Snowy March Skiing and Signs of Spring

There are some signs of spring around Okanogan. Here are a few crocuses in the neighborhood, though ours have yet to appear. All the snow is melted down here in the valley and it's hitting 40 during the day, which is a breath of warm air. I'm so excited for spring, warm weather, lounging on our deck and planting the garden.


Snow bells at our place- always the first thing to pop up.

Look close- These are garlic shoots in our garlic patch. I planted a whole bunch last spring and several different kinds, though I don't remember what. It turns out garlic is easy to grow and very rewarding. You just push the cloves under the soil in the fall, mulch well, water in the spring and you're eating garlic tops by June and harvesting by July.

Up in the mountains spring has not arrived. We went skiing with Maggie for the first time this year on Sunday. We haven't brought her out yet this year because she is slowing down. Last year, she'd always be stiff and sore for a couple days after and outing. We hadn't planned on bringing her Sunday, but she jumped in the back of the car with all the gear and gave a look like "all I want to do is play with you and love you, why won't you let me?". We're suckers and couldn't bear to shoo her out of the car. Besides, we'd had a big, epic day on Saturday and weren't planning the same.

It snowed on us all day- take a look at our white dog. She kept up pretty well, a little slow on the last descent. We gave her an aspirin afterwords, and she never seemed stiff!

This is how the three of us get up in the mountains. Maggie is wedged between us, and I hold on for dear life to Rich. My arms were super sore the following day, because everything is pushing me backwards and my biceps do all the work to keep me and Maggie from tumbling off the back. Maggie didn't struggle too much and we made it the 3 or 4 miles up the trail without having to stop once.




Mara and Miranda, on the way home. Liberty Bell spires in the background.