How To Drive in a Whiteout

1. DON’T PANIC. Whiteouts are typically caused by blowing snow. ‘Blowing’ means that intermittently you’ll probably be able to see.

2. DO NOT stop your car.

3. Drive as slowly as you think necessary but don’t pull over or stop. It increases your chances of getting hit and/or injured.

4. Turn on your effing lights. They won’t help YOU see, but they’ll help OTHER PEOPLE SEE YOU. See above.

5. Look for the sides of the road. Specifically, the right side of the road. If you have a hard time seeing, roll down the passenger window.

6. Don’t pass people. It’s a dumb idea.

7. Don’t tailgate. Same reason.

Snowpocalypse, part deux

Cocaine use =/= a woman’s right to choose

I don’t watch The View very often, but I enjoy their hot topics shows because I think they do a good job of covering the gamut of reasonably expected responses (considered/intellectual: Whoopi, Barbara; ignorant/emotional: Sherri, Elizabeth; going for the punchline: Joy). Today they were talking about the rumor of Joe Biden’s daughter having snorted cocaine and one of her dirtbag ‘friends’ shopping it around to tabloids. They were saying that you can’t tie the actions of a child to the parent, with which I absolutely agree.

Kids come into this world with their own personality and ability to make their own decisions. Ideally, the way that they are raised will influence some of their decisionmaking processes but ultimately they are their own person.

That shook round to the political spectrum and how it’s potentialy MORE unfair to hold these kids up because the press implies their parents aren’t good at their JOBS rather than at parenting (which is the more logical conclusion). This, of course, brought up the issue of Bristol Palin. I think there’s a difference in that particular case.

If Sarah Palin had refused to comment about the pregnancy (Biden has yet to comment on the drug allegation), or simply requested privacy, that would  have been just fine. Instead she started crowing about how proud she was of her daughter’s “choice” and turned it into a pro-life wictory. This would also be fine, if Sarah Palin wasn’t actively campaigning to take that exact same “choice” away from everyone else. She SHOULD have been talking about how there wasn’t a choice, of course Bristol was having that kid because it was the only right thing to do – because that’s what she believes.. Instead, she MADE it a political issue by discussing it in those terms,  precisely because she’s AGAINST a woman’s right to control her own bodily functions, and that is why it became okay to talk about it. You’ll notice that Bristol’s “choice” was a topic of conversation but her decision to drop out of high school was barely a blip.

Being a politician doesn’t hold you to a higher standard of being a parent. It doesn’t hold your kids to a higher standard, because your kids are entitled to make their own mistakes and learn from them. It DOES require that you occasionally shut your mouth and put your kids before your own political agenda.

The View was also hilarious today talking about Twitter. The whole ‘not getting it’ is easy to see. It’s sort of a mindless occupation, though it can be entertaining.

I was kind of interested to see Bill O’Reilly on the show and see if Joy Behar or Whoopi were going to call him out. O’Reilly *did* make a good point about shopping with your dollars – if you disagree with something, use your money to make your impact. It was also hilarious that Bill suddenly wanted to “move on”  when they began discussing WHY we were in Iraq. Oddly, he rarely wants to “move on” on his own show. Speaking of which, I wanted to link this particularly heinous story. It’s especially nice because he has frequently spoken out on the rights of ‘celebrities’ to not be stalked. I guess famous people get more rights than everyone else.

Last political note: when the economists say you’ve got to keep spending money in order to fix the problem, people like Bill O’Reilly and Sherri Shepard should STFU. We’ve already spent into what most average people would consider to be imaginary numbers (as in, we can’t IMAGINE how much money it is) so if the people who study this FOR A LIVING think it’s the right path, I’m okay with it.

In unrelated news, I’m finally posting my CO snowpocalypse photos!

The trees outside my house, when I left.

Merging onto I-70, believe it or not.

In case you haven’t been watching the news

We’re supposed to be in the midst of snowpocalypse out here. I could point out the irony of said snowpocalype in a place reknowned for its snow but, la.

Ironically, up in the mountains it’s not as bad as it was on the I-70 corridor. In point of fact, I had a perfectly uneventful trip to Frisco for a haircut and various errands and didn’t realize, until calling to speak to Spouse, that the roads were supposed to be in any way disastrous.

When I left at about 11 am, there was about 6 inches of snow on my car. It was overcast but not snowing, so it didn’t even occur to me to call 511 for the road update. Once I was over the Fremont Pass (upon which there was virtually NO blowing snow) and about halfway to Coppper, the visibility deterioriated. I have a couple of great pictures on my camera (to be uploaded later).

There was more snow on I-70 than usual and the visibility was such that you almost had to take it on faith that you were, in fact, merging onto I-70, but other than that it was okay.

In related news, if you were the douchebag in a red Land Rover who decided to just put their brakes on as though they were going to stop in the middle of the highway, you can eat a bag of dicks.

Since I’m out looking for work today

And working this afternoon/tonight, I’m posting early. Any time I want to go to Target, I have to drive to Frisco/Silverthorne. As I’ve said many times, I don’t mind having to drive an hour in any direction to run an errand because the views are stunning.

