A Good Weekend in the Snow

I'm not really in a writing mood right now but thought I'd share some pictures from the past two days instead.  Dawn had a 'girl's night' Friday and a 'girl's day' most of Saturday with some friends.  I managed to sleep in a bit on Saturday, being awakened only by a whiney Osu who was itching to go outside.  Once I opened up the rolladen over the window, I could see why.  After a week plus of snowy and cloudy weather, the sun finally decided to show itself again making for a beautiful winter scene.  This gave me an idea.  Knowing that Germans rarely get out in inclement weather and definitely wouldn't be out post-holing through foot + deep snow, I and Osu loaded up in the car and headed down the hill towards the Schwarze Laaber creek valley.  In the Summer, this is a nice area to get out for short bike rides on warm and sunny evenings, a place where we can take Osu, let him off the leash to explore the nooks and crannies along the creek bank while following us as we pedal our bikes.  Knowing that the place rarely gets much traffic even during pleasant weather during the spring and summer, I figured this would be a great place to take Osu out to let him do some running in the newly fallen snow while I snapped some pictures in the unexpected morning sunlight.  It was a good morning while the sun lasted, both Osu and I enjoying the solitude and the snow.

More pictures can be found HERE

Today (Sunday), Dawn, Osu and I took a drive south of town in the Altmuehl River Valley.  Again, the morning dawned sunny making for some nice picture taking conditions and it allowed us to get back out and stretch our legs with the mutt. 

Okay, so the first one is from this morning at the house.  Not a bad thing to see first thing in the morning.

More pictures from this day can be found HERE

A Good, Snowy Day

Today didn't turn out too bad.  Dawn and I both did some work from home due to the weather conditions in our neck of the woods.  We ended up receiving approximately six inches of snow overnight and it has been snowing on and off, sometimes heavily, all day.  This was enough to close down the post I work on and it was also enough to warrant an okay from the boss for Dawn to stay at home.  Dawn got a good workout in shoveling the driveway and the sidewalk while I, of course, took pictures of her laboring.  I wonder what our nosey German neighbors think about that?  I'm sure these busy-bodies have all kinds of scenarios dancing through their thick skulls, probably thinking Dawn is my slave and that I make her do all of the heavy lifting.  This actually doesn't sound too bad to me, but truth be told, I'm just in no shape physically at this moment to be shoveling snow or clearing driveways.  I tried early this morning and my back, bad knee and other sore appendages screamed NO at me.  As I get older, I think it's about time I start listening when my body is telling me something.

Anyway, we just got back from dropping the Toyota off to get the new snow tires put on.  I look forward to actually having some traction tomorrow when I drive to work.  This will be a pleasant change from earlier in the week.

Below is Dawn trying to put a winter hat I bought in Seattle on Osu.  At first he would have none of it.  Eventually, he and his ears warmed up to the idea.  Click on the picture for a larger view.

It's been an interesting week

I've been up since 4:15AM. It's now 5:43AM. Sleeping when your toe, ankle, knee and finger are experiencing swelling, redness and a dull pounding sensation due to gout is tough. I also have a knot in my back that just won't go away. I hope it's just strained and not a disc. Seeing as how it's getting worse and not better over the past few days is a bit troublesome, though. Oh, and yesterday? I somehow managed to twist my ankle at work when I took an awkward step and my ankle completely rolled over. I was able to save most of the lunch that I was carrying back to my desk at least. Sometimes you have to celebrate the small victories (yay...).

So, most of the above is status quo for me. I'm used to it. Yes, it sucks, but after living with pain for so long you create ways to deal with it and move on. I mean, my ankle literally rolled over at a 90 degree angle, I heard and felt two tendons pop and I really wasn't too concerned. Yes, it hurt. A lot. I'll live.

