workaday

 In case you haven't guessed by now, Milton is a pretty great dog.  We love him so much and we're so lucky to have rescued him.  From the time we brought him home, he's been super chill in the house, able to be left to have the run of it when we go to work.  That all changed one day last September when - as best we can figure - a massive thunderstorm, basically centered over our house and absolutely terrified him.  Since then, he's been a little nervous in our Sandy house, scared of the fridge and flinching at the noise of the furnace.  So we've been crating him and that is working really well: he goes in like a champ and seems to like it, even going in of his own volition when we're home and the door is open; and we don't have to worry about him getting hurt or damaging anything.

Hard at work (sleeping) with H

That said, both H and I are lucky to have accommodating offices post-pandemic and we're able to occasionally take the dog to work with us.  Milton doesn't really like going to my office: I'm on the sixth floor and I think he must be able to feel something in the building that we humans don't.  (Plus he's scared of the elevator so we have to walk all the way up.)  When I take him in, he is a good boy, of course.  He's quiet and pretty patient, but fidgety and nervous and has trouble settling.  It is entirely the opposite at H's work: Milt basically commandeers an empty conference room and crashes, snoozing the day away.

Woke up and moved, but now asleep again

on the homefront

Thus endeth January; on to February.  The first month of 2025 was pretty dry snow-wise, actually, and when the first storm of February made its presence known, everyone got pretty excited about it.  They were thinking up to two feet in the Cottonwoods and 2-4 feet in the mountains north of I-80.  I'm not going to say it was entirely a bust, but Alta only got 16 inches of heavy, wet snow, and then some rain on top of that.  Not ideal.

"Where's the snow at?" Milton, probably

On Saturday, H was at the bus stop for his usual 6:30 a.m. bus.  He couldn't get on it as it was full by the time it rolled up; he couldn't get on the next one either.  So he came home, at first thinking that maybe he'd wait a couple of hours and go up mid-morning.  But then inertia took over and he gave up for the day.  Sunday morning he managed to squeeze onto the 6:30 bus where it was standing room only.  And the crowding didn't stop there: for the first lift line of the day, both the singles line and the main corral were stretched up the hill, past the Wildcat chair lift (photo below).  It was a 45 minute line for that first chair.

And it was barely worth the effort, he said later, noting that it was possibly the worst day of the season.  Flat light, crazy windy, super crowded, rain starting midday and really heavy snow that got pushed into huge bumps by run #2 - and you couldn't see those bumps because of the flat light.  (Yet another day that A wouldn't have liked.)  He had been intending to take the 2:09 bus down-canyon but when the rain started, he sprinted for the 1:09 instead, nabbing one of only five seats available.  Seems like he wasn't alone in calling it a [grey, soggy] day.

#iykyk but an aerial shot of these lines would be impressive

Meanwhile, down in the valley, Milton and I had a fairly productive weekend.  Thanks to our new Garmin watch, we finally know that our Dimple Dell loop is 4.8 miles: we did that loop both Saturday and Sunday, getting to meet friendly dogs each time.  Saturday it was supposed to be raining but wasn't; Sunday was terrifically windy.  Personally, I prefer rain to wind.  In addition to our walks, we made chili and a Korean kimchi stew, chocolate chip cookies, 4+ quarts of vegetable broth and an apple galette, plus tried a new baked oatmeal recipe and went to the local library.

let the sunshine in

By Sunday morning, the storm had moved on, leaving it sunny and cold: 12 F to start H's day at Alta and "warming up" to 17 F by the time he left at 2.  Of course, 17 and sunny is much warmer than 17, overcast and windy, but still.  That's cold.  The road was clear enough that the SRO bus made it up no problem, and while it was busy and crowded, it wasn't Christmas-level busy and crowded.  No mustache compliments, alas.

View from Razorback

While that was happening, A and Milton did another Dimple Dell loop: we heard, but didn't see, the coyotes this time, plus M scored some first tracks.  It was 24 F when we started but with the sun out, it was really pretty pleasant.  Back at home, there were chores to be done: vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, laundry, mending (every pair of flannel jammies has lost a button), and cream (vegan) of broccoli soup.  And muffins, because I like making muffins.

Milton got first tracks