Pundits on NPR are commenting on Obama's inaugural speech and saying it wasn't soaring or poetic like speeches he gave in the past. I thought it was just right because it was reality based and telling us that it will be a long, hard row to hoe to get this country back on its feet!
Daughter was watching inauguration on CNN and posted a zillion enthused comments on Facebook! I was delighted to read how interested and excited she is about Obama's presidency!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Watched Barack's Inauguration on PBS
Even though I said I was only going to listen to the inauguration on NPR, as soon as I heard mention of Aretha Franklin's arrival, the Queen of Soul, I caved and turned on PBS's inaugural coverage! I bawled during Aretha's singing of My Country Tis of Thee! I bawled at various other moments too. I've now turned off the TV and am once again listening to the NPR coverage.
Barack slightly flubbed the oath but Biden recited his perfectly. Barack's inaugural speech was stirring and makes me wish there was something like a silver corps for seniors by which I could do service for my country. Michelle Obama and Laura Bush were both stunningly beautiful. I felt sorry for George Bush but happy to see him go back to Texas and Cheney to Wyoming.
I hope Barack Obama is a great president who does great things for the United States and the world! God bless and protect his family!
Barack slightly flubbed the oath but Biden recited his perfectly. Barack's inaugural speech was stirring and makes me wish there was something like a silver corps for seniors by which I could do service for my country. Michelle Obama and Laura Bush were both stunningly beautiful. I felt sorry for George Bush but happy to see him go back to Texas and Cheney to Wyoming.
I hope Barack Obama is a great president who does great things for the United States and the world! God bless and protect his family!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Quiet and Tired
That's from going to bed at 1am the past two nights and waking up at 9am.
Walked ski hill bypass road today for my four miles. Upped weight vest to seven pounds.
Grandson here now. Spouse took him to see a movie. Daughter and son-in-law are driving back from trip to Las Vegas, NM where they looked for ghosts in Plaza Hotel and toured Pecos Monument and Fort Union. Spouse will fix dinner for them tonight.
Started project of going through genealogy files to organize them to donate to Stark County District Library when we visit Ohio this year. May work on it during the day tomorrow and walk downtown in the evening.
Haven't heard from WI's on Wednesday outing. Saw Susi at MPL and she's interested in going.
I have a rash on the back of my hands. It may be from the Aubrey hand lotion that I bought. I plan to return it. I've been not wearing gloves and the lotion may have caused a photo-toxic reaction.
Walked ski hill bypass road today for my four miles. Upped weight vest to seven pounds.
Grandson here now. Spouse took him to see a movie. Daughter and son-in-law are driving back from trip to Las Vegas, NM where they looked for ghosts in Plaza Hotel and toured Pecos Monument and Fort Union. Spouse will fix dinner for them tonight.
Started project of going through genealogy files to organize them to donate to Stark County District Library when we visit Ohio this year. May work on it during the day tomorrow and walk downtown in the evening.
Haven't heard from WI's on Wednesday outing. Saw Susi at MPL and she's interested in going.
I have a rash on the back of my hands. It may be from the Aubrey hand lotion that I bought. I plan to return it. I've been not wearing gloves and the lotion may have caused a photo-toxic reaction.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Road to Pueblo Canyon Sewer Treatment Plant
Hey, they've fixed it up - there's no more small stream running across the road at the almost two mile mark and the ice skating rink right before that is gone too. All this is apparently due to the county having repaired the gutter that drains the treated effluent water underneath the road.
Saw several other couples out walking the road with their dogs. Saw a runner at the parking lot with shoes full of mud but he must have ran far to get that muddy because the road had recently been graded and was the least muddy, snowy and icy that it's been in recent years. Saw two climber-type dudes wanting to get up onto mesa east of big Otowi Ruins. They wondered why on one side of the fence the signs read DOE - stay out and on the other side, San Ildefonso - stay out! Does seem a conundrum!
Only went as far as muddy trail into Bayo Canyon.
Saw several other couples out walking the road with their dogs. Saw a runner at the parking lot with shoes full of mud but he must have ran far to get that muddy because the road had recently been graded and was the least muddy, snowy and icy that it's been in recent years. Saw two climber-type dudes wanting to get up onto mesa east of big Otowi Ruins. They wondered why on one side of the fence the signs read DOE - stay out and on the other side, San Ildefonso - stay out! Does seem a conundrum!
Only went as far as muddy trail into Bayo Canyon.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
East Fork Is Lovely!