These injuries and physical setbacks are not what has made the week interesting, however. No, it's been the weather and the daily task of getting to and from work. It seems that we are finally getting a real winter here in Germany, something I've been looking forward to since I moved here. I love the snow. Love skiing in it, walking in it, playing in it, taking pictures of it..... Driving in it, however, especially on bad tires, is not something I enjoy too much. At first glance it seems that my Toyota would be fairly snow-worthy. It's got front wheel drive, axle differential locker thingies and just looks like it should be good in the snow. I've driven it on ski trips and on some sketchy roads in the past and really had no concerns driving it in winter conditions this year - that is, until this past Monday. I had one of the scariest on-snow drives of my life on this morning. I knew things would be bad when I attempted to make a turn at the stoplight down from our house on to the main drag. Instead of turning like it was supposed to, the RAV kept going straight, the turning of the steering wheel having no discernible affect on my direction of travel. I wanted to turn left, but the car had other ideas. A couple pumps of the brakes and some nifty over steering finally got me somewhat going in the direction I needed to go, which could be seen as good or bad. After negotiating the turn, I found myself pointing downhill, sitting on a a very slippery and glimmering piece of asphalt heading straight for a new roundabout that had just been completed the month before.

I generally like roundabouts, but not when they are covered in ice. I was able to get through both traffic circles - barely - and ended pulling over in a grocery store parking lot to catch my breath and settle my nerves. I was hoping that the salt truck or plow would happen by to clean up the roads a bit, but to no avail. I finally mustered up the courage to continue on with my journey and wish I hadn't. I've never white-knuckled a steering wheel more than I did while heading down from the Netto to the newly constructed bridge at the bottom of the hill. I was all over the place. If I touched my brake peal, the back end would start to slide. If I tried to steer a certain direction, the car would go exactly opposite of where I intended it to go. I was fairly positive that I would end up in the Schwarze Laaber (creek) since there were no guardrails to pinball between on the road.

Somehow, someway, I did make it down to the bridge (only realizing this when I finally opened my eyes). I now had to negotiate the uphill that would take me out of the creek valley. I barely, and I mean barely made it to the top of the hill. I was a wreck at this point. I pulled over in to the Penny Mart parking lot to once again catch my breath and to let the shaking in my body abate. I waited a good 20 minutes there, just hoping that the damn salt truck would come by. Nope. I finally did make it to work, me leading 40 other cars, being that slow guy that everyone hates. If anything at all has stuck with me through my years working with the military, it is the commercial that repeats 'Drive to Arrive Alive'. I was in full survival mode at that point, believing anything over 40kmh would ensure instant death for me.

Tuesday - a repeat of Monday.

With two horrible days of driving under my belt, I had to take some action. I never thought that my tires would be the culprit, but it turns out my 'all weather, all season radials' were in bad shape. Usually a set of tires is good for at least 50,000 miles or a couple of years of driving. Something I never considered about living in Germany, however, is the fact that doing a lot of Autobahn driving, often at speeds exceeding 95mph, will quickly wear your tires down. After a quick inspection of my tires with my manager (she being curious since she was having no trouble driving in the conditions), I found that I had absolutely no side tread left on the tires. I was essentially like a fawn walking on a frozen lake for the first time.

One of the first things I did this morning after going downstairs was to turn on the porch light, open the front door and take a look outside to see if the predicted snow storm had indeed materialized overnight. For once, the forecasters may have actually underestimated just how much snow would fall. It looks like there is a good six to eight inches of new snow out there, something I will confirm shortly after a little light starts showing on the horizon. The post I work on has posted a two hour work delay in order to plow the streets and parking lots and to let people slowly trickle in safely. I don't think I'll be going in at all, though. I'm getting brand new snow tires put on the RAV at 2PM today. There is no way in hell I am driving in to post in the worst winter conditions I've seen in four years on the tires I have now. Luckily, the place where I bought the tires and where I'm having them installed is just down the road from the house.  I just hope I can drive the 500 meters to the dealership without doing too much damage to my car, fences, stray dogs, parked cars, curbs, fire hydrants, the mean old lady who lives around the corner, etc....  I won't guarantee anything at this point, though.

Long Weekend

Three day weekends are a welcome respite from the regular grind, especially when you don't earn a lot of vacation.  Usually, Dawn and I would be off on a ski trip this weekend, but thanks to my faulty knee, we're staying at home and trying to relax.  We aren't really people who can sit around for long, though.  'Cabin Fever' seems to set in for us a lot quicker than most people.  We like to get out and experience what we can and try to take advantage of these longer weekends.  We did plan to go for a drive today, but the weather has halted that for now.  Instead of getting out to take some pictures in the snow, freezing rain has started to fall, coating everything in a glassy sheen of ice.  It looks cool, but venturing out when it is like this can be hazardous.  The last thing I need is to slip and fall and break a hip. 

