Day 363

Winter meadow with sky.

I ran 3.16 km this morning in 45 minutes, which is at a rate of 14.15 minutes per km!  It was the snow, I tell you!

Well, it is nigh impossible to run in deep snow, so I had to stop often.  Even when I had worn a track (sort of) it was extremely tiring.  You can see our path with little hopeful circles here and there which is when I stopped and Molly thought it was to throw the ball for her, even though I was bent over and breathing heavily.  Dogs are not good at reading body language, it would seem, well, certainly not this crazy Black Dog.

We are going hiking up a mountain in New Hampshire tomorrow, and were told what to bring by a seasoned winter hiker.  He is going to carry one set of snow-shoes in case there are places with deep snow, when one person will don them and pack down the snow for all those who follow.  Clever idea.  That's what I needed this morning.  Molly could have donned the snow-shoes and made me a track!

Also, Tim will carry a sleeping-bag, the only one for the party of five people.  I asked what good that would do us, but apparently it is for if someone is injured, and it is unlikely that more than one will get injured at a time. Oh.

I am very scared and excited at the same time, we are hiking up a 4000 ft mountain, a loop of  seven and a half miles through the snow, something I have never done before.

Mouse tracks coming from a tunnel entrance/exit.  I had no way of knowing where the mouse highways were today, we had 18 inches of snowfall during this blizzard, with huge drifting, so in some places it is 3 ft deep!

My snow angel.  I was so hot and bothered by this stage, that I made it with only my vest on top, and did not feel the cold of the snow, it was really quite welcome!

And everything blue and white and shades thereof.

And my self-portrait as a Native American shadow-woman, with thick skirts and a long braid.