It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~Charles Dickens

      Ahhhhh.  Calendar Spring has arrived and carried Paige and I out of our late winter, blog hibernation.  In the Northern Rockies the first few weeks, or even couple months, of "official" Spring is a period of waxing and waning in which Mother Nature and Old Man Winter attempt to continue their, all too old, four month relationship.  Brief periods of separation lead to patches of sunny skies, rising temps, and melting snow, lending a hope of the season to come.  These separations don't last long though and before too much morale is built the two powerful world shapers reunite and provide us with the fruits of their love, more snow and cold.  Ahhh, or nahhhh.  As daunting as this back and forth can be, subtle signs of the longer days and warmer nights are all around, reminding us the growing season, physically, naturally, and spiritually has begun.
     We are kicking off our season in the finest fashion we know...road trip!  This coming Friday Paige and I are loading up the Pilot with everything we need for five days of boot scootin, and heading west to Bend and beyond.  Along the way we will stop in Kenniwick, Washington to take part in the second Badger Mountain Challenge.  I will be running in the 50k and Paige Ford makes her return to the competitive NW running scene by tackling the 15k.  It should be a good time and we are both excited to stretch our legs and enjoy a day on the dirt.  After we flush our legs on the rolling hills we will turn SW and land in Bend, Oregon.  Our trip to Bend has multiple motivations and we eagerly anticipate catching the "vibe" of this hip Oregon town, that may, or may not be a large part of our futures.  Undoubtedly, the most enjoyable time of the trip will be the days spent in Sun River with the Ford Clan(minus the too cool for school, Mexican trippers)(just jealous).  These are things we hope for our trip; safe travel, cheaper gas, good food, reggae music, tropical drinks, SUN, dry weather, tennis, golf, lounging, running, hiking, biking, acquainting, reuniting, jamming, dancing, starry nights, laughs, gin and tonics, micro brewed beer, short sleeves, sunglasses, red meat, pitch, Yahtzee, and most importantly, the unexpected!

       Two months is too much reflection for one blog post so I will leave you with a pictorial track of our late winter happenings.

Sunny Winter Walk in Eugene

Hug pile!

Happy Birthday MOM, SURPRISE!

Are we there yet?

East Fork Rock Creek Cabin pond hockey.

Cabin

MOOSE! (look real hard in the middle)

Cabin life

Teacher conference in Helena

Boyfriend/Girlfriend

Dog sitting

All to myself!

Tight roping on University Mountain

Univ Mt sunshine

Going up

2012 SPAMS(Spin Against Multiple Sclerosis)

Thank you, snow storm!!

After a WONDERFUL, long weekend with the Ruby Jewels in New Orleans, filled with lots of delicious food, walks in the sunshine, laughter, and quality time spent with 3 amazing friends, I was preparing myself for a tiring (we didn't sleep very much in NOLA) and cold week at school.

The first day back, everybody in room 304 was a little sleepy and not quite ready for further exploration of multiplication and division! Somehow we all managed to make it through the day and that is when we got the first wind of a huge snowstorm heading our direction. Instantly thoughts of school being cancelled popped into every teacher's mind in the Missoula area, but I did not let it get the best of me because I have been told that snow days do not happen very often here! In Oregon, if 1 snowflake fell from the sky, school was cancelled. Waking up to a little snow on Wednesday, I got excited and was waiting for a call from the district, saying school was cancelled, no such luck! It did, however, snow all day on Wednesday and into the night. We woke up Thursday morning (as Justin posted previously) to quite a few inches of snow. The call from the district came, with a message of a 2 hour delay for the students, teachers should report at regular time :( After digging my car out of the snow (thanks, Justin!) I drove very slowly to school preparing for some very excited 3rd graders! After half the staff had reported, we were called to the office, where we were told the district had decided to just cancel school for the day, since the weather report was not looking much better for the rest of the day! You might think there is a lot of excitement in the halls of an Elementary school on the last day of school, you should have heard it on this wintry day in January! What was I going to do with this free day.....
     Justin and I decided to do our first snowshoe adventure of the season (it had been a very dry winter up until this point), we were both curious of how much snow was on Sentinel, so decided to head that
direction! (Side note: Justin had mentioned in his previous post that he ran a sluggish 49 minute time from our front door to the top of Sentinel.  That is NOT sluggish, we have to keep in mind "Justin time"! Most of you can probably recall hiking the "M", when you have come to visit, running Sentinel, does not mean stopping at the "M", it ends up being a 2 1/2 mile run with 2,000 feet of elevation gain, which most people could not dream of doing in 49 minutes!) Anyways, we strapped on our snowshoes and headed up the left side of Sentinel, where we were greeted with 6-10 inches of untouched snow! With Justin breaking trail up the North ridge, we made it 3/4 of the way up Sentinel when we (I) decided we should make a nice long loop out of the hike, instead of heading straight up! It continued to snow during our hike, at one point, I turned to look back out over Missoula and could only see white clouds and bit and pieces of buildings below. 

