Cross Country Skiing - North Country Style

Looking out over the lake in summer

1995 was a year of change for me.  My marriage of nine years ended suddenly during the fall of 1994.  My two daughters, age seven and nine, began to spend every other weekend with their dad.

After years of their company, I found myself alone.  I spent a few weekends sitting at home before I realized that I needed to get out and do things.

Errol, New Hampshire

My brother owned a camp overlooking a small lake outside Errol, New Hampshire.  The camp had been in the family since 1960.  The camp sat well-positioned at the shallow end of the lake, next to the beach.  Mountains surrounded the lake.

1994-95 was a year of change at the lake as well.  A paper company owned miles of the wilderness area surrounding the lake.  For the first time in nearly three decades, the paper company focused on the lake and started a major tree harvesting operation.  Logging trucks went in and out during the weekdays, and areas of wilderness were opened up.  The paper company maintained the three mile road leading in to the lake that winter.  For the first time ever, campers could use their lakeside camps for winter activities.

Ride to Camp

My brother invited me up to camp to snowmobile and ski.  There was a good snow pack and a three day weekend coming up.

Camp was a three hour ride from home.  I left after work on Friday afternoon.  The weather was clear.  It had been dark for hours when my brother met me at the start of the three mile road in to the lake.  He followed me to camp.

I had a little Ford Tempo painted Sandalwood (an exotic name for gold).  The Tempo was all wheel drive.  Ford only made them for a year or two.  It had a button by the rear view mirror that you pushed to engage the all wheel drive.  It was a great little feature when it worked, and it did help to get me up to camp that weekend!

Camp

We were a quarter mile from camp when I turned down the camp road.  My brother flashed his lights at me and honked his truck horn.  I stopped about thirty-five yards down the camp road.  I got out of the car and sank in snow.

My brother came running up to me and told me I was on a trail and not the road.  The camp road was just a little further away.  This trail had been added by the logging company since I had last been to camp.

He couldn't believe that my car still sat on top of the snow.  I got back in the car, pushed the magic button by the rear view mirror, and backed the car until I was on plowed road again.  We finished the ride to camp without further incident.

Get out the Cross Country Skis

The next day dawned sunny and warm for a January day in the north country.   My brother went outside to work on his snow machine.  About ten o'clock, I strapped on my cross country skis.  With all the new logging roads and trails circling the lake, I had lots of ski choices.  My brother suggested I ski around the right side of the lake, cross the outlet, and come back across the middle of the lake.

The lake in winter

He had a snowmobile trail across the lake that I could follow coming back.  I had never been on the back side of the lake past the outlet because the area had been heavily forested with no access road.

The thought of exploring was exciting!

It was only a couple miles.  I would be back for lunch.  One mile into the ski, I crossed the outlet, and started up the backside of the lake into new territory.  I reached an intersection.

The day was warming up nicely into the fifties.  I thought I would ski a little further.  Instead of taking the trail to the left around the lake, I decided to go up the hill.  I figured the trail would loop to the left above the lower trail.  It should give me a great view of the lake.

I sure was wrong!

Looking up where I got lost and found lots of snow

LOST

The trail I chose kept taking me further away from the lake.  I thought about turning around, but I kept thinking the trail would circle back.

It got to noon time and I couldn't even see the lake.  I had not brought anything to eat or drink since it was supposed to be a short ski.  Two hours of skiing had made me thirsty.  Eating snow did not help much.

Pay my Dollar

I suddenly came up on a logging yard and the trail widened into a large road.  Several pieces of heavy equipment were parked for the weekend.  I had to take my skis off and carry them over my shoulder because of the ruts and shredded wood in the road.  As I was walking by one logging rig, I spotted a bottle of iced tea on the dash.  I wanted that drink!

The vehicle was not locked.  I looked around.  I kept waiting for someone to yell at me, but all the equipment was abandoned for the weekend.  I couldn't just take the drink!  I dug into my pants pocket and came up with a dollar bill.  I reached in to the rig and took the unopened drink, leaving a dollar on the dash.  Oh I would love to be here on Tuesday when the guy got to his rig and found a dollar, but no drink.

That tea was nectar!

Miles to Go

Now, I was still miles from camp.  The road finally seemed to be circling back the way I wanted, but I still could not see the lake.  When I could put my skis back on, I skied down the road, thinking about my options.  I had an idea.  At the next clear cut on my left, I would ski down the mountainside.  If I went down the mountain, surely I would meet up with the lower road?