I had an enjoyable snowshoe on the East Fork today. Parking is somewhat limited because of snow piled up in the back of the parking lot but there is a bare strip wide enough where people can parallel park and even double park.
There were seven vehicles parked at the trailhead so I had to turn around and park at the sign that reads "Snow Plows Ahead", near the Las Conchas rock climbing area. That was fine because you can actually snowshoe/ski over to the trail/river from there and I did just that in the afternoon to get back to my car. There's space enough for maybe three or four vehicles where I parked.
At the start, I actually walked on the road from my parking place and carried my equipment over to the trailhead. I went down through the gate on the left. The snow was thin and semi-icy but it was much less steep than trying to negotiate my way down to the river from the right edge of the parking lot.
Going downstream, I mostly snowshoed along/in the frozen, snowpacked river and tried out as much of the trail as I could on the way back. I went all the way to where Trail 137 turns left to go steeply uphill and where the river goes into a narrow canyon at the VCNP boundary. Here, the river resurfaces from underneath the snow and ice.
I managed to avoid crossing any of the wooden bridges. The area of the river between the first and third bridges has some obvious spots that are melting out but I could easily avoid them. (When I say first bridge, I'm referring to the first river crossing that used to be a hop from rock to rock underneath a stony overhang. That's now been bridged over.)
I saw lots of snowshoers and skiers. I saw one couple that hiked all the way to the end. I asked if they sunk in much and they said it wasn't too bad as long as they stuck to the packed trail.
Skies were sunny and blue. Views along the river were stunning and made more so by all the beautiful snow. The WI's could enjoyably hike, snowshoe and ski on this trail as it is today.
NM-4 is in fine condition. Along the way, people will enjoy stopping at one of the VCNP's parking aprons to admire the Preserve all cloaked in white!
There were seven vehicles parked at the trailhead so I had to turn around and park at the sign that reads "Snow Plows Ahead", near the Las Conchas rock climbing area. That was fine because you can actually snowshoe/ski over to the trail/river from there and I did just that in the afternoon to get back to my car. There's space enough for maybe three or four vehicles where I parked.
At the start, I actually walked on the road from my parking place and carried my equipment over to the trailhead. I went down through the gate on the left. The snow was thin and semi-icy but it was much less steep than trying to negotiate my way down to the river from the right edge of the parking lot.
Going downstream, I mostly snowshoed along/in the frozen, snowpacked river and tried out as much of the trail as I could on the way back. I went all the way to where Trail 137 turns left to go steeply uphill and where the river goes into a narrow canyon at the VCNP boundary. Here, the river resurfaces from underneath the snow and ice.
I managed to avoid crossing any of the wooden bridges. The area of the river between the first and third bridges has some obvious spots that are melting out but I could easily avoid them. (When I say first bridge, I'm referring to the first river crossing that used to be a hop from rock to rock underneath a stony overhang. That's now been bridged over.)
I saw lots of snowshoers and skiers. I saw one couple that hiked all the way to the end. I asked if they sunk in much and they said it wasn't too bad as long as they stuck to the packed trail.
Skies were sunny and blue. Views along the river were stunning and made more so by all the beautiful snow. The WI's could enjoyably hike, snowshoe and ski on this trail as it is today.
NM-4 is in fine condition. Along the way, people will enjoy stopping at one of the VCNP's parking aprons to admire the Preserve all cloaked in white!
Friday, January 16, 2009
No New Cookstove After All
Last night, CO detector went off for second time; first time happened was a month or so ago.This afternoon, called county utilities department and they came right out and pronounced the cookstove healthy. It's an 18 year old Kenmore gas range. Guess we'll keep it for now. The CO detector has only gone off when I've had a stovetop burner on for several hours cooking my stews. Solution is open a window or turn on the vent fan during the process.
Mish mosh stew very good but there's a lot of it! Had to freeze some.
Mish mosh stew very good but there's a lot of it! Had to freeze some.
WRSC Hike in El Rancho
Wandered around the streets of El Rancho, dodging cars. No one interested in walking along Nambe River but I was. Eight of us, including new couple, Beverly and Frank, who have only gone twice with group. They like to go to the low impact aerobics fitness classes at the WRSC. Says that the class exercises to a Richard Simmons tape every time but they don't get tired of it and everyone enjoys it. I had one of his exercise tapes once. He was fun! Enjoyed talking to Beverly. She said she hiked with the LL group back in 2000 and remembers me.
We drove to SF after hike and hit Walmart and Wild Oats.
Spouse is beginning to sign into my Facebook account a lot as a way to keep up with daughter!
