What a surprise it was today?  Way overdressed after bitterly cold temps for the last few days.  It was spring skiing all of a sudden.  Sunny and soft snow.  I was telemarking so overdressed was an understatement.  I had to go to the car and strip down.  Did eleven hard runs on those tele's.  My legs are very tired.  Supposed to get some rain/snow/sleet crap tonight but let's see.  If it's warm tomorrow I'm going back for more.  I can never get enough of soft snow!  3 1/2 snowball day.

Killington Hill House Ski Report: Lots of skiing!

Killington Hill House Ski Report: Lots of skiing!

Lots of skiing!

The 2nd and 3rd were great days for skiing.  We had a lot of new snow.  Got scratched off near the end of the day on the 3rd but we were ready to quit anyway because it was soooo freaking cold out there.  At one point it was close to -30f with the windchill.  Happy New Year!  Baby it's cold out there.

Thursday

Not crowded, new Peak Lodge open (great bar view), snowing, blowing their snow...what more could you want?  A three snowball day maybe more.

Monday Blues

Still raining up here in Woodstock/Killington.  We skied our first day of the season on the 21st.  The snow was soft and there was still plenty of it but by 2 pm it started to rain hard so the goggles were a bit of a problem.  Now the snow has been washed away quite a bit from yesterday and today.  Big bummer.  Then the temp is slated to drop before any new snow falls so we will have a sheet of ice over what ever snow is left.  The Christmas blues to follow the Monday Blues.  Next snow is for Friday the 27.

New Posting to Begin 12/21/13

Baby it's cold outside!

I've been so busy I haven't been keeping up with the blog.  It was a four snowball day today even though it was bitter cold out there.  It was minus 6 with the windchill.  We drove to Pico so our guest, Richie, could get a few quick runs in for the afternoon without paying Killington prices.  He was delayed coming up because of the storm yesterday.  The snow was pristine.

Boy was that the right move for telling Ritchie not to drive up last night.  It was a literal nightmare out there. It took us an hour to get off of the access road last night and another hour to get home because of the storm and sooooo many people.  Crazy, they must be redirecting traffic from other ski resorts.   And on top of that yesterday at Killington was just an ok day.  We skied Downdraft for the last couple of days.  That, and Conclusion where excellent but the crowds were something I've never seen before.   People were jumping ropes, getting lost out of bounds and getting their tickets pulled.  I wanted to be one of those Killington rope jumpers but Kim wouldn't hear of it.  Lucky for me because the next thing I know the ski patrol is hitting the slopes pulling tickets like the cops give drunk driving tickets on New Year's Eve.  They even tried to take my pass for coming out of the Downdraft run when it was open!  I'm all for busting people for doing stupid things especially when they can't even ski the stuff that IS open but come on,  I wanted to say "at least I can ski, don't pull people's passes that know how to ski".  But I didn't say that.  I just said "the run is open"  he said "oh".  Listen, I'm not judging those rope jumpers because I understand the thrill of adventure and all skiers (or so called skiers) are welcome.  It's good for our economy up here.  Bring it on.  No longer just buses from Jersey but now they have buses from China and Russia coming here too.

We have had so much snow over the last week and a half I can't even keep up with it.  I've skied for 10 straight days now.  Kudos to my nephew and his fiance for putting up with my skiing antics.  They were great sports.  Rudy actually kept up with us nut jobs!  Overall, it's been a blast.  It was a great Christmas with the family.  Kim bought me new skis.  What's better than that??  Ok some things may be but not a lot.  I think we will go back to Pico tomorrow.  I'll probably telemark for the first time this year.  I hope I don't break my behind with all this powder.

The first to arrive

Kim hit the road today to start our yearly retreat to Vermont.  She had to (wanted to...extremely sick of me at this moment or possibly forever) abandon me because of an appointment we set up for the house long ago.  I have to stay behind and work.  To what end I don't know.  I could just stay here forever and work I guess.  She might like that but my dog would not because if no one else loves me she does!  She is also on her way to the cold, cold world of Vermont.  If Lola really knew where she was headed she would scream 'turn around mom!  That snow is too deep and too cold for my puddie head feet!'  I think that could be turned into a song:


Snow

It's sooo deep
On my puddie head feet
What could mom be thinking
Pretty soon I'll be shaking and
Freaking and looking for heat

Oh my puddie head feet
Oh my puddie head feet
But what can I do
I have puddie head feet

Turn around now
I don't need no stinking plows
All I need is my nice Sagaponack heat
for my puddie head feet

Chorus

6/21/11 Dead Zones

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/ipso-2011-ocean-report-mass-extinction_n_880656.html?ncid=webmail3

Don't buy into industrial farming.  The animal waste is dumped into our waterways producing dead zones where nothing can live.  Buy local and organic.

This damn gay thing!

So that idiot ex Giants football player who opposes gay marriage...one of the comments from people reading the story..."get your head out of the closet.  Gay people are everywhere.  Who do you think designed your uniform?"  Brilliant!  Do these ignorant people not realize that we suffer many financial burdens by not being able to get married?  Why doesn't everyone get a civil union then get married in their head banging church afterwards if they want?  All I can say is straight marriage rocks.  Just ask Arnold, Tiger, Edwards, and Wiener's wiener.  

Just saying

Just another day in religion

"Tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population here, have risen steadily since the sweeping vows of unity (by Muslims) during the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak three months ago. Copts say they have felt increasingly embattled since clashes just south of Cairo left a church burning last month."


I don't defend any religion (I think they all suck) but it always seems that the 'beat upon' turn into the beaters.   The list of beat upon turning into beaters will go on and on until the last bit of air leaves this planet.

