Rolled out of the sack a bit late this morning. I don't have to report into work and my whole family has the day off from work and schools, so I am in "lounging" mode. Seems strange to my "mid-western work-a-holic" attitude to be on Day Three of a four day stint off of work. I'm out of my element a bit, but I think it is a good thing.
Yesterday I struck out and did a little cross country skiing. The snow was pretty good and the conditions were perfect. I had to keep myself from doing the "dog off the leash", go for broke and destroy myself mode and I throttled the enthusiasm back a bit. I tried to take it in moderation because cross country skiing uses some muscles that I don't normally employ so vigorously in cycling or my everyday activities. I was glad I did pull back because by the time I got back to my car, I could begin to feel those muscles start to "bark" at me.
As I took the skis and boots off in the snowy parking lot I noticed one of those plastic shopping bags, like you get at the grocery store these days, blowing around. I decided to be a good steward and pick it up. The trash can at the parking lot was across the way from me. As I approached, I saw something strange sticking out of the trash can. Four little deer hoofs! As I looked in I saw the carcass of a deer that looked as though it had been butchered and been stuffed into the can, frozen for all to see. Nice.....really nice. Good thing my kids weren't around.
Then it was off to find a sledding device..........for me! My two children have their own saucers that we got at White Sands National Monument, oddly enough. Now it was my turn to find a new board, sled, or something to fly across the snow with, gravity assisted of course. Well, after hitting up two stores in the Cedar Falls area, I came up empty handed. What? I can go into the middle of the desert in spring and find more snow sledding equipment than I can in Iowa in the middle of winter? That just is sooooooo wrong!
Then I noticed that of all the toys there were available, the vast majority were for indoors, and the outdoor toys were mostly scooters, bicycle shaped devices, or electric vehicles. Yeah.....just great! Indoctrinate the tykes into car culture while they are impressionable. Ever notice that those electric abominations are better quality than the bicycles they sell? It's evil I tell ya........EVIL!
Well, if one person can make a difference, I'm going to. I'm going to have my kids outside as much as possible, riding real bicycles, and I will find a sled! Even if I have to go back to White Sands to get it.
Happy New Year ya'all!
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