Nature's joy abounding

Shoveled the driveway, sidewalk, steps.  Swept and scraped Wife's car so she could get to work early for a program.  All this for two inches of snow overnight.  All this before my first cup of coffee.

Now I can go skiing to get some Exercise....

Stopping by woods on a snowy morning

Lotsa people out at the City Forest, to the extent that I had a van waiting for my parking space while I cleaned off my skis at the end of my run.  Got snow-bombed by the trees a couple of times.  Passed more people on the trails than passed me.  All in all, a good morning with excellent snow and trail conditions.

Amused by a woman with a trio of short-legged dogs, don't know the breed, something in the rat-terrier range.  Anyway, going by the tracks in the snow, she'd done the entire four-mile loop with those critters.  Bet they sleep well tonight.

The loop has distance markers every 500', except I skied for as much as 2000' between sightings.  Don't know if the signs were actually missing -- white signs with green lettering tacked to tree trunks in the winter spruce/pine/fir forest tend to vanish well "in place."

No wildlife.

4.0 miles, 1:00

Hmmm

Just heard a rumble out the side window, not uncommon in winter -- ice column falling from the eaves.  So I checked, and found a snow squall happening out there.

Don't recall that in the noon forecast.  Guess we've moved back into the hills again.