Making It Up As I Go Along #572

Snowshoeing
I Armstrong off the path
One small step for me
One giant leap for imagination

Venturing away from the norm
Leaving behind the common track
Blazing a new trail through winter lands

Crossing wind swept dunes
Shuffling through the openness
A black dot weaving through the mass of white

Slipping into meadows
Frozen cattails as periscopes
A sign at the surface of what lies beneath

And entering the still of forest
Bare pillars of wood
Intermingled with other tracks

Other species that call this home
Their daily travels mapped out to see
I pause, ponder and follow

I follow in the foxes steps
Looping left of this tree and right of that one
Before breaking off again, this time for home

My steps remain out there
Frozen reminders in winter's cold
Proclaiming my presence long after I pass

The fox pauses upon it's jaunt
The rabbit timidly sniffs my path
Both wondering what creature invaded their world

FRIDAY-MONDAY...

--- The four days are pretty ordinary for the work schedule. 

--- Sunday I played ball for the first time in about a month. My neck is tight and sore and I feel slow in reactions. But we win and I'll hope it's mostly due to the long layoff and bad neck. After the game, I get Subway for supper and head to work. 

TUESDAY...

--- My neck has been troublesome over the last few months. What I've done is change to the bigger pillows and I'm giving up sleeping on my stomach. Haven't had real great nights sleeping on my side and back... And I find I also can't sleep all night on my right side without that shoulder getting out of sorts... But it has gone better than I thought it would and my neck is clearing up fairly quickly without that awkward sleeping position on the stomach. 

--- Go see John and the Missus at the Mayfair. Nice to see on the big screen. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Wake too early and that throws me for the day really. Went to bed near 2:00 and was awake by 6:00. Got back to sleep around 7:30 and slept another hour, but overall I'm tired and not too productive until 2:30 or so. 

--- Tired of the cold. I have sort of vowed no walks or snowshoeing with temps worse than -20. Today is tempting.  -9 by the outdoor thermostat at the house but still saying -22 windchill. Been windier than normal for this place lately.

THURSDAY...
--- Out and about some.  Groceries are bought and a trip to the Rogers store.  Traded in an old converter box for my upstairs TV and got a Nextbox PVR to replace it... no charge.  So then it's home to put the old PVR upstairs with the old TV and put the Nextbox in the basement.  Takes a while to get everything set up just so... but it's done.
--- Bit of a walk in the woods after that's taken care of.

FRIDAY...
--- Snowshoeing time.  First time out for the year.  Temperature hovering around zero so it's me in a fleece instead of jacket.  Little more than an hour trekking through the woods and open drift areas that nobody has been to all winter.  Lots of rabbit tracks, some turkey tracks and what looks to be fox or coyote.  Also saw what looked to be moose tracks at one area.  Can't be sure though.  I wouldn't be expecting to see them around so close to people this time of year.  And, even with the snowshoes on, there was one area where the snow was so deep and loose that I went up to my hip.  Poles helped get me out of there.  Useful Christmas present on their maiden voyage.