Turned out that Barbara wants East Fork Trail at Las Conchas checked out for possible WI snowshoe next Wednesday. I'll do that tomorrow. This is pretty exciting for me - a volunteer position requiring me to snowshoe trails!
Monday, daughter and family come over for spouse's homemade baby back ribs.
We drove to SF after hike and hit Walmart and Wild Oats.
Spouse is beginning to sign into my Facebook account a lot as a way to keep up with daughter!
Turned out that Barbara wants East Fork Trail at Las Conchas checked out for possible WI snowshoe next Wednesday. I'll do that tomorrow. This is pretty exciting for me - a volunteer position requiring me to snowshoe trails!
Monday, daughter and family come over for spouse's homemade baby back ribs.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wish I Had a Brain!
I offered to check out snow conditions on specific trails for the WI's. Kathy thought that Water Canyon and Valle Canyon looked promising. She asked if I would check them out and let Barbara know because she will be leading the next two Wednesday snowshoes.
Today I snowshoed up Water Canyon to FR181 and then down old FR181 to West Jemez Road and walked that road back to my car.
You can park alongside West Jemez Road at the Water Canyon entrance road or those with adventurous vehicles can drive in. From West Jemez Road to the Water Canyon trailhead locked entrance gate, there is thin snow and ice cover but I was easily able to snowshoe down from the road. The snow is thin right at the locked entrance gate and if the warm conditions continue, may get bare this weekend.
After that, the snow is hard packed and most recently traveled by hikers. Then there is a section that gets lots of shade where the snow was softer. In the area on the left of the first major side canyon to Water Canyon, which gets a lot of sun, there was a bare spot which was easy to get around.
When you get to the meadow where you have to cross the stream (the crossing is getting marginal but a fraidy cat like me was able to do it!) there are some bare spots in the meadow but the trail into the Water Canyon narrows on the left was fine.
I didn't think I was going to go up Water Canyon to FR181 by myself because I can get spooked in narrow canyons but it seemed friendly enough. The snow was nice and had been snowshoed enough to pack it nicely until you got closer to FR181 and then it was less traveled but highly doable. I managed to slide off and into the snow when I crossed the final stout fallen log across the trail before going up to FR181. Imagining a mountain lion coming in for the kill, I got a bit perturbed at myself as I frantically tried to extricate myself from the soft snow.
FR181 was like a groomed trail because a narrow axled motorized vehicle had driven over it. The vehicle tracks went almost halfway down old FR181 until the sharp curve area where it gets really rutted. Surprisingly, no one had recreated on the old road since the last storm. At one short area of southern exposure, there were outright short bare stretches. When I got to the area where the Perimeter Trail (coming from Water Canyon) intersects old FR181, I couldn't see any tracks and decided to walk down to West Jemez and return to my car via the road.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day of bluer than blue skies with high, silvery clouds and fantastic views, from FR181, of the Sangre de Cristos.
Distance snowshoed today was 4.4 miles and walked about .5 miles on West Jemez back to car. GPS batteries died so got the mileages from Craig Martin's book. Took about 2 1/2 hours.
Hopefully, I'll be checking out Valle Canyon on Sunday or Monday.
The Wish I Had a Brain! refers to my experiment: I wanted to see if the snowshoes would be healthier for my feet if I wore waterproof shoes and no overboots. Big problem was, though, that I forgot my gaiters at home! I only remembered that I had planned to wear them when I noticed cold snow going down the back of my mid-cut Keen Targhee hiking boots. At the end of the hike, my socks were soaked.
I need to dry the Keen's out for a week and then try the experiment again but this time with the gaiters! I did feel I could move my feet more naturally without the overboots but getting soaked feet is certainly not an ideal situation. Still, it may work with the gaiters on short trips. All day trips would definitely require the overboots!
I'm going to make a huge stew: onions, garlic, whole wheat pasta, jarred red peppers, canned pumpkin, jarred artichoke hearts, black soybeans, jarred tomato paste, canned tomatoes, leftover red coleslaw, okra, spinach, seasonings and olive oil. The canned foods are low in sodium except for the jarred artichoke hearts and jarred red peppers and they are reasonable amounts that will provide the sodium for the stew. In addition, I'm making spouse a potato kugel. I have to get to work now!
Today I snowshoed up Water Canyon to FR181 and then down old FR181 to West Jemez Road and walked that road back to my car.
