Snowy Winter

We hear that this is the biggest winter that Crested Butte has had in about 15-20 years.  Somehow we got lucky when we picked this as our destination spot for the winter of 2008!  The few weeks we have been here have been an adjustment to our way of life.  No longer can we just open the door for Maddy to spend some time outside.  We get to go with her every time and usually she's on a leash, unless we are headed out cross-country skiing.

As I've mentioned before we are fortunate in having a nice trail to ski for miles just out our door, so we don't even have to get in the car.  That is a very appealing feature for me so I don't have to pack up the skis and gear and then drive for a bit...it's just nice to put it on at the house and head out the door.  Maddy loves this ski as well, she is the happiest when she's rolling around in frozen blood and urine that she finds along the trail.  I have no idea what the blood is from, but the urine is probably other dogs' and elk urine.  (The things that keep a dog happy!)

I am getting settled into my job.  It is a nice ski town job...I stand at the front desk of a really nice hotel and wait for people to check in and check out or to call about maintenance issues or for laundry detergent, etc. 

I must be getting older because I have no idea how I survived working as a lift operator for 6 months!  Standing outside ALL day long.   I now have a cushy job, where I am only standing outside when I wait for the bus.  This area has a sweet bus system that is free, so I have been taking advantage of it as much as possible. The other morning while waiting for the bus at 6:30 a.m. I saw a small mountain lion cross the street just a few feet away from me and then he crossed it back.  That morning I was just thinking it was a bobcat or a baby lynx (not really), mostly a bobcat, but it had a really long tail.  I probably would have been way more freaked out if I'd realized that morning it was a small mountain lion, because that would have meant a mom mountain lion probably was near.   I have not seen it since, although I would like to.

Mat has been working hard with his job.  We are really looking forward to having a few days off together this week and getting out skiing and snowboarding.