Thursday, February 11, 2010

Cross Country Skiing Over To Miss Puerto Rico's While The Snow Continues To Fall On Fort Worth

The snow continues to pile up, here in Fort Worth, with 1 hour to go before noon.

I decided to take a slide on the adventurous side and drag my cross country skis out of the closet. I thought the skis had delaminated, but apparently that must have only happened in one of my nightmares.

It has probably been at least 6 years since I've been on cross country skis. It is sort of like riding a bike, roller blading or playing tennis, as in very easy to get back into slipping and sliding mode.

I decided to ski over to Miss Puerto Rico's to get a picture of the white view from her balcony. There are not many vehicles out there mucking up the streets. I only have to negotiate a couple roads between here and the aforementioned balcony. A passing Fort Worth bus did inconvenience me by launching a splash of slushy snow in my direction, which I artfully dodged.

Above you see the aforementioned Fort Worth bus, careening down the hill towards me. I am under the protection of tree leaves, so there is not a lot of snow in the foreground. When the bus passed it caused snow to fall out of the trees, on to me. I did not care much for that unexpected additional snowfall.

My skiing route took me by my pool. You can sort of see why it did not seem like a good idea to go swimming this morning. Although the hot tub likely would have been pleasant, with the falling snowflakes having a nice cooling effect, obviating the need for repeated cool down dips in the pool. The hot tub is that thing you see on the right, spitting water into the pool.

It is still freezing out there and still snowing. The forecast has been changed to an expectation of an accumulation of around 6 inches. D/FW International Airport is having trouble getting planes in the air. And out of the air.

My source for the D/FW Airport information is Jovo the Newshound. Jovo is monitoring the storm from his outpost in Sulphur Springs, where he also plans to go skiing, except without cross country skis. Jovo is going to make his sliding attempt using conventional downhill type skis. Good luck with that, Jovo!

Way too much snow is covering my vehicle right now. I am hoping, if the temperature goes above freezing, clearing the snow will be fairly easy. Then I can escape from here by motorized means. If the snow keeps getting deeper I may go for Round Two of cross country skiing.

While I was sliding around I saw other people out having fun with the snow. I saw one snowball fight, several people taking pictures, one adult pulling 2 kids on a sled and 2 guys working on a snowman.

I have never been a big fan of constructing men from snow. Way too quickly the ball of snow grows way too big and then is way too difficult to lift into position. A properly built, conventional snowman consists of 3 snowballs. According to the Frosty the Snowman Guidebook to Successful Snowman Construction.

My aversion to rolling balls of snow may have something to do with the fact that I've likely not done so since I was a little kid. Now that I'm a big kid I likely would have an easier time of rolling and lifting the heavy balls of frozen water. But, I fear at my almost elderly age and relative frailty, I'd likely manage to put my back out if I were to attempt to build a proper snowman.

Due, likely, to the lack of opportunity to learn snowman building skills, due to the infrequency of snow in this zone of Texas, the snowman I saw this morning was not the most attractive of that species that I've seen. First off, he is made of only 2 balls.

This snowman's front side is covered with a big shirt, leaving the backside completely naked. This snowman's big misshapen rear put me in mind of my visit to Wal-Mart yesterday.

Below is the last snowy Texas view I'm showing you for now. This is the look to the west from my abode, at the forest of trees across the street, all whited up into Winter Wonderland mode.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad your skis are okay. I'm a little jealous that your skis worked and mine didn't. Well ... they did a little bit.

    As for D/FW, they've apparently cancelled 500+ flights now (they do about 850 a day), while Love Field hilariously has only cancelled 1. Tell me how that works.

    You really should build a snowman you know. I'm going to build one when my little cousin gets home from school. Great times ahead.

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  2. Jovo---
    Don't be too jealous. The conditions were not right for good cross country skiing. No frozen base, too slushy. Maybe tomorrow if it freezes hard tonight.

    I let others build a snow man, well, snow head, for me.

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