Work is still very busy, with both businesses. I wish I had a little more time for the things I like, especially hiking and photography now that Spring is here.
Here’s what I’ve been up to (lots of photos and not much text):
Remember the big piles of wood, waiting to be lit on fire? Here’s the smoldering remains of one:
The slash pile is still smoldering after days. Note the heat has kept the snow melted.
They burned all of the piles over the winter.
I snowshoed through fields of glitter in the very bright morning sun.
Deliberately underexposed to show the glittering snow (iPhone photo).
It’s my favorite snow condition and occurs mostly in the late winter/early spring. Sometimes the glitter is all different colors, sometimes it’s white, like yesterday. It’s best first thing in the morning, before the sun has morphed the crystal flakes into other shapes. It’s one thing to stand and look at it, and quite another to be moving through it. As far as I’m concerned, it is pure magic.
My footprints, the only ones on the trail.
It didn’t appear that anyone had hiked on the trail for weeks. Much of the fun was trying to find the trail by finding the blue diamond shaped signs attached to trees, like a treasure hunt.
Blue diamond shaped trail marker on the trunk of a tree.
Next, I headed back to town for the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days parade. Frozen Dead Guy Days is a 3-day long festival that arose because up on the hillside, above the reservoir, Grandpa Bredo is kept frozen under 1600 pounds of dry ice. You can read more about the history here (with a few subtle inaccuracies).
This year, the festival coincided with Mardi Gras week.
With the good weather, a large crowd gathered for the parade.
More below the cut.
Not only is the pay for corporate workers in the toilet, they also have fewer holidays.
I remember when I was a kid, both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were holidays, at least in California. Wikipedia states that Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday. Then at some point in the 1980’s the two were combined into a single holiday, Presidents’ Day (which will never land on either Washington’s or Lincoln’s actual birthday).
Every business I worked for in the 1980’s and 90’s observed President’s Day.
Now, none of the businesses I work for observe it. It’s business as usual except for banks and the government.
For all you consumers who might have the day off, there is a Presidents’ Day Sale near you.
