With a foot of new snow beckoning, Bob and I drove a short ways up Cascade Lakes Highway to ski. We were only a few miles beyond city limits and just into the National Forest. This area of the forest is one of my favorites for skiing because it’s only 15 minutes from our home and lush with fir and pine trees nicely spaced on rolling hills. It is good ski terrain and I rarely ever see anyone else taking advantage of it. The downside is that it is less than 4,000 feet in elevation so it takes at least 5 feet of snow to make it accessible for backcountry travel. Those conditions only come together for a short while each year. This was my first time trying it this season and there was plenty of snow. In fact, there was nearly 5 feet of fresh, light snow so we were often plowing through fluff well above our knees. Bob was on snowshoes again since his injured toe still hasn’t healed. We took turns breaking trail but it was super slow for the person in the lead and much easier for the one following so there wasn’t enough consistency in pace. We ended up skiing side by side much of the time, each breaking our own path, which kept things more equal. Two hours of intense trudging and we were both dripping with sweat and ready to get into our office chairs and spend the rest of the day working.

 

In the afternoon I took Chami to see the vet because she has a large lump on the inside hock of her right rear leg. At nearly 12-years-old she has developed half-a-dozen fatty cysts, mostly on her belly and chest, which I’m used to fining in aging dogs. However, the one on her knee just doesn’t seem quite right to me. While we were at it I had blood drawn to do a geriatric screening and she just got a general check up as well. Dr. Susan Bertram is a holistic veterinarian whom I’ve been taking my animals to for nearly 20 years. She is compassionate, smart and pretty easy to talk with. She isn’t bossy like most of the male vets I’ve used from time to time. Overall Susan thought Chami seemed very healthy for a dog her age but I could tell by her body language that she was concerned by the lump too. She drew fluid from it, along with one of the larger cysts on Chami’s belly and we’ll find out the results tomorrow.