Only two kids today, a brother and sister, both high yellow/low green. I offered the lesson to a couple of the other full-timers, but i ended up with it.

I consciously did not take any pictures today with my big camera. There was a nice sunrise that i snapped with my phone, but no “art” pictures. It felt a bit weird after having to take pictures every day in 2022.

Morning adult lesson of one woman who was comfortable on greens, just needed a little challenge on blues. No afternoon lessons, so i took Bulo over to the farm. I always try to get pictures of the stalks so that it looks like a forest. Doesn’t always work.

Got over to Jackson Gore (all weekday lessons are out of there now, ugh) feeling super tired and a little brain-foggy. I ended up with no lessons and was let go. Over the course of the day i felt more and more exhausted and went to bed around 7:30.

Slept (sort-of) until almost 1 PM. Got up, ate, and took a COVID-19 test. Positive.

Took another COVID-19 test. Super positive! But i managed to walk around the farm a bit. Bulo hadn’t been walked in days.

Bulo annoying the loggers.

Okayed to go back to work, but still tired. Since it was raining all day, i asked for and was granted one more day off. I walked along Blackwood Road and took exactly two pictures. Very moody.

First day back at work. Eliza, Luke, and i split the green/blue group. I ended up with two boys who could ride fairly well, but the snow conditions were pretty scrapey all day. First day this year that i forgot my phone at home, rrrgh.

One of the same kids again all day. Lots of laps, but he fell off a rail right at the end of the day and had to be sledded down by ski patrol. It was just a bruised knee, so no biggee.

Pete and i split a group of six green-level kids. For the second day in a row, one of my kids got injured (possible arm break) and had to be sledded down. Cold, windy, icy.

Slid over to Jackson Gore in the morning but no morning-only lessons. Rode with Austin’s clinic for the morning, then taught three kids from a school group in the afternoon.

We had seven men and two women at winter league so i had to play a lot with not a lot of sub time, but lasted the whole game, which i was happy with. I did, however, get blocked about four times. On the plus side, i threw a hammer, threw a push pass, got a block, and for the first time this session, scored a point! And we lost the game.

I had arrived a little early at the fieldhouse, so spent a few minutes taking pictures of the action. I had to set the ISO on the camera super high so that i could shoot at an acceptible speed indoors so the pictures were really grainy. Not many decent shots—you can see them all here.

Took the trash to the transfer station and walked along the edge of the frozen Elfin Lake.

Farm.

Took a while to get over to Jackson Gore this morning—new snowfall slowing down getting the lifts running. There were 11 of us instructors and we slid in about ten-after 9:00. I got two girls, one who was pretty good, one who was a beginner, but they wanted to stay together. Marvin took the beginner for a couple runs in the afternoon so i was able to take the more advanced one up to the top of Jackson Gore.

One blue and four greens, which turned into three green/blues with me and two low greens with Luke. Lotsa nice soft snow.

Helped out at morning line-up, then got to ride in the blue/black clinic with Tommy all day. I learned a bit about my riding and what i need to improve.

No lessons for me, but there was one employee who wanted a lesson, so i rode with her for the morning, nailing down her turns. No afternoon lessons.

I had an all-day private with six girls, ages 6 to 10. They were all friends and got along and it was a pretty good day.

Last geme of winter league session one and we finally won! 47-36 i think. I got scored on a bunch but did play ten seconds of damn fine defense on a guy who was trying to juke for a dump cut.

After our game was over, i stayed for the first half of the 1 vs. 2 game and the 3 vs. 4 game. I put my fixed-length totally manually 60s-era 135mm lens on the camera and found that i could shoot straight through the hanging netting from the balcony. The manual focus made it hard to get clear shots, but a few of them came out okay. They’re all here.

I left the 135mm lens on the camera and took some shots as i walked Bulo.

I took one and only one picture today.

Started out with three yellow-level kids, which i split with Marvin—he had two younger kids and i had one older kid. She did well, we looped the lift, but she wanted to ski with her father in the afternoon. There were no lessons for me to pick up so i ended up running the Snow Stars carpet for the afternoon.

One all-day blue-level kid that i’d had before.

Same kid, plus Adaline’s daughter. They were very rowdy together

There were two green/blue level kids—Austin took the sister, i took the brother. Then Austin was pulled for an adult lesson in the afternoon and i had them both until the end of the day.

No lesson. Left after morning line-up and took Bulo up to the farm.