Sickly Snowy Snowmobile Six

First, my thoughts are with Linda, Bethany and their family today. We are all so sorry about Jerry. Much love from all of us.

This morning, Ryan went for his run and then up to Lisbon for Jerry's funeral. It was a full military funeral, as he was a Vietnam veteran, and sounds like there were tons of people there to honor him. Definitely speaks to the kind of man Jerry was. He will be missed.

I got the more lighthearted task for the morning, as Sam and I went to swim lessons and then to Frosty's for donuts with Anne and Kristen. Sam did great in the pool, even though she is still coughing, and inhaled her donut. Takes a lot of energy to learn to swim - gotta refuel :-)

After Ryan got home, I got ready for my run. I really really really wanted to stick with the schedule today and run the 11 mile road route that Ryan had run this morning. But I also really really really want to get rid of this crud, so I threw a few little temper tantrums ;), and resigned myself to trying to play it smart by doing a mellow run on the snowmobile trails instead. It started to snow just as I headed out, big, wet flakes. The trails had softened up a bit, with a thin layer of corn snow atop a firm base, so it was still good running. The snow falling just added to the tackiness of the surface. At one point, it looked like a horse had been out there? Big, deep, almost round postholes. Weird. Also saw one of the mountain bikers out there who I've seen from time to time. Otherwise, the trails were quiet, and I meandered along, keeping the pace mellow. Got in a nice 6 miles in just over an hour. Of course, the snow stopped as soon as I stopped. Ha!

And although the weather is not acting like it is spring, the birds appear to think spring is here! At lunchtime today, the backyard was full of birds, including our resident red winged blackbird in his first appearance. Also along with the juncoes, chickadees and sparrows, there was a grackle, a white-breasted nuthatch, the pair of Cardinals that has been hanging around all winter, a female Hairy woodpecker, and a Downy Woodpecker. Busy day out back! I love that the red winged blackbird is around, because that means spring must really be on its way! Right?!