You can park alongside West Jemez Road at the Water Canyon entrance road or those with adventurous vehicles can drive in. From West Jemez Road to the Water Canyon trailhead locked entrance gate, there is thin snow and ice cover but I was easily able to snowshoe down from the road. The snow is thin right at the locked entrance gate and if the warm conditions continue, may get bare this weekend.
After that, the snow is hard packed and most recently traveled by hikers. Then there is a section that gets lots of shade where the snow was softer. In the area on the left of the first major side canyon to Water Canyon, which gets a lot of sun, there was a bare spot which was easy to get around.
When you get to the meadow where you have to cross the stream (the crossing is getting marginal but a fraidy cat like me was able to do it!) there are some bare spots in the meadow but the trail into the Water Canyon narrows on the left was fine.
I didn't think I was going to go up Water Canyon to FR181 by myself because I can get spooked in narrow canyons but it seemed friendly enough. The snow was nice and had been snowshoed enough to pack it nicely until you got closer to FR181 and then it was less traveled but highly doable. I managed to slide off and into the snow when I crossed the final stout fallen log across the trail before going up to FR181. Imagining a mountain lion coming in for the kill, I got a bit perturbed at myself as I frantically tried to extricate myself from the soft snow.
FR181 was like a groomed trail because a narrow axled motorized vehicle had driven over it. The vehicle tracks went almost halfway down old FR181 until the sharp curve area where it gets really rutted. Surprisingly, no one had recreated on the old road since the last storm. At one short area of southern exposure, there were outright short bare stretches. When I got to the area where the Perimeter Trail (coming from Water Canyon) intersects old FR181, I couldn't see any tracks and decided to walk down to West Jemez and return to my car via the road.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day of bluer than blue skies with high, silvery clouds and fantastic views, from FR181, of the Sangre de Cristos.
Distance snowshoed today was 4.4 miles and walked about .5 miles on West Jemez back to car. GPS batteries died so got the mileages from Craig Martin's book. Took about 2 1/2 hours.
Hopefully, I'll be checking out Valle Canyon on Sunday or Monday.
The Wish I Had a Brain! refers to my experiment: I wanted to see if the snowshoes would be healthier for my feet if I wore waterproof shoes and no overboots. Big problem was, though, that I forgot my gaiters at home! I only remembered that I had planned to wear them when I noticed cold snow going down the back of my mid-cut Keen Targhee hiking boots. At the end of the hike, my socks were soaked.
I need to dry the Keen's out for a week and then try the experiment again but this time with the gaiters! I did feel I could move my feet more naturally without the overboots but getting soaked feet is certainly not an ideal situation. Still, it may work with the gaiters on short trips. All day trips would definitely require the overboots!
I'm going to make a huge stew: onions, garlic, whole wheat pasta, jarred red peppers, canned pumpkin, jarred artichoke hearts, black soybeans, jarred tomato paste, canned tomatoes, leftover red coleslaw, okra, spinach, seasonings and olive oil. The canned foods are low in sodium except for the jarred artichoke hearts and jarred red peppers and they are reasonable amounts that will provide the sodium for the stew. In addition, I'm making spouse a potato kugel. I have to get to work now!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Glad I Went
Last night I was so tired that I planned to sleep in this morning and not bother with the WI snowshoe today. Fortunately, I was so tired that I actually went to bed around 10pm and naturally, sans alarm, woke at 7:30am which gave me time to get ready to meet the group up at Pajarito Ski Area at 10am.
Nine people showed up. Right away, we broke into two groups. The Zinn's, Wilson's and a couple I didn't know were in the group that wasn't going to the top. Kathy, Barbara and I were in the group that went to the top of Pajarito Mountain via Rim Run and Columbine Corner.
We had lunch on the backside of Pajarito on a tall wooden bench that looked like a picnic table. I didn't eat lunch because I wasn't sure I had time but it turns out that I would have. (On the way home, I ate my two Clif Bars on the drive down Camp May Road.)
Barbara was wearing hiking shoes. Kathy put her snowshoes on after lunch and I used snowshoes both up and down. On the way down, I told them to not wait for me. I'm very slow slapping down the mountain in the MSR snowshoes. They went down Bonanza while I followed Zero Base Road down to Lone Spruce and back to the Lodge, getting back around 2pm.
Barbara did very well in hiking shoes, only sinking when Kathy took us back down to the groomed roads after lunch. Then she sank to her hips in one spot!
Kathy has asked me to report on snow conditions on any snowshoe trips I take. I volunteered to check out specific areas if she has any in mind. This is good because it will encourage me to snowshoe!
