Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Slip Slidin’
December 29, 2024
Back when Mr. Karen and I were working, if I could manage to get the time off, we tried to go skiing somewhere between Christmas and New Year’s. Of course this meant we were joining hordes of other folks doing the same thing, but since Mr. K’s job had that whole period as a holiday, it was ideal from a him not having to take a lot of vacation days perspective. Now we live on a ski mountain, and the hordes come to us. Sometimes we are here to welcome them. Sometimes we are not, having gone to see family in a non-ski destination. Sometimes we split the difference and spend some of the holiday away and some here. Right now, we’re home.
I’ve been feeling under the weather so haven’t been out on the slopes the past several days. Reports from Mr. Karen confirm that it’s been a usual holiday week, with longer lines at some lifts than usual, but no lines at others, like the fixed grip double they only run on very busy days. What I have been able to experience of the crowds is just seeing how very many vehicles are parked everywhere … in front of our condo (though no one has yet tried to poach the space right in front of our door), across the street, down the street.
We’ve had a fair bit of snow this week, too (34 inches in the last seven days), and while the roads do get plowed, the side roads don’t get as much attention as the main one coming up from town. That means the hill up to our house is covered in packed snow and more slippery than usual due to the increased traffic. There was a pickup stuck just down the hill from our condo yesterday, an SUV stuck there earlier today, and a big box truck stuck in just about the same spot tonight. The latter two vehicles appear to have been coming up the hill, lost traction, and slid across the oncoming traffic lane to come to rest with at least one wheel in the softer stuff off the side of the pavement. It happens. I did not see how the first two vehicles got out (I think the one yesterday borrowed shovels from our neighbor and freed themselves, and the one earlier today got help from mountain security). I did see the box truck get winched up to the flat spot in the road in front of our condo. Once unhooked, the truck guys put on their tire chains (yes, they should have done that before they came up from town, which I’m sure they realize by now). Last I looked out, they were working out how to turn around and head back down the hill they’d just been pulled up … a wise choice, since they other way down to the mountain road is longer, steeper, and more curvy. I hope they make it safely back down to the main road and wherever else they need to go still tonight.
On this date in 2023: Post-Shower, Pre-Makeup
2022: Home Again, Doodly Doo
2021: Lack of Vim
2020: What If
2019: Some Favorite Photos of 2019
2018: New Age Graffiti
2017: Snow, Snow, and Eeyore Soap
2016: Lazy Day
2015: The Internet is Weird
2014: Places I’ll Never Live
2013: Holiday Afterglow
2012: Probably My Fault
2011: New Monkey Plays with the Buttons
2010: Sock Monkey Plays in the Snow
2009: Mani-Pedi Madness
2008: Morning Mystery
2007: Chilly Boy
2006: Battle of the Patio
2005: Sunshine State
2004: Starfish a.k.a. Sea Star
2003: I’ve Been Gone Again
2002: No entry
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