Scrunch-Scrunch!

<===There's a creek under all of that out there!

I woke up this morning to eight below! Egad! I've given up hope for this being a short winter. I think what we have here is a good ol' fashion Iowa winter. That's what it is all right.

Well, I figured it wasn't going to warm up too much, (-2 below as I type this) and the wind was not bad, so I went XC skiing again in The Green Belt. I layered up just right, and got some ragin' "beard ice" goin on. It was a good outing.

The snow was so cold, it sounded like two pieces of Styrofoam rubbing together as I skied along. Pretty cool! I got into a section where the tracks had been drifted in, and that section was so hard, my skis barely left an impression. Awesome! I haven't seen those snow conditions since 2000.

Then I just have to mention this. Some doofus went out and ran/hiked the trail right in the track. Great! Actually, I wasn't all that upset, since umpteen million wood rat........er ........I mean deer! Well, a lot of deer anyway.............they had also run up and down the track, completely obliterating it in places. I haven't seen them in there, those crafty vermin, but they leave plenty of evidence of their passing. More than just tracks. Scat, urine, rubbings, and cleared sections where they are grubbing for food. Man, wait till spring! Those varmints will have single track beaten in that you won't believe.

Until then, I'll just enjoy the scrunch-scrunch of the sub-zero snow under my skis.