Winter Breaks

It's been a trying holiday season.

We lost two of our ferrets to a freak accident involving the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of a zoo.

I couldn't catch a flush in Tahoe without someone drawing to a full house from two pair. I made second best hand more times than I could count. Played the odds appropriately, but the calling stations kept catching their inside straight draws and back door flushes.

When we arrived in Tahoe, there was hardly any snow on the ground. The only thing falling from the sky was rain. Kirkwood still had some snow, even if it was a man made thin pack. I started slowly, regaining my balance. On our second day out, I was practicing my turns, when I realized that though I had been picking up the inside ski when I turn I hadn't been pushing off with the outside ski. After making this realization, I was suddenly able to go down the black diamonds much faster as I was sure that I would be able to slow myself down if the texture of the snow stayed the same. Coming off of a run from the Reut, I moved left to avoid someone sitting in the middle of the run. I hit a patch of Ice, lost my balance and keeled over, with the back of my right ski catching the ground and pulling my boot out with a quick jerk. I knew immediately that something had happened to my right foot, but I hoped it was just a sprain as I wasn't in screaming pain (thank you adrenaline). However, the x-rays confirmed it was a break, just in time for me to watch the first flakes of snow start falling outside. Talk about crummy timing.

Finally, we were on our way out of Tahoe. I had my broken ankle on the dashboard and I was calling Kelle to see how the pets were doing. Then right after Lexi starts a left turn after our light turned green, we're hit in the side by an Audi, whose drivers must have been looking at the wrong light as they had started forward as well. Nobody in either car accrued any new injuries thankfully. However our driver side door won't open anymore so our car will be in the shop for a while.

Despite everything that happened, we still had a lot of fun. We went out to the Edgewood restaurant, which is right along the lake. I had Elk chops in a dried cherry gravy which was delicious and Lexi had a steak in a port reduction that was also very good. Even on the day I broke my ankle, I still made it to our massage appointments and dinner reservations at the Summit, which continues to impress me with it's displays of culinary skill. What little of the season I got to ski, I enjoyed completely. My only regret is that I will not be able to ski again until spring. And last but not least, the elevator is no longer an over the top frill, but a
necessary tool. So Silver linings do abound.