when the sky and the ground are the same color

 Saturday's rain scoured the air so that things were back to "healthy" by Sunday morning.  Milton and A were able to do their whole five mile Dimple Dell loop, which took a while because we had to stop to chat with his old dog buddies (Betty, Loki, Molly and Aya) and a new dog buddy (Red).  The sun kept trying to come out but never really broke through.  Milton insisted on some driveway hang time when we got home but did not ultimately last that long: he prefers those days when he can bake himself in the sunshine.  Back home, things got a little domestic meal-prepping InstantPot black beans, lentil soup and a vegan bolognese, as well as attempting a new focaccia recipe.

There's a "wiggle" in the foreground, believe it or not

Because the sun never really broke through, H had another day at Alta with more of the same, although slightly colder and with slightly less snowfall.  The light was still very flat and the conditions still very mixed.  H reported definite grumbling in the locker room about the difficult visibility.  Out of his 29 ski days so far, he thinks only seven have had blue sky/sunshine.  And this was not one of those.  He called it quits early and took the 12:39 bus down canyon.

the vagaries of spring weather

 The light at the end of the ski season tunnel is evident (Alta closing day April 20) but still H persists.  The bus was not crowded on Saturday.  And for good reason: the light was flat and it was snowing a wet, heavy snow all day.  He lasted until the 12:39 p.m. bus - when the snow started edging more towards rain - and then headed home.  With spring season comes the overnight freeze/thaw cycle and the overcast day kept the conditions from fully thawing by the time he left.  And since he hasn't bothered to get his skis sharpened for about four years, that makes for some pulse-pounding moments when you get to a more frozen bit.

Below the Ballroom, looking towards Superior

Down in the valley, Milton and A did their walk, but only did 3.5 miles instead of the usual five since the air quality index in the Salt Lake valley was still "unhealthy" due to all the dust that had been blowing in.  After the walk came laundry, and after the laundry came chocolate chip cookies and an apricot crumble.  Milt wanted to spend time hanging out on his tie-out in the driveway but the clouds kept building and then it started to rain.  At least that cleared out the bad air.

We also got a little social for a change, meeting our friends E and K out for beers/food at Piper Down late afternoon.  Piper Down is an Irish pub on State Street in SLC.  Amazingly, it has a huge plant-based menu and their plant-based "meat" is made by a local company, Vegan Daddy Meats.  H had a vegan reuben and I had the vegan "Galway grilled cheese" with corned beaf, carmelized onions, cheddar and Swiss cheeze and Guinness mustard.  It wasn't at all healthy but it was delicious.  And it was also really, really good to spend time catching up with E and K whom we hadn't seen since Friendsgiving.