Wintry Missoula

     We continued with our hike through tons of untouched, beautiful snow! I had just been telling Justin how I wanted to experience a time when it would start to snow and just keep snowing for a long period of time, I got my wish!! It continued to snow all day and into the night.  Late Thursday afternoon all the Lowell teachers were texting back and forth, placing bets on whether we would have school on Friday or not.  No one wanting to get their hopes up for another snow day, but the call came, announcing the school closures for Friday! So, after preparing to have a long tiring week at work, we were pleasantly surprised to have a 4 day weekend!

Enjoying the snowy day!

The black dot is Justin, wayyyy ahead of me!

     Now, with another free day ahead of us, we were trying to figure out what snow filled activity would fill our day on Friday! We decided another snowshoe adventure would  be fun! We got friends Amy, Mary and Zeke to join us on a Marshall Canyon trek.  After getting stuck twice in our alley way, one time having to get pulled by a very nice man with a rope and Chevy 2500, we made it up to Marshall.  Where we got to see the dark clouds part ways to blue sky! Justin led us on another beautiful hike up and around Marshall.  

Mary and Zeke

View from Marshall, overlooking East Missoula

Amy (Willa in background)

Justin, breaking trail

Fog creeping in around us

The crew, enjoying a much deserved cold one after the hike!

     After an adventure filled weekend, I just have to say thank you to the snow storm for providing Missoula with a winter wonderland!!

A January Morning

We woke up this morning to six fresh, fresh inches of powdery snow.  After some oats, a dog walk, shoveling the walkways, and starting laundry I was on the mountain by 8:30.  I should have considered using the screw shoes, but my excitement had me out the door in the old Saucony Peregrines.  The consistency of the NW ridge on Sentinel has been very solid this winter, save for the second to last pitch, with minimal ice and packed snow.  The fresh snow did nothing to improve footing as I struggled and often failed to find purchase beneath  the powder.  A typical time from our front door, up the NW ridge to the summit is in the 28-36 minute range.  Breaking trail and losing a few inches with each step had me on top in a sluggish 49 minutes.  Once on top i briefley considered my descent options and opted for the less steep and longer route down Hellgate Canyon and the north face.  To my surprise and jubilation, no one had chosen this route for an early morning ascent.  Six to ten inches of undisturbed powder!  Running down a mountain trail with untouched powder has to be what it would feel like to run on clouds.  Each step briefley sinking, rebounding, and locating its next plant as you settle into a controlled free fall, giving little concern to anything but the next step.  This is fun running, what I did in the backyard and hallways of my home growing up, no Ipod needed, just the sounds of a beating heart and the occasional exultation of joy. When I did pull my head up I gathered a great scene of fog enveloped mountains, ice encrusted trees, and the faint lights of town below.  This run was more of a full glass than a taste of what pushes me out the door and up the mountain each day.  It was what lies underneath the bad days, the windy ones, with ice, rain and snow, the dark mornings, and tired legs, that hesitation before you turn the handle and open the front door.  Running fills my strong urge to move across, up, down, and over what lies underneath me feet.  I dont expect eachday to be fun, knowing some will be struggles, testing my fortitude and commitment, but I can expect to be hopeful each time I lace up my shoes, knowing that the unknown is what will make today spectacular.

223 Brooks

Summit looking back down NW ridge

Nearing the icey stretch on NW ridge.  Sentinel summit in background

University Mt. from Hellgate Canyon descent.

University and town from lower section of NW ridge.

Crafting and Fashioning

Soap pump(jar courtesy of Molly Merrill)

Camelback stripped of all pockets, straps, and  attachments. Relogoed

Floating poplar front rack.

Cord toe straps.

Palm and index reinforcement on Smartwool gloves.  My new favorite running glove.

Holidays

     Well... the past few weeks has been a blur!  Paige and I had a great trip to Ohio for Christmas with friends and family, many of them new to Paige.  Every familiar face I made reacquaintance with had a great smile and it genuinely seemed that everyone is in a great space with their current lives.  It is a great feeling to see the ones you love doing so well and emitting a positive energy.  I had been thinking of the day I would get to introduce Paige, and her moody, noninfectious personality to my family and friends.  Needless to say, she was a hit.

     We touched down in Ohio(actually northern Kentucky) around 11pm EST.  Mom and Dad were there, braving the late hour to deliver us the one hour drive home.  When we arrived at the homestead Amanda and Nick were there to greet us and after some catching up we decided to open presents! It was technically now Christmas.  The gift giving and receiving went on for quiet awhile and by the time we laid head to bed it was well past 2 AM.  The next day was a family fest and we spent the entire day eating, introducing, and filling in the details of 2 1/2, vacuumed years away.  Long day, early to bed, right? Not so fast.  News spread of a late night rendezvous at a downtown watering hole consisting of a raucous group old friends.  Saying goodbye to the last lingering family we headed down and mingled for a short time before yawning home and concluding Christmas DAY!

