Will and Emma, our border collies

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Cross Country Skiing at Simsbury Farms

With all this snow and ice that we've been having, we are all getting to feel a little housebound. I think you might call it a major case of cabin fever. The snow just keeps coming, and we are trying to figure out a way for all of us to get some fresh air and exercise. These two border collies are just not used to staying inside and being inactive like we've been doing. It's all we can do to get out for a daily walk, let alone a good romp twice a day, like our usual routine. So we thought we would get our skis out again and try the golf course on the bright and sunny afternoon we had a couple of days ago. Just to note, today we are not having such good weather, once again. It is freezing rain outside right now, as it has been all afternoon. What a mess that will make!

So the other day we strapped on our skis and took off over the hills at the golf course, our favorite winter place. It was the day after a two day stint of snow and sleet and freezing rain, so you can only imagine what we encountered. Yes, it was a nice six inch layer of fresh snow, covered by an inch of almost solid ice! Well, we forgot to put new wax on our skis, and as a result, we just skidded around the top of the icy snow. Of course, Jim led the way and broke through as well as he could, and I got to follow in his tracks. Will did his best to follow in the tracks too, but Emma, being the little explorer today, did her best to walk on top of the snow. it was hilarious watching her - she would step as gingerly as she could, but then her back legs would crash through, and she'd almost get stuck in the deep snow. She'd pull herself out, and keep going until she broke through again. It was tough, but she's a real trooper! She got herself trapped behind the safety net on the driving range and really had a tough time getting through the deep snow to get back around the net. It was all we could do to watch and wait for her - even Will just laid there spotting her wondering just what she was up to! She was getting a little worried that she would never make her way around the long netting, and tired of the struggle, too, but she finally made it.

It is somewhere around two and a half or three feet of snow built up on the ground now, so you can only imagine how difficult it would be to walk in. If the snow hadn't been so icy, it would have been quite a nice ski. We did a bit of a circuit around the course, but were all happy to get back to the car. Even Will and Emma were tired out.