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Ten Degrees and Getting Colder

  Cold Sunrise   That's just the name of the song written by Gordon Lightfoot.  It was actually -13 F when I got up this morning (wind chill -24).  Tucson may have pulled back into the lead!  There's a lot of weighing pros and cons of Colorado vs Arizona by the wood stove.  Not much else to report. I did enjoy a few games of pool and a beer with my brother this week.  We don't get together very often, so it's good to try to keep the lines of communication open, especially with my mother celebrating her 86th birthday next month.  He lives in Milwaukee and just started semi-retirement.  Our opposing politics and lifestyles keep things very casual and surface-level.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.   It's important to find common ground.  He and his wife have started going to concerts and recently saw the Steve Miller Band.  Music is one of our common interests.      

Snowshoeing at Slack’s


We finally have enough snow to make snowshoeing an easy choice over hiking.  Julia and I took turns outdoors today so that someone was home for Justin.  She cross-country skied 12k over at the Lodi Golf Course.  I procrastinated until about 90 minutes before sunset and then drove over to Slack’s Trailhead on the Ice Age Trail.






I often read on other blogs about how terrible and boring winter is in cold climates.  To be honest, however, I would miss winter days like today if I were to move to southern Arizona  or a similar place without wintry blasts to remind us of weather extremes.  The air was so cold and clean, no insects, total silence, and pure solitude.  As I plodded along in my snowshoes, all of my worries and concerns washed away.

It was cold out; temperatures tonight will dip below zero again.  But I wasn’t at all cold as I moved up and down hills, through stands of pine and oak, and passed native prairie grasses.  Seasons keep views dynamic, and I had to stop for a few minutes to gaze across the hills looking southward down the frozen Wisconsin River.

 
I’ve hiked thousands of miles of trails across this country and plan to do a lot more hiking outside my home area.  Yet, I also love the one I’m with.



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