Skidoo Ride

I went back out to the cottage last weekend....  It was yet again another solo trip.  Hailey had to work and Margarit had to play chauffeur for her.  The two younger girls didn't want to go out in the cold weather.  The roads were OK but not great.  I headed out on Saturday morning about 10:00 and got to the cottage by 1:00.  Up to Rocky Mountain House the roads were pretty good and only partially snow covered.  Heading west on the David Thompson Highway, particularly beyond the Sunchild Road, the highway was a little more snow covered.  It was overcast and snowing part of the way out and the temperature only got up to about -18C.  I saw a herd of wild horses pawing in the snow for food, around Misty Valley.  There was about 8 inches of fresh snow at the cottage but by the time I arrived it had quit falling and the sun struggled out a bit.

I unloaded the mattress and a bunch of pre-painted plywood that I brought out.  In the afternoon I started up both of the ATV's and to my surprise there were no issues with dead batteries.  I moved them out of the garage so I could get to the snowmobile.  I bought a new SkiDoo Tundra about two years ago.  I've never really been able to ride it much yet and the odometer showed only 0.5 miles.  Today would be the day...!!

I fired it up and went ripping around the subdivision.  When I first set out the snow plow had not been around the neighborhood yet and there was lots of fresh snow all over the roads.  I blasted around for a while and even hit some of the deeper snow on the ATV trails.  By the time I headed back the snowplow had gone through and created a race track from me along the road.  Managed to wind the sled up to about 70mph...!!

After that small dose of juvenile excitement I parked the ATV's back in the garage, but left the Skidoo out so I could go for another ride later.  I made some supper and packed all the painted plywood down into the basement through the floor hatch.  Later in the evening I was invited over to my neighbors Rob and Brenda for a visit.  We stayed up late, had a bunch of beer and swapped lies.

The next day I had a dose of the dreaded Nordegg headache but eventually shook it off.  A herd of deer came around and at one point there were seven of them.  Some ravens, magpies and whiskeyjacks, as well as the ever present red squirrels but otherwise not much wildlife around.  It got really cold overnight and I kept my truck plugged in so that I wouldn't have any issues trying to go home.  As I'd left the Skidoo outside, it wouldn't start and I killed the battery trying to turn it over.  I managed an armstrong start by yanking on the pull starter and eventually got it going.  Took another short ride and then put the sled and the ATV's away.

I worked down in the basement for a bit, attaching some of the painted plywood panels.  There was a knock at the door....  my neighbors daughter was out and had got stuck in their driveway and asked if I could pull her out.  I eventually rounded up enough straps and managed to pull her car out.  By this time it was too late for me to carry on with plywood installation so I just cleaned things up, locked up everything, and headed for home.  Saw the same herd of wild horses in the same general area on the way back, but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful drive......

Here's a snapshot of the coat rack I made using part of Margarit's collection of antique doorknobs.  I actually put this up last time I was out...