These are photos I took on the drive.

I think I’m going to have Mexican food for lunch, and call to fix a couple of long-distance issues from Michigan.

Skijoring!

Part of skijoring is capturing rings on the course.  And as crazy as this whole sport sounds, it actually LOOKS CRAZIER.

Here’s the photoset.

Big weekend

This is a skijoring weekend in Leadville. If, like me, you were previously unaware of skijoring – here’s the skinny:

They truck snow into town and create a track down main street.  They build jumps out of the snow, on the track. Then some crazy fools strap on skis, tie themselves to a horse, and let the horse run them full speed down the track and over the jumps. Yes, they really do.

Here’s a picture of the prep on Harrison this morning: (as always, click pics for bigger view)

Skijoring prep in Leadville.

We’ve had a kind of unusually warm week which allowed all the snow on the roads to melt. That’s a first since I’ve been here but the good news is we’ve already got some snow tonight and it should continue through the weekend. Probably not great for our plans to see Watchmen, but good for skijoring I’m sure.

There’s a pancake breakfast tomorrow but other than that and watching some crazy fools try to kill themselves, we don’t have any solid plans. Scheming is afoot for a trip to Santa Fe and I’ve got to bake a birthday cake.

Also filed under Things You Don’t Usually See in Michigan:

Prepared?

More photos

My trip to Salida on the 26th. When I left Leadville it was snowing but in the pics you can see it clears off before Buena Vista. Leaving Salida, I took an inadvertant detour to Monarch before realizing and coming back. 

Photos here.

Daiy Leadville-ish

I took these pics today on my way to Silverthorne. It’s Spouse’s favorite view on that particular drive, just inside Summit County. The first photo was in the early afternoon, the second on my way home. Click the photos for the full view.

First time through

Different view, same place, later that day.

Daily

Snow falling outside my house.

“I wanna go FAST.”

We didn’t just SURVIVE skiing, we actually had a blast. We went to Ski Cooper (best kept skiing secret in the Rockies) and – first things first – took a lesson. We had a great teacher (Liz Mathieu, if you’re interested) and she  took us through everything she could in 2 hours. I’m not really sure how people just slap on skis and get on a mountain but let me tell you what, I’m hella glad I didn’t. It was snowy and overcast, so we pretty much had the hill to ourselves. Plenty of room for practicing and then Spouse and I tackled the intermediate hill.

My boots were just a smidge too big and all this damn yoga has given me excellent posture, so I probably had the biggest adjustments to make. I had a hard time leaning into the skis, because of the boots, and my tendency is to keep my upper body nice and straight. These two things make for crazy and out of hand speed – which I LOVED. Turns out the speed is less terrifying (though no less exhilarating) when you’ve got more control so the intermediate hill is what it took for me to ‘get’ the leaning forward. I had a couple of spectacular wipeouts but the snow was so soft that it was like falling on a mattress. It was, in a word, fantastic.

Last night was a busier Tuesday than usual and today I’m taking the girls to Salida. Probably more pictures in the works (since I’ve gotten way off schedule) but there is only one ski photo and I’ll have to get that from Slim. Also there may be another tattoo in the works.

Adventures in snow

Today we are attempting downhill skiiing for the first time. There may be pictures and/or broken bones later.

Today we went cross country skiing for the first time.

I stopped to take a picture. Spouse kept going.

It was a gorgeous day – sunny and warm. We skiied for about 3 miles (maybe more) and there was a totally awesome steep downhill where I got to tuck and go. That I don’t have pictures of. I don’t know that either of us really got the rhythm down and, frankly, I would have rather had snowshoes.

End of the work week

Such as it is. I’ll spend the rest of the calendar week running errands and checking out potential employment. But first! Today was a GORGEOUS day.

I still can't believe this is right outside.

People keep telling me I’m going to get sick of the snow and, while I’m not discounting their experience, I can honestly say that I’ve walked outside and gotten an enormous smile on my face every single day since I got here. Snow or not, I can’t stop the big grin because it is just SO beautiful. The snow here is so different from home and I don’t remember a winter when I’ve ever seen this much sunlight. If you think the photos I’ve posted here are redundant, you should see all the ones on my hard drive that I HAVEN’T posted.

I’m part of the way through book 4 of 2009 and I think I’m going to start making posts about each book individually. So far my selections have run the gamut, which you’ll see when I begin the posts tomorrow.

That’s how I roll.

Of course, because I’ve got plans to drive to the Vail Valley we got a ton of snow and almost ALL the passes are closed until notice. I’m thinking that two hours is plenty of time for Vail to get clear, but we’ll see. I might be seeking out a longer and more scenic route to Avon/Edwards…

Actually, it’s Eagle River

Red Cliff Bridge, near Minturn, CO

The Red Cliff Bridge, not far from Vail,  started as a WPA project in 1939. Rehabbed in 2004, the bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only two steel-arch bridges in Colorado. This is a shot headed back to Leadville from an afternoon in Vail.

Clicking the photo will take you to a larger version.