Winter Sports

Yesterday we had freezing rain (in both morning & night) and NO SUN, plus it was as cold as a witch's tit. We have about a half-inch of ice on the driveway and its pretty much glare ice. The sun is out today and it has melted the ice off our East facing windows; they had solid ice on them and were like privacy windows where no one could see in or out but the sunlight could come in. I went outside to see if the garage down was iced shut -- it was. I salted the hell out of the ice in front of it, waited a little bit and then started chipping away at it. And woohoo! It finally came loose.

I looked around and realized that my asphalt driveway that was iced over was a perfect skating rink, so back in the house to put on some snow pants. Found my ice skates (these only make it out once or twice a year) and stared skating around. I knew I might not getting skating otherwise, as Andy doesn't like to do any type of skating too much (bad inline skating accident.)

It was a lot of fun; I didn't have to watch for little kids skating around me; I could go at my own speed; there was no one there to skate slow in front of me; and I set up a chair so I could rest when I wanted to. I am not that great of a skater, but I can stay up and get around. I wish I knew how to skate better. After the fact, I found this website on how to skate.

I let the dog chase me around, but she's dumb and she was going to trip me up so I had to play fetch with her as I skated in circles. We have a pretty long driveway that has a cul-de-sac at the end, so it really is an ideal place to skate. In the summer I sometimes get out the inline skates and have my fun.

So, I fell better knowing I have ice skated at least once this winter. I still want to go cross-country skiing. I think I will check the state parks in our area to see if any rent cross country skis. Most have trails, so that's not an issue. I just don't own any skis. It might be fun to do some downhill skiing too, but I doubt Andy wants to do that and it can be pretty expensive and takes up a whole day. Although if I want to save some money, I could buy a certificate from Flato (certificates in WI, MN, IL & FL for half price). And I still want to go sledding too. I used to do a lot more winter sports when I babysat, as kids are pretty eager to do them, adults get a little apathetic about winter sports. Maybe I'll have to find a friend with kids that is going sledding and tag along.

Keep warm.