skijoring

On my way to work the other day, I passed an outdoorsy-looking vehicle with some very large decal letters on the back: Skijor Hund. I thought that sounded interesting, so I made a mental note to look it up. Well, it is interesting, and it looks like tons of fun!

 

Yes, it's skiing as you're being pulled- by a horse, dog, or motor vehicle. I had seen a photo of this before, some amusing post card that circulated between family members, but had no idea of the name of this sport.

Not only that, when I Googled this, I came across ads for harnesses you can get, and from REI! (And, the lady in the photo on the REI site has a kid in a ski trailer attached to her. How cool.)

 I'm all for this, as soon as I get a dog, and some snow!

another (smaller) snow day

It's nearly February, but I'm happy to say there's been some snow this winter- not enough to go cross country skiing today, but a snow hike was just the thing. I was the only one out besides a few women running, and a man with his puppy and loaf of bread, feeding the geese.

(Speaking of feeding the wildlife, I haven't seen my squirrel around, or many other squirrels for that matter, lately. One of their nests has deteriorated, so it seems they have perhaps moved on. I also hadn't been setting bird seed out either.)
There was plenty of snow blowing around while I was out this morning, but it felt wonderful to be outside.

 

It's strange to think this park is right in the middle of Kansas City, but it's big enough that you can't really tell. I saw several garden areas as well, so I bet it's beautiful in the spring. 

With a day off,  today was also a good day for baking, so I made an apple fig galette!

Last week I worked more than 16 hours in one day, at the end of which I was so tired that I didn't even feel tired anymore. I stayed late for the museum's biggest fundraiser of the year, for young professionals. I greeted the VIP guests and made sure the open bar didn't produce any debacles. As another officer put it, "at least everyone kept their digits", referring to an incident a few years ago where partiers rushed the coat check at the end of the night and one fellow got his finger literally smashed off in the door frame. Luckily, it was reattached and all was *mostly* well. They put narrower spouts on the taps this year and everyone commented on how generally mellow the evening was!

The exhibit I was staying on for at the art museum has finally closed, after they extended it for another week, but we are all glad we will no longer be listening to the same video being played on repeat. I have agreed to stay at the museum, until I find a full time job elsewhere. Tomorrow starts a new work week, and hopefully a new exhibit for Chinese New Year.

the snowpocolypse

What a fantastic blizzard that was! Still, it did not seem nearly as bad as they made it out to be. I suppose other areas may have gotten it worse. It seems like this winter we haven't been able to get a break between the melting of snow and the coming of even more. Here's a great satellite photo taken by NASA of yesterday's storm:

NASA images 

At work on Monday (with international students whose home countries include quite a range of environments), we had to make sure the students understood just how much snow there could possibly be. Of course the five students from Tibet (a.k.a. the Land of Snows) seemed unfazed, whereas some of the others were in disbelief. At times I wonder if some of these students have any idea what Kansas is really like before they come here. We had to warn them of the wind chill, and frostbite, and what shoes to wear, good socks, etc. I hope they all came out of it alright.

After shoveling the snow in front of the house this morning, I went on a much-needed snow hike, about 6 miles, which felt wonderful after being shut in all day yesterday. It's too bad I don't have cross country skis, because the fields would have been perfect for it! As it was though, the drifts made it somewhat difficult to discern deep and shallow snow. It wasn't uncomfortably cold though, and everything sure was beautiful!