living in a GnR song

 Back in Maine, February used to be my least favorite month but out here in the west, I think it's November.  We've actually been very, very lucky for the first half of the month, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s.  But the weather seems to have turned a corner this week and it is, all of a sudden, very November-y.  Shoulder season, cold, dark and wet: today, for example, it is 40s and raining all day.  (H's and my second least favorite kind of weather - only 30s and raining is worse.)  We have been trapped in the house all weekend - cleaning, cooking and reading - and Milton doesn't understand why we won't turn off the sky water so we can go DO something.

Amazingly, some of the Utah ski resorts have opened, albeit with like ten inch bases, bless their hearts:

No word on Alta yet but if this storm brings the 2+ feet the forecasters are boasting, that may help them with their decision.

opening days (anticipated)

On Saturday (11/11/23), H and I went up to Alta to pick up our 2023/2024 ski passes: full-on season pass for H, ten-pack for me.  It was a pretty day for the end-of-early November: partly cloudy, pretty clear air, temperatures ranging from high 30s to low 50s across northern Utah.  We drove up the canyon a little after 11:30 a.m.; the various climbing and hiking trailheads were busy with folks taking advantage of the mild winter.  As we went past Snowbird, we shook our heads - the snow is thin at best.  But when we turned into Wildcat base at Alta, we were surprised to see 100+ cars in the lot and all sorts of folks milling around, layering up and putting skins on their skis.  We went into Skier Services to pick up our passes, noting the ropes across the Collins lift area and the CLOSED signs.  Ten minutes later, as we walked out, the ropes and the sign were gone and backcountry skiers were skinning up Corkscrew.  

Twenty minutes later, as we were sitting at the bar at the Hog Wallow, toasting the impending start of the ski season, three 20-somethings wearing ski pants came in.  They'd been up at Solitude, which was open (!!), standing in line for 30 minutes to do one bunny-slope run.  "We ripped up that seven inches!" one girl laughed.  And so it begins.

Here are the purported opening dates per Ski Utah (subject to change, of course):

harvest

 The ski areas are not so thrilled but boy oh boy has the late autumn weather been nice in northern Utah!  It was chilly at the start of the week: 24 F in the morning, warming to mid 40s F.  But it was sunny and warmed slightly through the week.  It would have been great weather for hiking - we had some home chores stacking up, however, and once again did not get out on the trails.  Note that this will lead to a sparseness of content around here in the short term.

Autumnal colors

Saturday was quite nice, mostly to partly sunny with a high of 67 F.  Milton and I did our 4ish mile walk, then cleaned up the front yard, finally taking down all the sunflowers.  H mowed and then set to work digging out the shut-off valve for the sprinkler system (having sprinklers is such a hassle).  While he did that - and Milton supervised, and got treats delivered to him by our neighbor - I puttered around in the kitchen.

At least we like winter squash 

better than summer squash

I'm trying to be better about food waste and so rescued a small unwanted pie pumpkin from a Halloween display at work.  We also had a butternut squash from our CSA so I whole-roasted them both, then scooped out the guts (and made roasted pumpkin seeds, which we immediately devoured). Those two squashes yielded nine cups of puree (mash, really)!  I froze most of it but also made a batch of pumpkin muffins (and may have snuck some squash into a mulligatawny soup as well.

brief desert interlude

 The first real storm of the season came in Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.  The mountains (Alta, et als.) got 8-12" and it even snowed a bit in the valley, but - thankfully, because I am not ready for winter yet - did not stick.  The storm moved out of the area by midday on Thursday and when we got underway to head down to Moab, the road was clear and dry and you wouldn't have know that it had snowed, except for the mountains' frosty tops.

"Holy moly is that a squirrel?" - Milton, probably

It was definitely cooler in Moab than it has been, but we really lucked out on the weather.  Friday was gorgeous, mostly sunny with highs in the mid- to upper 60s F.  Milton and I did a short hike up on the Slickrock Trail.  This was his first time back out on the slickrock since he injured his paw and I cautioned him to take it easy.  He did not take it easy.  But he also didn't reinjure anything, so it all worked out.  We did the Practice Loop ("just as hard") and went out just a little way on the main trail for the views.  It was medium busy, mostly MTBs.  Milt also met a very nice New Mexico rez dog named Cholla in the parking lot; she was a sweetie.

"Are you coming?" - Milton, definitely

From the weather forecast, both H and I were sure that Saturday was going to be a washout; he did hear the rain in the early hours of the morning and had to scurry around closing windows.  But the rest of the weather held off, allowing us to do a hike at Moab Brands in the late morning where I spotted what was either a coyote or a coyote-looking dog up on the ridge, so Milton had to be leashed for a portion of the hike for his own safety.  That afternoon, H and I walked to Josie Wyatt's for a beer.  I thought about bringing my raincoat ... but didn't, and later regretted it somewhat when we got lightly rained on walking back home.

Sunday morning was nice and clear.  We'd planned to head back to SLC midday so we three only did a town walk.  There weren't too many folks on the bike path through town but Main Street was bustling, especially the breakfast places.  I suspect the local businesses appreciated the mild weather as much as we did, hoping to make bank before things slow down for the off-season.

dang it

 Once again, this week got away from me.  More posts very soon - check back again later!

UPDATED: We did get away for a long weekend in Moab.  Didn't do anything extraordinary but man oh man do we like being there.

Here's a photo from the car ride down.  Milton still doesn't love car rides - although he rarely gets carsick now - and he prefers the truck where we are all together.  In the Subaru, he has to sit in the back.  He doesn't like that, even though we set him up with blankets and plenty of room.