Over President’s Day Weekend Eric had Trevor come over for some ice skating and a sleep over. The flooded park in Holland Patent has rough ice and slopes quite a bit, but that didn’t deter them.
There was a lot of falling.
On Monday Kathryn, Eric, Margaret and Harrisen went XC skiing on the Egypt Hill Trails. There was a lot of falling there too. Below Harrisen and Eric enjoy their down-time. Eric ate a lot of snow.
Getting ready to tackle a hill.
And now the fun stuff!
Kathryn had been XC skiing across the road and encountered several new snowshoe trails. We asked our immediate neighbors about them, but no one claimed credit. So we decided to track them down. But 1st Chimchar decided to hijack my down vest for her amusement.
The snowshoe trail branched off our normal “Appliance Alley” trail. Going through the woods made for a pleasant hike.
We followed the trail until it intersected with an even more used snowshoe trail that lead to an old foundation and then it went down the north side of Pen Bonc Hill to Fraser Road.
On my return trip a ruffed grouse exploded from its resting place at the base of a little apple tree. From the looks of the droppings the grouse spent a lot of time resting there before scaring the crap out of me.
The week of 8 February I got stuck in WDC during a big snow storm. On Thursday 11th Eric’s 1st grade hosted a Valentine’s Day Concert. Unfortunately I missed it, but Kathryn took some pictures. The kids performed several songs a couple of dances.
During the Howe Cavern’s Reunion in July 2009 I talked with Martha (Tripp) Garing about a multi-year SCS Reunion. We held planning meeting in early December and resolved to have a 1970-75 reunion scheduled for 18 September 2010.
We held a 2nd planning meeting on 6 February. I spent the night prior in Cobleskill with my Mom. We shared Chinese food and stories.
The following day we met at Howe Cavern’s for our meeting. Below Katie Benninger, Jeff DeGroff, Rick Herrick, Bob Holt, Barb (Dutton) Haverly, Regina Tator, Marilyn Henry, Deb (Vanderwerken) Schaffer, and Martha (Tripp) Garing hatch great plans.
Every Thursday after school Eric goes XC skiing with the local chapter of the Wolverine Ski Club. They play games and learn skills to help them prepare for skate ski racing when they get older. Below Eric poses with some of his team mates after winning a relay race.
We planned a vacation with Helmers to visit the Rochester Museum of Play to see the Lego exhibit. Jim and Pam took their grandson Vance,. We met in Syracuse and drove out on Friday morning. We spent 4 hours in the museum in the afternoon. We enjoyed the Lego exhibits and the rest of the museum.
On our way to the hotel we swung by Kathryn’s parent’s house one last time. It was bittersweet.
The hotel had a pool which we all enjoyed both that evening and again the morning before we departed for home.
Martin Luther King weekend Skip, Jim, Matt, Mark, Len, Rob and Wayne hiked into Skip’s cabin at Shaker Place. We towed our gear on sled, because it was a short distance and level path. On the way in we passed nice slopes left on the sand pits. We looked at the steep slopes – then looked at our sleds – looked at the slopes – looked at the sleds – hey why not?
I am telling you – don’t go up there!
Skip decided to try an intermediate slope and work up his nerve before going down the radical one. It was steeper looking down from the top.
Matt was wiser than us all – he decided to stay at the bottom and capture the results on film for the pending insurance claims. This is what happens.
Jim’s Sledding Wreck @Shaker Place
Fortunately he turned the camera off quickly to spare everyone from my cries of anguish. I thought I had really, really screwed up my $25,000 hip(s). So I sat out the remainder of the sledding.
The pain subsided and I hiked out the next morning. But a week later the back of my leg looked like this.
It took four weeks for the bruising to disappear and for me to be able to return to snowshoeing and volleyball.
I took a snowshoe hike across the road and went past our ‘Cook-out Corner’. It’s looking a little desolate and cold at this time of year. The fire pit is filled with snow. The table is covered with the lawn chairs stacked below. The frame for our tarp is awaiting summer. I had thought about camping overnight here sometime, but it gets a breezy during the winter.
I crossed a corn field that was overlain with mouse tracks and saw this interesting story. It looks like two mice went out on the town for the evening, but only one returned. I am speculating that an owl got one of the mice. Looking close you can see the imprint of the owl’s wings in the soft powder snow.
Finally I reached the top of Kirkland’s Hill where we are usually rewarded by a nice view. I tried to assemble a panoramic to show the view, but it doesn’t do it justice. You will just have to join us on a snowshoe hike to see it sometime.
Eric hit the grand old age of 7 and we celebrated his birthday twice. On the weeknight, after his 1st XC ski club meeting, with Jennifer and the Skelly family.
Then on the weekend Eric invited some of his closest buddies for an afternoon of bowling at ADK Lanes followed by pizza and cake.
Kathryn does the bulk of the decorating in our house. She set up the nativity scenes that my mom made and the one she received from her dad.
