Monday, December 27, 2021

#210



Last January, I said we'd try for 210 hikes, one more than the 209 we completed in 2020. Well, the day after Christmas we hammered up Whitecap Mountain for the 58th time of the year. We climbed up and down the 4.4-mile trail in less than 2 hours... any time less than 2 hours is great for us. Yay!   





















So, #210... Extra Treats? 

Well, OK, and definitely wine for me.  




The final hikes...205, 206, 207, 208, 209...

 


Bailey's showing no signs of his illness, so off we went again for small local hikes landing on Christmas Eve on Mystery Mountain. 













Azi's Holiday

 

Santa's Watch Dog

Azi arrived home from his trip to Florida's Disney with a head cold that turned into a sore throat that had all the tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19. So, I bought $50 worth of tests. After 2 negative tests with a 24-hour break in between, this Dr. Kent thinks he has a cold and was exhausted from the trip. He stayed with up to 8 unvaccinated people on the week-long holiday and traveled through all the resorts, so the possibilities for the virus were there. But! So far, so good. A reminder to all: Science is good. 

Gift from our neighbors, The Sullivan Family

Funny how ill you can feel when someone's not
well in the house. 


C-19 test


Book tree

Scholarship boy improving his reading. 


Happy Kid with a second negative test. 





    

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

The In-Between Time... #204

White Mountains beyond the Mahoosuc Range. 

As I wrote in the last post, it's the in-between time of fall/winter and hiking the local trails are a chore. Some grassy sections of the Yellow trail had the feel of early spring; other sections felt like a dry winter like the one of 1980s. We had no snow but lots of frozen ponds.  I remember that year because it was my second year coaching the high school ski team, and the skiers were frustrated with running. In fact, that year for the state ski meet we had to travel to New Hampshire to race on manmade snow. Needless to say, we were not prepared. 

We hiked Yellow up through the second steep ascent to the granite slab. What a gorgeous day just 11 days before Christmas. 

First steep ascent on Yellow. 

Someone waiting for the Treat Master. 

Ditto

The White Mountains

Old Speck in the distance. 

A bone, perhaps? 

Old Speck's summit




Pretty artsy.