Saturday Slight

Our winter blast has calmed down after some wild, relentless winds, white-outs and icy roads yesterday.  

Now, it's time for the snow lovers to have their blast as Schweitzer opens its season in a couple of hours. 

I sincerely wish I liked downhill skiing or boarding, but I'm a weirdo who never really found a lot of fun in sliding, out-of-control, down a steep hill populated with hundreds of daredevils.

Usually whenever I did slide, upright on the skis, it wasn't very far. 

Usually I spent more time lying on the snow than flying over it.

I never liked the feel of being strapped into those great big cumbersome ski boots.  They felt more like shackles to me.

I also didn't get too excited about plunking down all those dollars for a day of misery on a ski hill.  

In later years, we tried cross country skiing, which I kinda liked.  I especially liked it when we went to Farragut State Park or Achilles Ranch near Newport or even a neat place owned by the University of Montana north of Missoula. 

I have good memories of outings in all those places because the trails were groomed, and, on the Montana adventure the Big Blue Sky sported a big brilliant sun all day long. 

I also remember taking Willie and Annie to Farragut with us and even entering a cross country race or two.  Somewhere among our moving boxes, we may even still have the little ribbons they won.

Whenever cross country skiing involved maneuvering through waist deep snow on hills through narrow openings between trees, it lost its luster in my mind.  

Again, I spent too much time trying to figure out how to dig myself out of too many holes, where often my pole was stuck under my skies which were stuck under my not so dainty self.  

Not easy to pry one's self loose in those situations. 

We continued cross country skiing for several years; I even tried the groomed trails up at Schweitzer, which generally gave me an easy ride.

When Santa delivered a pair of snow shoes from the Alpine Shop one Christmas, I found the perfect way for me to enjoy the snow. 

You don't usually slide out of control with snow shoes, and you can usually set off any direction you like---for free. 

So, that's what I stick to.  My snow shoes are outside, stuck in a snow bank next to the garage door, waiting for their first workout for this winter. 

I also like the fact that you can go snow shoeing any time you want.  No need to drive anywhere unless you want.  

The farm fields and trails through the woods suffice AND each trip makes for a good workout.

Again, my uncoordinated, phobic self does so wish that skiing and boarding would seem more appealing, but, so far, no experience has ever helped that along. 

So, as usual, I'll trudge through the snow at our Lovestead playground with my Red Feathers and be glad for those thousands of folks up at Schweitzer who are having a great time at their playground today.

Before taking off on snow shoes, I might point the car toward Bonners Ferry where the annual Mennonite Craft Show and lunch is happening today.  Bill hasn't decided whether he wants to join me.

I was hoping Debbie could come along like she did last year, but she's a judge for the LEGO competition today.  She says there will be about 18 teams competing, and she had to be there before 8 this morning.

We'll connect with Debbie and Willie this evening, along with my mother and sisters at the Colburn house.  

Tonight marks our first full-fledged ZAGS get-together/meal for the season.  We still have to figure out who's bringing what for eats, but we know we'll all be seated in my sisters' living room when the Bulldogs tip off against Hawaii.

The team's second game far exceeded their first.  

In fact, our family consensus, after watching the first game against Eastern Washington, was that it might be a long, hard year for the ZAGS.

A different team hit the floor against WSU, though, and from the get go, they fired up our annual ZAGS fever.  So, it's definitely at a fever pitch for tonight's game.

Great Saturday ahead on this cold, cold November day.  

Hopefully it will end up with our ZAGS fever keeping us charged up more than ever.

Happy Saturday.  GO ZAGS!