I shortly found just such a clear cut.  As far as I could see, the snow was untouched.  Instead of packed snow, it meant skiing through a top layer of loose snow almost a foot deep.  I figured that I couldn't use the edges of my skis because of the deep snow.   I would have to go straight down.  Off I went.  This was great.

Snow Everywhere

I picked up speed and the air rushing past my face felt so good.  What was that?  Oh no, a moose had crossed the mountain below.  Too late, I hit the moose tracks.  One ski stopped dead while the other ski kept going.  When I stopped tumbling, I sat up.  Good news, nothing broken.

I had snow in my coat pockets, snow packed down my pants, snow inside my gloves, my hat was gone - and I even had snow in my bra!  How did I manage that?  I laughed.

What a day!

My idea had worked out.  After cutting across several more trails, ten miles later, I made it back to camp.  My brother was still working on his machine.  He hadn't even noticed I was still gone.

That was plenty of adventure for one day.

Snowmobiling

The next morning, much as I prefer skiing, I tamely sat on the back of my brother's snowmobile as we toured the surrounding area from the convenience of a motorized machine.  We went miles from the camp - but a lot quicker!

Very Lucky

I realized how fortunate I had been the day before.  I had an adventure and I did not get lost or hurt.

Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

OFIR End of 2011 Wrap-up

Every year I do a quick re-cap of what has happened here at "One Foot In Reality".

This has been one of those years where a lot has happened:

• I finally agreed to knee surgery on May 17th and looking back I wish I had done it a lot sooner.
• I started running again although rather slowly on June 15th.
• On June 17th - I left teaching to join Mary in retirement
• Over the course of the summer I was searching for a new focus for One Foot In Reality and tried several out, but none of them seemed to fit until I got back into running again. However, it got to the point where running was completely taking over what I was posting here and at that point we decided to make a new blog for running/health related posts called "A Veteran Runnah".
• The other big news is that Mary started writing blog posts and I know that she is a better story teller and writer than I am, so I have a feeling that I will bequeath "One Foot In Reality" fairly soon to her and occasionally guest post back here, while I focus on "A Veteran Runnah".

There has been a lot going on in our lives and unfortunately, this blog has suffered a bit of inattention as we have directed our focus elsewhere. As the garden season get closer I can see up doing a lot more posts related to gardening and things that we are doing around the house to simplify our lives as much as possible. So while OFIR might be in a bit of a dormant state right now, I can see it coming back to life as the snow goes.

Below are our top 10 posts for the year based on pageviews:

1. Evernote as a Task Manager
2. Mobile Me Review
3. NOOK COLOR - REVIEW JANUARY 2011
4. Evernote Review
5. PAPER AIRPLANE LESSON PLAN 2010
6. Opus Domini - Electronic Organizer Review

7. The Greatest Speech Ever Made - Charlie Chaplin 8. Apple Text-to-Speech - Review 9. Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test 11/9/11 10. BLOGGER - MANUALLY IMPORTING BLOG POST PR

There was so much that happened this year and you the readers of this blog have helped make it a successful year. We just want to say thank and hope that you had a happy Holiday Season and a great New Year in 2012.

Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

Looking Back at My 2011 Goals

Every year I go back and see how I did on my previous year goals and the outcomes.


#1  Determine whether or not I want to remain in Special Education as a teacher.  "This is something that I do every summer - take a good long look at the job I am presently in and decide whether or not to stay.  It is very stressful being a Special Educator for a variety of reasons (which I have documented in other blog posts) and I have to determine if that stress is still worth it to me or not.  I won't make any rash decisions or anything like that, but I will look at whether I am still enjoying my chosen profession and make my decisions during July of this year.  If I do decide to no longer be a Special Education teacher, I do plan/want to remain in education in some capacity, preferably in Education Technology or some other role.  Time will tell."

• This one was pretty easy to measure - I retired. 

Ye Olde Christmas Tree - Part Two

. . . .continued from Ye Olde Christmas Tree - Part One.

As you may recall in yesterday's post, Part One of Ye Olde Christmas Tree, Harold and I found the perfect tree out back of our house, but we gave it away to my daughter, Christie, and her husband, Sean.  That left us, again, with no tree.

We talked about not having a tree at all, but decided that we were not ready to go that route.

