Gonna Get Me a Job or Bust!

Unfortunately, one cannot live by cross country skiing alone. It must be financed by some type of employment. So far, my Home Depot job has been fun, but I need a full time endeavor to make the bank happy. Full time positions at THD are just not falling into my lap and the application process through corporate is pretty bizarre, so I have been exploring other options... but first! Pics of cross country skiing!

Naturally, I was also trussed-up in my ski trappings, although I look like Jabba the Hut on toothpicks.

We were out in the wilds of Garden Creek Gap, just five miles from our house. This area seems to be an unpopulated back door to the mountain range just to the west of our home. Old Tom is the dominant mountain, topping out at just under 9000 ft. In these pics Karren and I are at about 6000 feet on a gravel fire road known as "Upper Rattlesnake Road," which runs a ridge line due west away from the paved access. We only got about a mile and a half up the ridge before we turned around. It is best to stop before you get too tired to careen out-of-control down the mountain, for that is what we beginners end up engaging in. Sheer madness, but fun!

At about the half-way point we encountered a large covey of grouse and were fascinated by their antics. I managed to get a picture of their tracks in the snow for posterity.

The birds were a riot and they were noisy. They are about the size of a chicken, but much more plump with stubby head and tail. I attempted to get a picture of them but it turned out to look like fly specks on white paper.

We have since been back to the Mink Creek area for a run up the Corral Canyon Trail. As we went up at 3PM the snow was a bit soft and the melting had ruined some parts of the trail. As we neared our limit and turned around the evening cooled, freezing the snow into a crusty ice track, similar to a bobsled run. This made our beginning skiing efforts all the more comical. Neither of us was hurt, but it wasn't for lack of vertical challenges. I fell a total of four times before I removed the damn skis and walked sown the final 1/8 mile. Karren just looks like she was born on the sticks and only fell once. It is difficult to learn how to ski when the trail limits your ability to do anything but fly down a narrow gully two feet wide that is solid ice. Next time we'll wait for new snow or we'll finish earlier before it refreezes.

So, back to the job search. I haven't heard anything from ISU about the position I applied for there, but the HR dept. says it will take some time as the entire population of Latvia applied for the job as well. I also have put my apps into the federal govt. for various park service related jobs and have had a nibble. Hopefully I'll have an at least an interview soon. The local highway dept. office is hiring a position too, so I have a grossly underqualified app filed with them.

I have been contacted by my first private lesson (trombone) student, but I'm afraid I may have scared his parents off with an exhorbitant fee structure. I may have to adjust for regional economic conditions in order to gain any traction with teaching privately. But I CONTINUE TO PERSEVERE!  I will not give up and become a groveling, whiny little pig. There is a job situation out there somewhere, and I will find it and make it my own. Something's gotta give - this 3:30 AM wake up schedule is ridiculous.

So, next time I will report on the snow storm that appears to be developing tonight. Hopefully it will lay down enough snow to furnish our skiing addiction enough powder and we'll be too busy to blog for a while. Or it could be that we'll finally run out of firewood and have to resort to burning money in the basement for heat. That would make for one cold house, let me tell you!

Next installment: Death by Downhill, or Tim gets hired as a mattress tester! Hard work, but somebody's gotta do it...

(P.S. What we are doing is really backcountry skiing, but not many people know what that is, ergo the cross country label)

Tim and Karren Fall Down - A LOT!

We have settled into the rhythms of frontier life here in Idaho and are really enjoying the snow country. Karren and I tried some cross country skiing and liked it, but I wanted more backcountry flavor, so we bought some sliding snowshoes/ski-shoes for our first try at it. It has been fun learning how to stay upright on them and we are beginning to get the hang of it.

These skis are really fun and are perfect for beginners like us. They use a 75mm three pin binding and have built in skins (not fish scales - skins) and they climb easily with great grip. They are also a lot more fun going downhill than snowshoes. I just couldn't see the point of slogging downhill in something clumsy when we could ski. They are not fast going down but that is a good thing for us beginners!

That's my high school chum Kevin Hopkins with us on the West Fork Mink Creek Trail. He and his wife Sarah were visiting and had to herringbone up the trail because they did not bring their skins with them. We made about 1/2 mile up about 500 feet in elevation that day but needed to stop because old, fat, middle-aged folks like Karren and I needed to have enough energy on the way down to try to ski without shaking too much and Kevin was just getting over the flu. He was amazing to be able to do that much cardio workout in that kind of shape. Of course Sarah was zooming all over the place like Picabo Street (famous ski star) and taking great pictures. She looks like she was born with skis on her feet. She made it look easy and gave our group some credibility with the other skiers on the trail. Thanks Sarah!

I can't wait until we can get into the elevated backcountry and learn how to ski those areas. It will be a while, but Karren is such a natural at this I think we'll learn quickly. There is a hut system that I can literally see from my house - that will be a blast! I've heard two avalanches at home already (scary!) so I need to get training with that stuff before we get too far out. I'm also still battling altitude sickness, so that is taking some time to get used to. I have increased from 6000 ft. to 8000 ft. as far as my comfort zone goes, but there are lots of 9000 ft. plus peaks around here that I want to climb. It's really tough to ski when you're dizzy!

We took the back way around the mountain range and traveled in the high country all the way home that evening and Sarah took a stunning shot of the valley where our house is located. It is a different perspective from the other posts previously, and she captured the light at its best.

What a beautiful place we live in. We are truly blessed... with snow.. and zero degrees this morning. Got to take the bitter with the sweet I guess. At least there aren't any mosquitos. Sarah has a picture of a cattle drive down our road that I am begging her to send me. I hope to be able to post it soon. They were following it as they arrived in McCammon. There was a good looking cowgirl on on horse and the old grizzled cowboy that owns the herd in front of our place. I think it was cool that Kevin and Sarah happened to be driving up just as the cattle drive arrived.

More later!