Only 8 More Kilometres to Go...........(pant pant)!






Last Sunday, a beautiful sunny day up on the Chilcotin Plateau, was a great day for the annual Tweedsmuir Ski Club's X-country ski race. I was in great shape for the 12k race, having skiied all of 8k the two weekends before the race, but hey, I was keen.

Four of us drove up the infamous "hill" to Eastbranch, and along with 19 other hardy souls, registered for the 12k race. Some real keeners went twice around the circuit, for a total of 24k. The winner skiied 24k in one hour and seventeen minutes. He passed me on his second time around the loop before I had even finished the first time around! Do the math on how fast he was going!








The Chilcotin Plateau is very different from the Bella Coola Valley. It is dry, high, and generally sunny. Gently rolling hills are dotted with many small lakes, and the trees are mostly pine. The ski route was a big circle, across frozen lakes, through pine forests, with powdery dry snow, sparkling in the sun. It was quiet and calm, and because I started late ( I was taking a video clip of the start of the race), I set off a few minutes after the "pack". I passed 3 people within the first couple of kilometres, then skiied the rest of the way, seemingly alone in the wilderness. The track was smooth, the wind light, and my mighty muscles held up for the whole 12k.






There were a few sore spots on my poor body later on.............I won't be explicit, but suffice to say it was somewhat difficult to cross my legs for about 3 days after the race..............!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!



That's what's been going on here for what seems like months now. Apparently, this year is like the old days when many feet of snow was the norm - none of this "snow for a few weeks then rain for most of the winter months" wimpy kind of weather. I don't have a shovel (why not?? ) so snow is piling up high and deep on my front doorstep, and it is almost over the top of my boots when I walk out the driveway. Should I get a shovel? Or will it start to rain soon?







Of course, snow means skiing, and I have finally tried out my new x-country skis. I only did one face plant - I don't know what happened....one minute I was skiing along, the next minute something got crossed over something, and I was on my hands and knees! Fortunately, Janice was well ahead and didn't see me trying to maintain my dignity while pushing myself up and quickly brushing off the snow on my knees and elbows!

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK" ....... sing along if you know the tune. This is a sort of relevent theme song meaning that I've finally chopped some firewood! A friend came over, flexed his muscles a few times, and did the chopping demo for me, and today, since I was out of chopped wood (DARN), I borrowed my neighbour's axe, cleared a space in the snow, put a log up on the chopping block, and after several whacks, I split it into nice tidy pieces. After chopping several logs, it was time to chop some kindling..... meaning to chop a chopped piece into even smaller pieces. Only one close call: when I was chopping one piece, somehow, the axe went right through, and ended up embedded in the ground right beside my foot! A little too close for comfort, so after that, I developed the "standing with my legs really far apart" stance for chopping.


School is ongoing. Grade ones are just going to start learning long vowels this week, starting with the a_e pattern, such as came, bake, tape. Report cards are coming up soon, and then 2 weeks of spring break. Yippee!