We have a fake tree out in the garage, but we stopped using it a number of years ago.  We bought it because we thought that the cats would be less likely to bother a fake tree.  Wrong!  As soon as the lights went out at night, Isabel became "The Cat That Climbed the Christmas Tree."  She would totally dismantle the tree and we would have to put it back together again the next day.  She even pulled limbs off the tree.

Fake was out.


The Quest

So out we went once again to look out back for a Christmas tree.  We strapped Bennie into his harness so he could go with us.  As you will recall, our two options (or non-options) were the 40 foot Griswold Christmas tree, or Sean's half a Christmas tree.  We headed out of the yard in a different direction.  Maybe the second perfect Christmas tree lurked somewhere else on our property!

We did not follow a trail this time.  The footing was a lot more difficult off the trail.  The frost was really coming out of the ground.  In one spot, we saw a foot square patch of hoar frost that was truly beautiful with crystals popping out of the ground.

As we went cross-country, we had to leap over frozen puddles, avoid rocks, and dodge deep holes. We trudged past more deep poop, this time quite fresh.  Harold was ahead of me when I called to him to check out a tree.  It was not our perfect Christmas tree, but it was better than half a Christmas tree.  Harold cut it down.  There was a serenity to the woods.

The Tree Goes Home

Harold shouldered the tree and carried it home. He set it up for me in its place of honor in the living room.  Everyone was happy with the decorations.  Once more, the tiny lights on the tree shone out with jewel brilliance.  The ornaments gathered over a lifetime proudly hung from the branches.

As Harold and I sat back and gazed in awe at the beauty and simplicity of the tree, I asked Harold if he had heard movement in the woods just before he cut the tree down.  Harold replied that a deer had been watching us.  We sat quietly for a few moments.  I said, 'Harold, I think you are probably right, but I could have sworn that I heard a ho, ho, ho.'

I think that this tree is perfect in another way. . . .

Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

Ye Olde Christmas Tree - Part One

Image via Wikipedia

Christmas Past

Do you remember Christmas past when the snow outside the window glittered like a thousand diamonds under the winter-pale moon? 

Everyone hovered around the door waiting for that last family member to arrive. The holiday table in the dining room groaned under the weight of a huge stuffed turkey, mounds of mashed potato, and an assortment of vegetables - peas, carrots, corn, onions, and squash.

And the Christmas tree stood in its place of honor in the living room. Lights on the tree glowed jewel-like with splashes of ruby red, emerald green, and sapphire blue. Presents, gaily wrapped in shiny paper, lay heaped under the tree, and promised hours of happiness to come.

Christmas was perfect back then! And it all started with the perfect Christmas tree!

Buying a Tree

Tree from 2008

When did it become expected that every year we should drive to a giant lot, a lot that before Thanksgiving lay empty and abandoned, a lot that once belonged to a failed business - to look for our perfect Christmas tree?

Last year Harold and I reached the lot and found trees stacked against lumber frames, wrapped in brown cord. The trees were grouped with short trees at the front, and very tall trees at the back. As we got out of the Baja (cruck), I realized that we may have waited too long, that we would find no smaller trees, only very tall ones that required a castle keep for display.

We finally picked out a tree and the worker at the lot snipped the cord and shook the tree out for us. After a shower of needles settled onto the trampled snow around our feet, we examined the tree for imperfections. No, this one was not right. There was a bare spot near the top. 

 We picked out another. (This is the royal 'we' here! I am the one doing the picking while Harold waits around to put the tree in the Baja.) Snip. A shower of needles. Well, this one was kind of wide. Snip. Again needles rattled to the ground. No, that tree was pitiful, a Charlie Brown tree. Snip, another tree, but no, I think I liked the first one the best. Harold is used to this process. 

It reminds him of when I want to move the furniture around and he has to lift that heavy couch and try it in ten different spots - before I decide that the first spot was the best!

We took the first tree. We gave the lot attendant half a paycheck, stuck the tree out the back of our Baja, and proudly drove off with our purchase. Gee, we just spent more on our tree than we did on presents for Uncle Joe, Aunt Sally, and all the kids!

Christmas Present

This year we decided that we were going to do things the old-fashioned way.

Bennie looking into the woods

On Saturday, we strapped Bennie into his harness, grabbed a small hand saw, and headed out through our back yard to the woods trail. We were going to find the perfect tree! An hour later, we inspected tree number two hundred and twenty-nine or so it seemed. 