     The final days of the trip included such highlights as dinner with the Merrill's,  Randy Ryberg's Basement Bike Shop,  not winning one game of 21 against Brian and Chris, hiking with Mom, Dad, and Randy along the Little Miami River, Chipotle, a plethora of holiday ales, highlighted by Great Lakes Brewing Christmas Ale, breakfast casserole, 7 layer bars, buckeyes(evidence of Paige's love below), playing with Ali, late night sports talk with Dad, driving tour of Wright State, seeing Nick and Amanda's very good looking house, and many many other smile inducing moments.  Thank you everyone for such an amazing trip home and for giving us your love, especially to the Oregon contingency for being understanding of Paige's absence! How were the cinnamon rolls??

     So now we are back, in the grind, enjoying an unseasonably dry and warm winter, riding that wave of energy and hope that comes from seeing smiles, nudging shoulders, hearing the voices of the people that make our lives what they are, near and far.  This winter hasn't bore its teeth yet but when it does we will be ready, kept warm by love and the anticipation of the smell of Spring.

Paige letting loose on the "plunge", Marshall Canyon

Brian, Justin, Randy

The Little Miami River

Paige caught in the act, enjoying a buckeye!

Run, run Rudolph

       Well we are ten days out from the grandaddy of holidays, Christmas!  Paige and I are getting very excited for the long trip, short flight, back to Ohio.  It will be a new experience for all of us and the gambit of emotions will certainly be run.  We hope everyone is enjoying, and not stressing, their Christmas preperations.  All the days that lead up to the 25th of December are what end up making it so special and the love we share, near or far, is what makes it so warm and indearing.  So, enjoy these last days and keep an appreciation for what we have in eachother as friends and families and it will indeed be very merry.

        The two of us have been keeping busy.  Paige's bball team lost a tough fought semifinal game this past Sunday.  What made it a tough loss was how close their squad came to upsetting the best team in the leauge, which has three former division 1 womens players.  The final score was a three point seperation.  The difference?  A halfcourt heave from the other teams best player, from mid court as the halftime buzzer sounded.   After the game, Paige, was awarded the "The Computer Award".....because she has a hard drive!  Seriously.

        Nothing overly exciting from me outside of daily excursions into the mountains.  The pictures tell it better than i do.

Evening light on the backside of University Mt.

                                       

Marshall Canyon

Univ, Sentinel, Jumbo from Marshall Canyon service rd

Willa takes it in before the plunge to the car

A couple of, soul nurturing, items i thought i would mention.  The frist is a very tasty brew by Lagunitas Brewing.  The second is a song from a band i am just becoming acquainted with, The Alabama Shakes.

Holiday Season!

Football Gang (Bob Ford photographer)

The holiday season is in full swing!  Paige and I kicked things off right with a very, fullfilling, 5 day trip to Oregon ( OOOOOO),  for the Turkey day celebration.  We drove into Eugene on Wednesday, after a long day on the road, and were greeted with warm hugs and smiles, as well as some very tasty pumpkin enchiladas.  Thursday saw the whole crew head over to beautiful, Black Butte to feast on Terriffic Turkey, and enjoy wonderful company.  Dinner was followed by a brisk stroll and warming cocktails.  Amidst some great card play and jovial sportsmanship, the rest of the crew arrived later in the evening, allowing enough time to plan an action packed Friday.  With full stomachs and a clear sky(we were on the sunny side of Oregon) the ambitious crew set out for a day of activity and competition.  A brief synopsis of the day included eating,  christmas tree hunting, eating, touch football(hail to the victors, Joel Ford MVP), eating, Pitch tournament(congratulations Bob and Sybil), and finally, sleeping.  One detail of the day worth mentioning was that of an all out effort.  Shannon Ford and the forty yard dash.  Currently i am having technical difficulties posting the physical evidence, but in short, Shannon went all out in an attempt, and an impressive one i might add, at besting an NFL linemans 40 yard dash time of 5.0.  When the dust settled and     

and the watch stopped it read, 5.8! While she did not achieve her goal, i do believe she is in good company, as my research shows..."....Shaq had some good zip on the ball in passing drills, he also ran the 40-yard dash in 5.8 seconds,.."(http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2009/08/shaq-vs-entertaining-with-a-side-of-cheese/).  Yes, Shannon is as fast as Shaq. 

Sybil, Paige, Justin

Oregon's Finest Spruce

Begin forwarded message:

From: Justin Yates <sunrnr9@yahoo.com>
Date: December 6, 2011 8:29:55 PM GMT-07:00
To: "jyates0909.paigejustin@blogger.com" <jyates0909.paigejustin@blogger.com>
Subject: Holiday Season!