It has been a long time since I have created a post for our blog. We spent Christmas with the family at the lodge and though I was out with a nasty cold, everyone had a pretty good time. As usual, we did crafts, cut down our own "Charlie Brown" style tree, ate lots of food, sledded and had a big Christmas day (though I missed it since I was pretty much out of it with the cold).
Pictures may, or may not be added later.
So up to present time. The weekend of February 15th was spent with our lovely niece Jessica and her husband and two boys and my sister Mary and her husband Lynn. On Sunday we were lucky enough to be able to attend the Nevada City Mardi Gras Parade (an event we have managed to attend for the last 4 years). The boys (ages 4 and 7) had a blast, collecting parade necklaces and watching all the floats march down main street.
On Monday, we went skiing at Sugar Bowl. The boys had an all day lesson and Jessica and Josh took a half day lesson. Lynn, Jim and I did the Jerome Hill lift and did pretty well. Lynn has not been skiing in years so it took him a bit to get his legs back. And just as things were getting back into sync, I took a fantastic fall and wonked the back of my head pretty hard. It must have looked badf from the top since a couple of kids asked if I needed help and the ski patrol stopped to check on my. The bonk left me with a headache and a stiff neck which took me out of skiing the next day. I hate ski injuries. So December 25 - January 10 I had a bad cold, then January 12 - January 24 I pulled a muscle (skiing I think) in my leg which turned into muscle spasms, medication and no skiing. Then head bonk took away one day. I am done with that. Once we get some snow. I plan to ski the rest of the season and get my money's worth out of my season ticket.
On day 2 of skiing, Jim and Lynn went back up Jerome as did Jessica, while the boys graduated up to the chair lift (beginners) and skied all day long. Since my neck was stiff, Mary and I went to Truckee and took care of grocery shopping.
The next day, Lynn had to head for home and work (not retired yet) so Jess, Mary, the boys, Jim and I went in search of a sled hill. There is not much snow on the summit (even less at the lodge) and highway 40 is open all the way from Sugar Bowl to Truckee, so we ended up sledding below the China Wall on highway 40. It was a bit ice-y but Jim and Josh brought a shovel and created a pretty decent sled run. Mary, Jess and I created a lawn chair block so that the boys would not sled over the edge of the area and into a pretty deep canyon. The view from the sled hill was amazing. Usually this part of 40 is closed in the winter - but not this year.
That night we went up to Northstar with plans for skating and pizza. We had the pizza - but only had 1 hour available for skating - so that will have to wait till next time. The boys enjoyed roasting marshmallows over the Northstar fire pits before we heading home.
Next day was a travel home day for our intrepid skiers. Jim and I stayed on at the lodge and started to do some finish work (cedar tongue and groove on the walls) in the snow room and the screened in porch. I also pulled weeds and put down some Shasta Daisy seeds for spring. And I collected fallen rocks for our retaining walls (from the side of the road). It was very weird to have 60 degree weather and no snow at the lodge. Anyone who denies global climate change should visit Emigrant Gap. We used to get record snowfall every year - now. . . . We are hoping that the snow weather is just delayed and that March will be snowy - if not, back to the dreaded drought.