I thought I would be smart and had worn mud boots on my feet because the woods were so wet. This was one of the first winters without snow in mid-December. My feet were dry, but the rough ground made walking in the boots really tough, and my feet were cold. Bennie was happy, though. He kept finding rabbit droppings and fresh deer treats everywhere. It was a game to see if he could grab some before I realized what he was eating and yanked his collar back.

What about that tree I asked Harold? The Griswold family Christmas tree. It stood forty feet off the ground. Harold said it would take him until Christmas to cut the tree down with the saw that he brought.

The tree we left standing

We trudged on. When we reached the property line at the brook, we would have to turn around. Then Harold saw it. The perfect tree. It stood ten feet tall. It was nice and full. When the bottom was cut off and the slender stalk at the top clipped back, it would be perfect for the living room. Harold cut it down. 

I led Bennie back home as Harold shouldered the tree and carried it home, only a mile away. We got it home and stood it against the garage until we could get the tree stand and decorations out.

I was so excited. This tree would look great. The holidays were definitely looking up! I told my daughter, Christie, about the tree.

Giving it away

Christie liked the idea of cutting down a tree instead of buying one. She came out to the house on Sunday with her husband, Sean, and their two dogs, Hunter and Carma. A family outing! Out we trudged again, but in a different direction. Oh yeah, I wore my hiking boots.

The dogs were great. The horses had ridden this route and the horse droppings made the deer and rabbit offerings the day before look pitiful. I was leading Carma, and she inspected every mound.

Then Sean found it. Half a Christmas tree! If they put it in the corner, surely no one would notice that it was half a tree? Christie said, 'Sean, it won't work.' It was getting late in the day. Disappointed, we headed back, looking over all the trees we had already rejected. Gee, this was supposed to be easy!

Harold and I decided to offer Christie and Sean the tree we had cut down. We returned to the house, helped put the dogs back in their car, and loaded up our tree in our truck for delivery. Away went our perfect Christmas tree to Christie and Sean's house.

Harold said, 'It was the right thing to do.'

Now what?

Continued. . . .

Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

The Difference Six Months Makes

Crossposted at Veteran Runnah

Today it has been 6 months since I walked out the door of my old job on June 17th just after 1:00 P.M. and really started my retirement - see my Fare Thee Well-LJHS post. 

Since that day a lot has happened and there have been a lot of changes in my attitudes, interests and perspectives during this very short time.

It is what it is  - Yes I am retired.

Yes I am retired. It is not semi-retirement, sabbatical or all those other labels or things that I attempted to call it last summer. I don't know why, but it took me a while to come to grips with idea that when I left LJHS last June, that I retired. 

It probably has something to do with the negativity that term has for many in today's society. Those who consider retirees a drain on society, especially those like me who decide to come ashore early. I have a lot that I could say to those people, but instead it is better to take the high road and enjoy the world around me and let them say what they want.

I earned my military retirement and yes I plan to enjoy it.

100,000 Page Views - One Foot In Reality

This afternoon One Foot In Reality passed a pretty monumental milestone for a small blog!

As we have been coming up on this 100,000 page views, it was nice to look back at the all-time list of most viewed blog posts - it brought back a lot of memories.

Evernote as a Task Manager
Mobile Me Review
NOOK COLOR - REVIEW JANUARY 2011
Evernote Review
PAPER AIRPLANE LESSON PLAN 2010
Opus Domini - Electronic Organizer Review
The Greatest Speech Ever Made - Charlie Chaplin
Apple Text-to-Speech - Review
Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test 11/9/11
BLOGGER - MANUALLY IMPORTING BLOG POST PROJECT

Most of these posts were back when I was still teaching and doing a lot more technology related reviews of things that I was using to help me in my job.


Still the idea that people on the Internet have taken the time view my blog 100,000 times does boggle my mind. Now that my wife is blogging here as well, we are both very proud to have reached this milestone.

It was rather appropriate that the 100,000 page view was some looking at my post on Evernote as a Task Manager which has been the most popular blog post on "One Foot In Reality".

We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to stop by and read our posts and hope that you continue.

Thank you

Harold & Mary

Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

Flame-out Conversations on Social Media

By Engineering at CambridgeNo real name given 

This post is a bit of a tangent for me and "A Veteran Runnah", it looks at the stress that a conversation on a social media site can produce if you decide to let it go too far.

