Yesterday, it snowed. Today, the weather was sunshiney and butt-tingling cold, and the fella talked me into going out to go sledding.
The hill from the college gym down to the track is probably the best hill in town–there are other hills at the college, but most of them are either too shallow, or have a street with potential cars passing right smack at the bottom. (I could just see these crazy kids sliding down the hill and shooting all the way across the icy street right in front of cars…There were a couple with their water-ski tube standing out by that hill…)
Anyway, we loaded up the classic wooden toboggan and the purple plastic sled and drove out to the college. Two or three families were already there, but they were at the part of the hill where one of the crazy Carter kids had built a … ski jump–except since it was a sledding area, it was a sled jump, I guess. The junior high kids were aiming right at the jump. The littler ones were going around it…or sometimes their sleds would poop out before they reached it. We walked back toward the street to a semi-packed area that didn’t have too many footprints on it, and I was given the privilege of “first sled.”
So I climbed on the purple sled and took off (it was hard to keep the thing from sliding out from under me). And before I’d gone three feet, the silly thing spun around and I went the rest of the way down the hill backward, laughing like an idiot. Then I had to climb back up the hill. It’s not a real long hill, but I’m really out of shape. And I’m a Gigi (okay, I’m old). I was huffing and puffing by the time I got to the top. I rode both sleds down the hill a couple of times. We rode the sleds together. (I got snow on my backside because my backside is wider than the sled is. But if you repeat that, I’ll deny it.) I did the belly-flop ride down the hill…the plastic sled was less likely to turn around and go down backwards if you did it that way.
And of course, every time we got to the bottom, I had to get up off the ground, which, with my knees, is quite a production. Oh, and I had to wear a pair of the fella’s cowboy boots because I don’t own a pair of shoes that will keep the snow off my socks…so my feet were slopping around in the boots while I climbed the hill so many times. (Not that much. He has little feet, and I have big feet…probably if I’d put on 3 more pairs of socks, I wouldn’t have had a problem.)
Anyway, it was a lot of fun. It was really, really cold–so cold my whole face felt like “coming back from the dentist” on the way home–and I got really winded climbing up the hill so many times, and my knees got to burning a little. Maybe they’re getting stronger with all the working out. And us old folks put on quite a show for all the kiddies out there sledding. 😉
Oh, and thanks SO MUCH to all of you who sent answers to my questions. I didn’t really expect anybody to go out and hunt the answers on the internet, and I totally, completely appreciate you doing it. (Yes, Catie and Becky and Kathy, this means you!) All y’all (yes, that is an all-encompassing plural indicating everyone who reads this blog) are the bestest!!
Today was Sunday. I didn’t write anything. Didn’t take a nap either. Played games on the “backup computer” instead. (sigh) And watched The Dresden Files. 