Nuclear, Pukelear

"Although the agency says plants are operating more safely today than they were at the dawn of the nuclear industry, when shutdowns were common, safety experts, Congressional critics and even the agency’s own internal monitors say the N.R.C. is prone to dither when companies complain that its proposed actions would cost time or money. The promise of lucrative industry work after officials leave the commission probably doesn’t help, critics say, pointing to dozens over the years who have taken jobs with nuclear power companies and lobbying firms.


Situated on the banks of the Connecticut River, the 39-year-old Vermont Yankee, whose reactor is similar in design to the stricken plant in Japan, suffered the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007. In January 2010, the plant’s operator, Entergy, discovered that nearby soil and groundwater had been contaminated by radioactive tritium, which had apparently leaked from underground piping. Just months before, the company assured state lawmakers that no such piping existed at the plant."


That's nice.  So glad the NRC renewed their license.  I would say how quickly we have forgotten about the Hanford Nuclear Plant and the leakage into the soil there but I can't because it's hard to forget about something you are STILL cleaning up 30 years later!!!!!  

Population Explosion!!

"For instance, Yemen, a country whose population has quintupled since 1950, to 25 million, would see its numbers quadruple again, to 100 million, by century’s end, if the projections prove accurate. Yemen already depends on food imports and faces critical water shortages."


Isn't this where many of the terrorists are coming from?  Bill Gates concentrate on population control not just vaccinations...or is that your big secret?  Man, you are good.  


Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/04population.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

5/2/11 The Consequence of Bin Laden

Ponder this readers:

What if we had NEVER gone into Afghanistan to "find" Bin Laden and start the 
"war on terror"?  What if we had NEVER gone into Iraq to "not-find" WMD's and 
start another "war on terror"?  Do you think that Bin Laden would have been able 
to kill over 5,000 more Americans (the number of military personnel who have 
lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq).  Do you think he would have been able 
to seriously wound over 45,000 Americans (the number of military personnel 
injured in the two wars).  Would over 100,000 civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq 
been killed by Bin Laden (a conservative quantity of civilians killed during the 
operations).  Do you think he would have been able to get his hands on over a 
trillion dollars of our tax dollars (the amount of money we've spent on these 
wars in the last 10 years?).  What about all the animosity the US generated 
around the world from our actions?  Does the killing of Bin Laden, really make 
New Yorkers/Americans feel safer?  Based on the above, the finding/killing of 
Bin Laden (which took 10 long and embarrassing years), and the unfortunate 
display of celebrating that occurred outside the White House and Ground 
Zero.....based on all of this, how can the killing of Bin Laden yesterday be 
called a victory?  =

Reporter who was sexually attacked in Libya

Logan told the Times that the attack lasted for 40 minutes and involved 200 to 300 men.

"For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands," she said. "My clothes were torn to pieces...what really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence."

And we want to send American men and women into this ignorant, violent part of the world to die?  For what?

"Ms. Cheng was arrested on what was supposed to have been her wedding day last fall for sending a single sarcastic Twitter message that included the words “charge, angry youth.” The government, lacking a sense of humor, sentenced her to a year in labor camp."


We freely import mass quantities of cheap, disposable junk from China that fills our oceans and dumps.  We buy these products for not much more than the slave labor rates that China pays their people thus never giving companies using American employees a chance to compete.  Then we borrow money whenever we want so we can keep on buying these cheap products which keeps the vicious cycle of human rights violations, garbage pollution and American unemployment right in place.  


That's nice.

Your Tax Dollars Used to Defend Discrimination

A prominent law firm from Atlanta has resigned as lead council for defending the law on marriage that discriminates against gay people.

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, Brendan Buck, said: “The speaker is disappointed in the firm’s decision and its careless disregard for its responsibilities to the House in this constitutional matter. 

Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, have criticized Mr. Boehner for seeking public funds to defend the law. A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said in a statement that she “vigorously opposes” using “any taxpayer resources to defend discrimination, at a time when Republicans in Congress are cutting critical initiatives like education and infrastructure.”

Drug makers spent about $6.3 billion on marketing visits to doctors in 2009, the last year that such figures were available, according to IMS Health. 


$6.3 billion on buying doctors cocktails and dinner?  This is how they decide on which drugs we take? If the drug companies have that much disposable income available (that doesn't count advertising dollars) than how does alternative medicine ever stand a chance?  All the money is going into bandaids and very little into actual solutions.  

Happy Birthday Amy! Tax Day Too!

A "gay tax"? Hard to believe, but it's true. When same-sex couples join other Americans in filing their tax returns today, they'll feel the economic sting of marriage discrimination. Because of the exclusion from marriage, same-sex couples will pay more in taxes than different-sex couples. In many cases, they'll pay tens of thousands of dollars more over their lifetimes. That's why we're taking action this Tax Day. Join Freedom to Marry in petitioning House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to demand an end to the "gay tax" and a repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

4/16/11 Happy Birthday Juliana!

As millions of Americans prepare to file their income taxes ahead of Monday’s deadline, we look at how corporations and the wealthy use offshore banks and tax havens to avoid paying taxes and other governmental regulations. "Tax havens have grown so fast in the era of globalization, since the 1970s, that they are now right at the heart of the global economy and are absolutely huge," says our guest, British journalist Nicholas Shaxson. "There are anywhere between $10 and $20 trillion sitting offshore at the moment. Half of world trade is processed in one way or another through tax havens." Shaxson is the author of the new book, Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens. [includes rush transcript]=

I think if we eliminated the wedding ceremony there would be a lot less divorce.