Last night on Twitter I got into a discussion with someone I have talked with on several occasions about the label of runner versus jogger (which is a bit of a hot button for me) and we finally agreed to disagree and changed the subject over to talking the weather instead of letting our conversation turn into a pissing contest where no one wins.

The other person made a Tweet discussing running versus jogging and his view of what constituted the difference and I tweeted my disagreement with his position on joggers and runners:

Streaking - Not Good for Older Runners

Cross-posted at A Veteran Runnah

Streaking can get you in a lot of trouble up "heah" in Maine this time of year, blue balls, shrinkage and nippy nips, not to mention the blue lights and guys in uniform laughing at you. Yeah I know bad joke and I couldn't resist!  ;-)

Streaking - A bad thing?

Bennie resting on his dog

Stop and think about it streaking in relation to running - how can it be a bad thing?  It helps motivate you to run more doesn't it?.

Personally, when I have a longer running streak going, I tend to focus on getting in a run in, more than how my body is feeling.

That is not, in my opinion a good thing.

We runners and exercise enthusiasts need to learn to listen more to what our bodies are telling us, not less and streaking in my opinion interferes with that.

A running streak for many people can take on a life of its own and become more important than the quality of the runs that they are doing. You get too wrapped up in ensuring that you get out there and running every day, whatever your minimum mileage requirement is. No matter what you are feeling like, if you are sick, what is going on around you or what the weather is outside.

You feel that you MUST complete that day's run.

My Streak

As of yesterday I had a 21 day running streak going. Until this morning, I had planned to run today, to keep the streak going. However, while walking the dog on his 3.0 mile walk and listening to what my body was trying to tell me, I decided to stop the streak.

Back in November I got caught up in the Runner's World running streak challenge - #rwrunstreak hashtag and extended my running streak beyond my self-imposed 13 day limit. I have attempted to justify why I could or should continue the streak, but in reality streaking there are no good reasons for me to continue it. 

Why stop the streak?

To be honest, I need the rest more than I need a running streak.

This streak was beginning to bug me, I felt pressured a couple of times during it, to go out and just do a run to keep it alive, instead of listening to my body's need for rest. This is one of those things that as I get older, I do have to pay attention to and rest more often than I used to. Otherwise I am setting myself up for an injury and that is not something that I want to go through again.

Also as a streak gets longer, it gets more difficult to let it go, that is why I plan on a rest day at least every 13 days, so I don't get caught up in streaking, yet I allowed myself to get sucked into streaking, because I was feeling good and running good.

One of the main reasons that I was feeling that way was because I was being smart and resting when I needed to. Time to get back to being smart again.

Those who do

Those of you who have streaks going - I am honestly happy for you and hope that your streak continues for as long as you want it to and that it provides you the extra motivation to keep running when you may have missed a day otherwise.

Just ensure that you listen to your body closely and when it tells you it is time to end the streak, listen to it carefully. Otherwise you may start a different kind of streak and one that you will not be as proud of  - Days Not Run in a row - due to injury streak.

I just came off one of those injury - did not run streaks and I have no interest in starting another of those.

No Streaking

My goals are to be running well 10-20 years from now, not just today or tomorrow. How does streaking fit into those plans - it doesn't. I can't and won't allow myself to be caught up again by others who are streaking or endorsing others to streak, it isn't the direction that I want to take with my running.

Fortunately for me at this point in my running life, streaking just isn't necessary as a motivation to be out there running. I enjoy running enough to be able to take a day or two off and still want to get back to running as soon as possible.

Streaking just gets me in trouble.

Memories

Now I remember a night back when The Streak was popular...well its probably better not to talk about that night ;-)

:-) Keep smiling and good things will happen!

Originally written by Harold Shaw published at "A Veteran Runnah" © 2011 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw and A Veteran Runnah" with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.

Icebreaker Base Layer Clothing Review

Cross-posted at: A Veteran Runnah

Back on November 28th, I was contacted by a representative of the Natureshop which is based out of New Zealand, asking me if I would be interested in wear-testing some of their Icebreaker base layer clothing after reading my post on what to wear in the winter post on "One Foot In Reality".

We coordinated the logistics and they sent the package out on November 30th and it got here December 6th. Unfortunately, I wasn't home to receive the package and had to wait until today to get it picked up. Six days to travel half-way around the world for delivery to Maine from New Zealand is pretty impressive delivery time.

Here is what their site says about the Icebreaker line of clothing:

What I will be looking for in them are: