The Big Dance

Guess you could say I'm a sports fan.

I enjoy most sports except hockey, to the dismay of some of my volleyball friends. Too many fights, too violent. I enjoy playing them most, but also will watch and follow my favorite teams, high school, college, and pro.

The Big Dance, aka the NCAA basketball tournament, has started. Today, the Arizona Wildcats -- one of my teams -- won. Convincingly. Fortunately, I've got two teams to root for as my teams: the Arizona Wildcats, from my adopted home state of AZ, and the UCLA Bruins, my alma mater.

I attended UCLA during the halcyon days of John Wooden and Bill Walton. We went like 96-2 over a 3 year period, absolutely crushing teams along the way, and won the NCAA every year. I had season tickets in the student rooter section, and it was a sight to behold, let me tell you.

Both my teams have a decent chance to win this thing. We shall see.

Skiing on the Peaks

Went cross country skiing today with Gerry and Rusty Crawford. Just about perfect conditions. This one storm left close to two feet of snow at the 8,000 foot level, up in the aspens, along the west flank of the San Francisco Peaks. We had most of the woods to ourselves, and did my usual route of skiing north cutting our own trail into the Nordic Center and then on a few of their groomed runs.

What a sight for sore eyes to see all that white!

Winter Wonderland

Awoke this morning delighted to see a couple of inches of snow on the ground, covering the trees, white everywhere. We've finally gotten our winter wonderland. Definitely better late than never.

I need at least one of these per season to help reset my internal clock. Just doesn't seem like winter without at least one good snowstorm! A good snowstorm helps gets me mentally ready for the warm weather I know is coming in spring, and especially for the downright hot and extremely dry months of late May and June.

Of course later in the year we get the dramatic and beautiful summer monsoons months of July and August, but that's another seasonal cycle story yet.

Our dogs -- Billy and Lilly (real names Chip and Roxie) -- seemed delighted as well. They plunged face first into the fluffy white stuff and rolled around in it. Later, Roxie just laid down in it, no shivering, no problem at all. I guess they've got Labrador (as in retriever) in their genes.