Off hiking

We did our long hike of the season yesterday, it's about 10 miles round trip to where we go every year. I have to admit, I was dragging before we made it there and had to have hubby carry my pack on the way back. Randy, A and I went since T couldn't miss confirmation.

The day was perfect for a long hike, cool and sunny. It would have been nice if we didn't need to wear the heavy jackets, but still enjoyable.

The tunnel still had ice formations on it. Very pretty. Hubby his six feet tall, so you can see how big they are.

We plan to get out at least once a week on that hike now. It sure made me realize just how out of shape I got over the long winter.

Worldless Wednesday

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a very happy Easter!

We're just waiting for the ham to finish cooking, then we'll be heading to my parents' house for dinner.

First hike of the season

We had a quick thaw and actually made it out hiking this week. It was a short one while I was between assignments for the paper, so we only had about 45 minutes to go.

Grabbed our packs, laced up our hiking boots, leashed up the dog and off we went. The trail was muddy in places, then we hit the snow and ice patches. That was fun. There were some beautiful ice formations hanging along the trail. Nothing like at the train tunnel we go to, but still pretty.


I miss being out there! Hopefully, now that spring is here, we'll be able to get out every day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Hope everyone has a great day. Don't forget to wear some green for luck and drink copious amount of green beer. :)

SIGH

I do want to thank everyone for their kinds words on the anniversary of my godson's death. I appreciate all the thoughts.

My son got hurt in school on Tuesday. His "friend" threw him a hat and the little darling it belonged to decided to slam my boy to the ground, then pounded him in the ear twice just for fun. Well, doing that, he ruptured my son's eardrum. We have to wait three weeks to find out if he'll need yet another surgery to repair the damage. He's also lost some of the hearing in that ear thanks to the little mutant. What is wrong with kids? Of course, nobody at the school saw it happen. Why would they? The top dog there has already come out and said I'm just a troublemaker. Now, if my son had ruptured the brat's eardrum, he'd be in jail now and I'd be hauled in, too.

While we were at the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist, he was checking out T's nose since it was bleeding from being slammed to the ground and found three broken blood vessels. They had to be cauterized. What a nightmare! T tried to be brave, but it hurt like crazy. I couldn't watch after the first one. It was too horrific.

Now the battle will begin today to get the parents to take responsibility for what happened. I don't want to deal with lawyers.

All the stress of that day set off a horrid migraine and I spent almost the entire day in bed yesterday in the dark. It was 9:30 p.m. before I was able to really move around, so I missed the first half of the new season premiere of Ghost Hunters. Another thing to curse the brat for!

It's been two years today

How is it possible that our Michael has been gone two years? I look at his photos, listen to his music and it seems like I could almost reach out and touch him again. He's going to be forever frozen at 17. Young and full of life and promise that will never be fulfilled.

I'll never be able to forget that day. It started out with our sewer pipe blocking, but that would be the best part of the day.

When Jeffrey called and asked me to get there now, I should have known something bad happened. When he said to get Mom, I knew it, just not the horror we'd be walking into. I can still hear the screams when each one of our family members got there and heard the news. See them falling. The funeral was a nightmare. We couldn't have an open casket. I'm not sure if that was better. We didn't have to see him there, but we also didn't get to see him one last time.

I created a video for him. You can check it out at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dSVIBXe2HA

Until we meet again, I'll love you forever and a day.

Holiday Valley Skiing

The middle school ski club finally got to take their trip. The first one was postponed because of the stupid lock down and the second because of weather. Since hubby had already missed work for the first two, he wasn't able to take another day off. I went along as a chaperone. No, I didn't ski. The thought of strapping two sticks to my feet and flying down a mountain doesn't make me happy. Tried it, didn't like it. (Besides, being pulled down the mountain by a snowmobile while strapped to a backboard HURTS! We wont' even talk about the ambulance ride for x-rays....)

I stayed in the lodge and read a book. Finished it, too. Listened to my iPod the entire time. I did take a few photos of my little man (OK, he's taller than me, but he'll always be my baby). If Blogger is in a good mood, I'll post them.

The weather was perfect for skiing, no snow and warm enough the kids didn't need to be bundled up like they were going to brave a yeti search in the Himalayas.

Final day of chainsaw carving

Today is the end of the rendezvous for another year and it was a very successful year for the organizers Liz and Rick Boni. The weather was horrid! We have 8 or 9 inches of snow that fell overnight, so you would think that it would deter people from attending. You would be wrong. The auction draws people from all over the East Coast and you can hear a variety of accents walking around. I found myself talking to a group from Germany who were in town for the event. My German is pretty rusty, but I did understand enough to talk to them, thanks to their rusty English.

The auction had 193 pieces donated, each carver gave one. Many would have given more if they were allowed.

The auction room was packed solid and there had to be well over 1,000 people there. The craft and other venders were doing a brisk business. The ones selling hot food and drinks were always packed.

The carvings are incredible and until you see them, it's hard to understand exactly what goes into it. My daughter bought the cutest little mouse carving. She had seen it on opening day, but we wanted to wait til today to buy to make sure she didn't see something she wanted even more. Luckily, the mouse was still there and "Joe" now sits on the TV.

Thanks, Liz and Rick for another great year!