Wet wet snow. Kieran takes a ride through a puddle.

Hazy snowy day. My last day as a supervisor.

Fresh heavy snow. I got first track down Heaven's Gate and Screamin' Demon. You can just see the track in the picture. My last day at Okemo for the year (as an employee). I taught a morning level 3 lesson, then hustled over to Jackson Gore for an afternoon private lesson which didn't materialize.

I left the dogs and drove down to Providence. Spent the afternoon hanging out at the scooter shop playing pinball and chatting with Patrick. He and his girlfriend Toto and i went out to a good mexican restaurant for dinner, then stopped by a new local bar and played more pinball.

I drove from Providence down to New Haven and spent most of the day at a UPA Certified Observers Clinic in the math building at Yale. The guy who organized the training clinic was Jayadev, who we discovered broke his arm at a practice in Chicago a few years ago on a pass that i threw.

After all the indoor stuff and the passing of a test, we all went out to the Yale fields where the Yale Cup college ultimate tournament was being run and watched a game being played with observers. After that i drove up to just south of Hartford, had dinner at a Chili's, then spent the night at Brian Cleary's apartment.

Drove back down to Yale and observed 4 games while being watched by the Observer Clinic trainers. Jayadev and i got to observe the finals (Harvard over Brown). I think i may not have made the best calls, but it was a good learning experience, and i was officially certified as a UPA Observer.

I drove back home and it started snowing at about Chester, VT and there was about 3 inches on the roads as i got past Ludlow toward Mt. Holly. Slow and careful, but i made it home to my happy happy dogs.

I got a package in the mail today from Denise Takahashi. I had sent her parents some of my apple butter the previous fall and she had promised to send me a painting in return.

Went snowboarding at Okemo. Nice to NOT be in an instructor jacket. I cut around a couple of ropes. I ran into Ellen and Samantha Bevier out riding with Grandma Gwen and rode with them for a while. After riding i took the dogs down to White Rocks.

More snow!

Went snowboarding by myself for a while, then ran into Wendy York and rode with her for a while. Cut around some ropes...

That evening my father arrived from Philadelphia. I showed him to his room upstairs and told him to be VERY CAREFUL on my narrow Vermont staircase.

First thing in the morning my dad fell down the stairs and put his knee through the floorboards. It's probably good that the floor broke, not his knee. After that we drove up to Waitsfield and had lunch with Kitty Werner, then drove back. That evening we had dinner at Curt and Martha Cowles's end-of-season party.

Daddy left for Ithaca before i got up.

Took the dogs for a walk along the Clarendon Gorge. Teco has crossed this bridge many times but this time he seemed especially fearful of it. He finally made it hesitatingly across.

There's a babbling brook in my basement.

Went to the dentist for a cleaning. Ran into Shannon, Kshanti, and Jennifer while i was looking at Lego sets in the Wal-Mart.

Took the dogs for a walk along the Mill River, then over to the vet, where Lisa, who i shared a rental car ride with from Boston, gave them their heartworm tests.

Closing day at Okemo (finally!). I drove in around noon, chained the dogs up at the base and rode for a while. I came back after a bunch of runs and hiked with the dogs up to the halfpipe, where i left them again to take a few more runs and then gather at the top for the final ride-down. It was a beautiful calm sunny day.

Went to the Ludlow library and checked out the last three Series of Unfortunate Events books, then took the dogs for a walk along Buttermilk Falls.

Took the dogs for a walk along the railroad tracks through East Wallingford. I never knew this little station was there. I like the way the bridge is straight but the tracks are curved.

Took the trash and recycling to the Wallingford transfer station, then took the dogs for a walk over to Elfin Lake.

Went over to the Wallingford ball fields and tried to fly the R/C airplane that daddy gave me. I crashed it a lot, but had a few 10 to 15 second flights.

I drove over to Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT looking to play some ultimate at their tournament. I picked up with Grey Till, a mixed team from NYC. We beat Green Mountain College 15-2, Johnson State College 15-3, and the Green Mountain College Alumni 15-7. It was a one-day tournament so we went right to the finals and lost to a team calle Aunt Flow 15-9. I was way out of shape and sore, but did manage to make a layout catch for a goal to end the third game of the day. Everyone seemed to like the dogs.

Drove over to Okemo and walked with the dogs around the tracks on the Jackson Gore side of the mountain. Then i stopped in the administration office to talk about a job in the sign shop.

I got my official UPA Observer orange jersey and ID card in the mail today.