Christmas is Comming

Cats have it good don't they.Ours is always looking for some heat either from a lap,heater,or usually in front of the wood stove at this time of year.He likes a bit of the outdoors to come inside too.
This time of year its one Christmas party after another.Last friday was the church band party.We did the traditional White Elephant gift exchange.I ended up with an Alice in wonder land wig,fake raindeer antlers for kids,flip flops,and some old diskets.Sam got some fake flowers and I forget what else.Useless stuff none the less.Fun times and good food though.

We had like two days of perfect skating ice on the lakes and the day I get my skates it turns 40 degrees for the whole week and the ice is junk.Luckily I live within 5 miles of the largest cooled sheet of ice in the world. The John Rose Ice Oval.I picked up these bad boys at Gear West.I've been trying to locate some and I talked to some people that had some when I was biking at Mammoth last weekend.I put the classic bindings on thinking they would hold the blade tight to the boot but I think the pilot bindings would work best.
Yesterday I took them out for the first time.Now I haven't been on a pair of skates since high school and even then I didn't do much.They were less stable than I though they would be, but thats because of my lack of experience.Luckily I met a guy to give me a few pointers.We were the only two speedskaters out on the ice believe it or not which was really nice.This guy was in his late 40's maybe and he says he just does it to stay in shape now,but I could tell he was a seasoned vet.I was envious of his form.You couldn't even hear his blade touch the ice,and he was so smooth.I would just get behind him whenever I could and watch to see how he moved.I didn't even try to step turn untill I had about an hour of just getting stable and decent form going straight.It takes alot of concentration to stay steady and smooth.The last half hour I tried step turning finally.I think turning wears you out more than the straights,my legs started to feel the turns alot quicker.I was catching on pretty quick though and I had a good time.Maybe sometime this year I'll try a race!