My Misadventures in Fitness

As Moonbeams sled picked up momentum on the slushy downward incline, I questioned my choice of forest trail. Suddenly it's force hit the back of my legs and I found myself defying gravity for fractions of seconds. The next thing I knew, I was sliding downward on my bottom, still grasping the rope to the sled. As we slid, I grabbed the side of the sled and we continued our speedy descent together side by side. Moonbeam was not sure what to think of this turn of events, however she cocked a furrowed brow and grimaced. I was relieved she had not yet mastered English, or she may have given me a tongue lashing for my inept skill at taking her for a simple hike.
Just yesterday, I had skied beyond this trail on an old, no longer used, kelly humped, logging road. That day wasn't exactly what I had planned either. I had had this vision of me, as a true outdoors woman, skiing and enjoying the fresh air. In these fantasies, I am buff, don't tire easily and entertain a commanding presence among the forest creatures. Yesterday, however, I was a little unsettled. I hadn't gone far when I discovered a host of fresh wolf tracks. This alarmed me to no end and I began remembering stories of a Canadian chap who was stalked, surrounded and eaten by the ravenous creatures. I looked over my shoulder and continued on. Sets of the mammoth tracks seemed to follow the abandoned road and furry scat littered the trail every so often. Gosh, I don't relish the idea of being wolf scat. Some of my friends have this warped idea that some such drivel would "be an honor". Not me, nothing honorable about aspiring to be feces in my mind.
Part of me has this wanderlust spirit that wants to drive on deep into the forest. The other part is always looking over her shoulder. She's a real fraidy cat. These two battle on together until I remind her (the fraidy cat) that sitting on the couch is a sure way to slowly kill oneself. Taking a chance and getting some exercise is much more beneficial than allowing ground to Miss Belly Fat. Then I heard yipping and feared wolves could be signaling others of my whereabouts. Reason reminded me that the yipping had come from the direction of civilization and that it was probably the neighbors dog. The yipping answered back and Miss Fraidy Cat demanded I turn around. By the time I got back to my cut off, Wanderlust woman demanded we explore another direction. My bulky heavy boots dangled back and forth over my shoulder as I skied and I was sure I looked utterly ridiculous skiing with them. One never knows when one must abandon her skis and take to the hilly treed terrain. In the end I did abandon my skis, or rather I carried them, scaling the side of a steep incline to get to the road. That took several attempts and I was quite relieved that when the neighbor drove by, he didn't seem to notice me scaling and sliding backward multiple times. All in all, my outdoor exercise attempts have left me with scattered bruises and so I have decided to spend the remainder of the day blogging and doing other "safe" pass times.

photos above: One fine day outdoors Moonbeam sat and smiled, Art Dog built a defense wall for snowball fights, the men worked on their barn/shop shelter and Super Catman built a force of "aliens" which he later decimated during hand to hand combat and with use of a "spear".