On the drive home, I was amused listening to Colin Fletcher's book on tape, River, where he mentions how elated he got after an hour and half walk interspersed in all his river running. I could identify with that because I dearly love mobility with my feet attached to the ground. Maybe if I could get a more comfortable pair of snow shoes that don't feel like I'm slapping like a duck out of water on the downhill....
Tidbits: Dave will be getting a knee replacement. Jake, Mahlon's dog, will be getting some surgery on his leg to realign the bones better. Barbara is the one who skiied last week all the way to Rosie's Point (Guaje Canyon Overlook). Barbara's husband may build a quinzee in a large drift near the Pipeline Road Overlook. I told Barbara and Kathy about a beautiful igloo that I saw off NM-4 at the Valle Grande. There is a nice drift on the back of Pajarito Mountain but the snow cover looks in places thinner than years past. Barbara mentioned a trail that has been worked on lately (believe inFall 2008) that goes from Valle Canyon Pass up to Cerro Grande. She seems to believe it's different from the Handline Trail. She said that when you're at the summit, you follow an obvious trail in a straight line from the summit. This sounds like the Handline Trail but would be worth checking out when the snow is gone. Ginny and Jeanne have handed over the hiking club to Annette, Kathy and Barbara. Called PEEC and they'll get back to me on what charge is just for Saturday workshop.
Doing two loads of laundry. Happy to be alive!
Nine people showed up. Right away, we broke into two groups. The Zinn's, Wilson's and a couple I didn't know were in the group that wasn't going to the top. Kathy, Barbara and I were in the group that went to the top of Pajarito Mountain via Rim Run and Columbine Corner.
We had lunch on the backside of Pajarito on a tall wooden bench that looked like a picnic table. I didn't eat lunch because I wasn't sure I had time but it turns out that I would have. (On the way home, I ate my two Clif Bars on the drive down Camp May Road.)
Barbara was wearing hiking shoes. Kathy put her snowshoes on after lunch and I used snowshoes both up and down. On the way down, I told them to not wait for me. I'm very slow slapping down the mountain in the MSR snowshoes. They went down Bonanza while I followed Zero Base Road down to Lone Spruce and back to the Lodge, getting back around 2pm.
Barbara did very well in hiking shoes, only sinking when Kathy took us back down to the groomed roads after lunch. Then she sank to her hips in one spot!
Kathy has asked me to report on snow conditions on any snowshoe trips I take. I volunteered to check out specific areas if she has any in mind. This is good because it will encourage me to snowshoe!
On the drive home, I was amused listening to Colin Fletcher's book on tape, River, where he mentions how elated he got after an hour and half walk interspersed in all his river running. I could identify with that because I dearly love mobility with my feet attached to the ground. Maybe if I could get a more comfortable pair of snow shoes that don't feel like I'm slapping like a duck out of water on the downhill....
Tidbits: Dave will be getting a knee replacement. Jake, Mahlon's dog, will be getting some surgery on his leg to realign the bones better. Barbara is the one who skiied last week all the way to Rosie's Point (Guaje Canyon Overlook). Barbara's husband may build a quinzee in a large drift near the Pipeline Road Overlook. I told Barbara and Kathy about a beautiful igloo that I saw off NM-4 at the Valle Grande. There is a nice drift on the back of Pajarito Mountain but the snow cover looks in places thinner than years past. Barbara mentioned a trail that has been worked on lately (believe inFall 2008) that goes from Valle Canyon Pass up to Cerro Grande. She seems to believe it's different from the Handline Trail. She said that when you're at the summit, you follow an obvious trail in a straight line from the summit. This sounds like the Handline Trail but would be worth checking out when the snow is gone. Ginny and Jeanne have handed over the hiking club to Annette, Kathy and Barbara. Called PEEC and they'll get back to me on what charge is just for Saturday workshop.
Doing two loads of laundry. Happy to be alive!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Pleased to Discover
Walked on West Road-Camp May Road bypass. Was pleased to discover that there is now a pedestrian opening in the tall, razor wire fence that blocks off entrance to West Jemez Road from West Road. Was even more pleased to discover that two roundtrips, starting from intersection of Camp May Road-West Jemez Road, equals my statutory daily 4 miles. Wore five pound Ironwear CoolVest to add oomph to the uphills.
Tomorrow is Santa Fe trip. I'll exercise in the evening. Hope the moon will still be bright and brilliant tomorrow!
Tomorrow is Santa Fe trip. I'll exercise in the evening. Hope the moon will still be bright and brilliant tomorrow!
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