Nowhere to Ski

How's this for irony? We have almost all of our winter gear in place and we're having one of the worst winters for snow on record. Talk about a bummer, though we're hardly at a loss for activities. Do we really need to add skiing to that to-do list? Yes, of course we do. If anything, being able to ski would make our lives easier, if not richer. The reason for this is because with variable hockey schedules and the ski hill so close to the arena, it would be nice to hit the slopes during the time that one or the other is on the ice. The beauty of living up here is that it's very plausible to make this sort of arrangement because the hills are local and are almost designed for skiing in 2-3 hour increments. Plus, this year we're able to ski at our regular hill for substantially discounted prices, so it's an even bigger bummer that there's no snow.

This has allowed me more time, however, to make sure we're all set up for winter sports. As far as hockey gear goes, as much as I love Stateline Sports, I don't want to step foot in there for awhile because we have had to replace a fair amount of gear for our resident hockey players. They (Stateline) won't take offense at this because they totally get where I'm coming from on this, they work for a living just like me. As for ski equipment, this has been a little trickier because the kids are getting more into snowboarding. A has done the complete switch, but N is still double dipping, and for the record, I hope he keeps skiing and even focuses on that because it's really his thing. Plus, he just got new skis for his birthday.

Since A's a hip snowboarder now, she couldn't really ride her old board because it was a complete junker. To her credit, she never complained about it and just went out there and shredded the slopes. I promised her that if she liked it and wanted to continue, I would get her a nicer board along with the necessary accoutrements. Sure enough, she loves it, so I spent the past year putting together her board so as to spread out the cost and find the best deals, which is easier in the off season. That finally all fell into place this past month when I found her some killer Burton bindings at Henderson's. They were this year's model, really cool, but since the shop is pretty much sold out of all their stocks, they gave me an amazing deal. I love those guys. Best of all she really loves the bindings, they match her boots and are "way cool."

As for N, since snowboarding is not his primary interest, I figured I didn't have to go all out but finding bindings was a little trickier. I thought all along that snowboard bindings are all the same, but they're not, and eventually, after months of searching, I got him a nice pair, again on clearance from last year. He was stoked on them, which is good enough for me.

Okay, now we're all set for ski equipment. I hope to avoid all stores that sell hockey and ski equipment, at least until next year, but I know that's not going to happen. Oh well, good thing I'm working like a dog so I can afford this fabulously opulent lifestyle.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Ruth Hartnup for the pic.