So, we'll sit here inside, maybe find something constructive to do and hope and wish that it gets just a little bit colder so that the snow will begin to fall again.

A New Year - and a new attempt at updating this thing more often

I know it's been a while since we've been consistently updating this blog.  The end of 2009 was a busy one for us.  Things are still busy, but hopefully we'll be able to find more spare time to keep everyone updated on our going-ons a little bit better.

Dawn has settled in to her new job well.  It's a much more enjoyable office environment and the work, yes, there actually is work, is a helluva lot more interesting.  The managers are also much more accomodating to her driving situation.  When the weather and roads are bad, she's been able to work from home which has helped alleviate a lot of stress for her.  This has been a good thing, too.  Although the weather here never gets too nasty (at least not yet), the country roads do get slick and are usually low on the priority list of the snow plows.  There haven't been any big snowfalls so far this year, but even a couple of centimeters can make driving conditions hazardous over here.  The roads with no shoulders, the lack of maintenance, the agressive and self-centered German drivers.....it can be a bit much.  Accidents are common over here in the winter for the factors I've listed.  I feel bad that Dawn has to deal with this on a daily basis, but with me working where I do and her where she does and with our future timeline uncertain, it's just not worth it to make a move right now.

Speaking of snow and winter weather, it feels a bit like Christmas Eve for me this evening.  I love snow.  Love it.  For four years now, however, the winters here have been pretty disappointing for me.  The first two years barely saw any snow fall, last year we had a short stretch of wintery weather and this year has been so-so.  People seem to get excited when there are a few centimeters on the ground, but I want to see meter-deep drifts.  I want to see cars burried.  I want to be able to cross-country ski from my front door to the grocery store.  I want a blizzard to hit, immobilizing the town we live in for three days.  I'm weird, but I enjoy these types of events.  Finally, it looks like we may be getting hit with a storm tomorrow that could deposit six to ten inches of snow in the initial blast with a couple more inches expected the following days.  Yeah, it's not Buffalo type snow, but it will do.  The most snow I've seen on the ground in Parserg or Weiden is only two or three inches.  If we can get a foot built up, I'll be happy.  I've been watching this thing all week and it looks like it probably is going to happen.  I'll keep my fingers crossed!

As for me, I'm back at work now after being off all last month.  I was recovering from various physical ailments and just trying to get somewhat healthy again.  While at home, I worked on some photo stuff and wrote a manuscript.  The 55,000 word manuscript deals with my injuries and my suffering from arthritis and gout over the past 15 years.  I've told about dealing with these ailments from the perspective of my traveling and outdoor activities.  I've finished the final draft and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it next.  If anyone knows a literary agent......

Because of me being all beaten up and broken, there won't be any skiing this year.  I was a bit bummed by this at first, but have come to grips with it now.  I'll deal, get healthy and go from there.  I may be facing another knee surgery, but that still hasn't been decided.  As long as I'm able to do some light hiking and biking this summer, I'll be content.  If not, I'll figure that out when I get there.  Dawn and I will be traveling with the ski club next month for a trip to Switzerland.  Although I won't be hitting the slopes, Dawn will get up there to slide around for a day or two.  I'll just be playing with my new camera and checking the town out.  We're looking forward to it!

Not much else I can think of right now.  I've got some stuff I need, well, not 'need', but stuff I'd like to get done tonight.  Playing more with the new camera, installing a new 2 TB hard drive I just got, doing some research on the literary world and some other things.  We're planning a trip to Regensburg this weekend if the trains are running to do a bit of shopping and to get some sushi.  Sunday, I'm sure we'll be out walking in the snow for a few hours.  This means I should get this stuff done tonight.  It is nice, though, to actually have some plans for the weekend.  With me laid up for the past month or so, things have been fairly quiet.  It will be good to get back out in the world again.

Happy New Year!

My first picture with the new camera: