the past two years - you are lucky that it happened now!

You know, the warm weather is nice (I was able to go out and do a ride in SHORTS yesterday for gosh sakes!), but I really was, like Deb, looking for a change in activity after a long season last year. I figured that after Nationals were done, I could hang up the bike for a couple of weeks, do some skiing, snowshoeing, etc., but that hasn't happened. Instead, I am still out on my bike (and will be again after the rain today).

My fear is that I am going to get burnt out on riding if this weather persists! Oh yeah, and my tulips are all up about 2-3"....

SheFly

[DebW]

In homage to the 60 degree weather, I slept outside last night in my hammock with a bare head and mostly out of the sleeping bag. So nice to swing in the hammock, feel fresh air across the face, and listen to rain on the tarp overhead. But how freaky to be doing that on January 5-6. [I have slept in the hammock in January at -10 but this was a totally different experience.]

[Teddyparker]

My fear is that I am going to get burnt out on riding if this weather persists!

SheFly

Its been so warm that it feels almost like we would feel guilty if we didn't ride .

In homage to the 60 degree weather, I slept outside last night in my hammock with a bare head and mostly out of the sleeping bag. So nice to swing in the hammock, feel fresh air across the face, and listen to rain on the tarp overhead. But how freaky to be doing that on January 5-6. [I have slept in the hammock in January at -10 but this was a totally different experience.]

Tha sounds great. I slept with window open, but I guess thats not the same thing.

The cooler weather is coming though. I hope a little snow comes with it.

[Crankin]

I also feel like I might get burned out on riding if i don't get the enforced break that freezing weather usually gives me. That's what I was trying to say in my last post, which when i re-read didn't make sense at all (my son had just walked in the room, arriving from Virginia). I just can't pass up riding outside when it's this warm. We had this discussion at spin class yesterday morning. I am only going to spin once a week, since I am doing a winter training program at home. Some of the newer people were asking the instructor if he had been riding outside. He said no way, he won't go outside again until the streets are cleaned up. Well, sometimes that's not until late April! He seemed worried about his bike getting wrecked. He has the same bike as me, and I figure, well, I can always clean it! If it were warm and the streets were really full of sand or salt then I would take my mountain bike out on the road for a short spin, just to get out.
Well, Tasha, perhaps we will eventually get to snowshoe together once this winter. Sorry about your oil burner. I too slept with the windows open, but it was because my husband found that we had pine needles stuck behind the damper in one of our fireplaces; of course this was after he had thrown a burning wad of newspaper up there, to try and fix something else... our smoke detectors were going off for an hour or more and now the whole house stinks.
OK, going to wait for this rain to clear, so I can go out and ride!

[CycleChic06]

Was just out running errands and saw DOZENS of cyclists riding up Mass Ave through Arlington towards Concord. More than I usually see during the most beautiful days during the summer. I'm soooo jealous. I want to take the bike out, but I have so much stuff to get done today!

I was supposed to go to Mt Snow with my little bro tomorrow but they almost completely closed today, save 3 or 4 trails! So we decided I'd bring both my snowboarding gear and hiking gear and if the mountain is still close we'll go hiking instead. Why should I even be making that decision on January 6th??!!

Emily