Snow riding

As I expected today was  slower paced. My step mom, dad and Paul made a big breakfast that fed a total of a dozen people.  In the past my ATT phone service here was very, very poor.  Evidently in the two years since I last visited they beefed up their towers, I now have LTE service with two bars most of the time.  It was actually solid enough speed to allow me to upload the pictures I have taken so far from the trip.

After breakfast I bundled up and headed outside with the dogs after bundling up thoroughly.  I even used the insulated long johns Cindy picked up for me before the trip.  I certainly wasn’t warm but it was tolerable, even with the thermometer reading 5 or 6 degrees.  Dad added a number of additions to the out buildings since my last visit and I wanted to check them out in daylight.  Everything looked great and added even more functional space and storage to their ever expanding estate.

While I was out playing ball with the dogs the sheep and llama came out to see what was going on.  However as soon as I acknowledged their presence and started walking towards them they all backed away in fear.   I let them be and just walked around the property some more taking in the frigid but beautiful snow covered landscape.

I then heard the back door of the garage open followed by Patrick pushing his motorcycle out the door.  He has an enduro style 200 CC Yamaha motorcycle that he used to use as a commuter vehicle in Pittsburgh.  He has since bought a real road bike so he has been leaving the Yamaha at my dad’s place to ride around there.

He was worried that the bike wouldn’t start since it had not been run in many months.  Surprisingly even with the time passed and freezing subzero temperatures the bike fired right up.  After letting it warm up a little bit Pat made his first off road snow riding attempt.  There were a couple inches of snow covering everything.

Pat was very unsure and rightfully so about how the bike would do in the snow.  He kept his feet off the pedals as emergency training wheels at first.  It seemed like as long as you kept the speed reasonable and absolutley did not touch the front brake the bike was pretty controllable.  Pat did a couple laps around the backyard.  He then asked if I wanted to give it a shot.

I have not ridden a motorcycle in a number of years and the fact it was below 10 degrees with snow on the ground did not make for a good scenario to reacclimate myself to riding.  So of course this meant I got right on.  Just like Patrick I was very cautious during my first few minutes.  I soon learned to trust it enough that I pulled up my feet and was able to keep the bike upright.  The slippery surface was only one part of the problem, the other was the icy wind blowing on my face, making it feel instantly numb.  The freezing ride was a source of unexpected fun.

My brother Todd and his family were over as well as both of the couples from dinner last night.  Everyone went out to the barn to meet the sheep and llama.  The sheep were scared until dad bribed them with grain.  The girls really liked feeding the sheep but especially the llama.  They spent a lot of time interacting with the animals and loving it.  It was the first time my brother came out to my dad’s place.  Hopefully they get a chance to come out more often so the girls get a chance to experience a part of life much different than they are accustomed to.

We had a lot of Steeler fans in the house so of course we had to watch the wildcard game they had against the Dolphins.  The Steelers jumped out to a big lead early.  The Dolphins actually had a few opportunities that they squandered by turning over the ball.  In the end the Steelers won pretty easily by 13 points.

We followed up by watching the Green Bay/Giants game that is winding down now, which seems to be firmly in the Packer’s control.  My dad and Frank went on a pizza hunting mission for dinner. The first two places they planned to go to wound up being closed.  In Marienville there aren’t alot of options so luckily their last option was open for business.  Even with being a third choice the pizza was good to me.

Patrick and his girlfriend shoved off for Pittsburgh a short time ago.  Most of the afternoon there has been steady llight snow so hopefully their trip is uneventful.  I told Pat I would see him Tuesday evening.  His girlfriend Nicole, who really seems great said she might be there as well.  You can tell from their interactions they each seem to get each other and both seem very happy in each other’s presence.

Tomorrow I don’t have any big goals although I would like to hopefully be able to venture out to find a box and packing materials that will be able to adequately protect the skull that Patrick and I worked so hard to rebuild.  Other than that I still have a good chunk of my Warcraft novel to complete and I can backfill any other free time just enjoying my interactions with my dad, step mom, their animals and the harsh winter conditions.  The cold has been tough as expected but thanks to my additional protective clothing I have been able to deal with it better than I thought I would.