Need more snow

Got out on the trails again this morning.  Surface starting to glaze a bit, with temperatures actually above freezing Saturday and a run by the trail groomer.  More haste, less speed, although I don't think the author of that aphorism had cross-country skiing in mind.

Took Elder Son's skis this time.  Not an actual improvement, at least in these conditions.  I think they may be designed for better skiers than me -- needed a solid "kick" to prevent retrograde motion, particularly on uphills, as opposed to my rather lazy stroke.  And they didn't seem in any hurry to turn on downhills.  I may try them on different snow, or just revert to my "generalist" Subaru skis and leave the Ferraris parked in the garage until he chooses to claim them.

Deer tracks in the snow, chickadees chattering, and a hairy woodpecker whacking away on a particularly resonant maple branch.  Making enough noise at a slow-enough cadence that at first I was looking for a pileated.

4 miles, 58 minutes

It's not easy being green

According to THE ECONOMIST, if you fill up your SUV with corn ethanol in order to save the planet, you've just used enough maize to feed a person for a year.

This is beside the question of whether corn ethanol from US Agribusiness Inc. provides a net energy gain.

Would you buy a used stairway from this man?

Minor item of amusement from the morning ski run:  one of the skiers going the other way around the loop was using "Escher" skis.  I don't recall seeing that brand before, but I'm far from an expert. 

Still, I'm not sure I'd clamp my feet to a set of skis designed by M. C. Escher...