Transition Time

After 3 weeks of very few workouts (lots of fly fishing in there, plus an almost-concert and an NHL game), I finally got back to the gym this week.

It seems that things have really changed in those 3 weeks.  Not in the gym, so much, but in the outside world.  I've actually been happy with my workouts this week.  I think the rest did me some good, and I've felt strong and a bit refreshed in the gym this week.  I've been a bit sore but still feeling relatively strong.

But, the outside world has changed.  It's now dark when I get up at 6:30 in the morning.  It's dark again when I leave the gym after my workout.  We had snow accumulations in the mountains last weekend.  My daughter is asking when we are going to light a fire in the wood stove, because the house is cold.  I have an appointment tomorrow to get some maintenance work done on my snow blower.  On Sunday, I'll be at Sugarbush for most of the day, doing my pre-season ski instructor orientation.

It seems that the older I get, the faster each season just blows right by.  It seems like trout season just opened a few weeks ago, on a cold wet weekend in April.  And while I'll still fish for a couple more weeks, it's about time to put the fly rods away and get the skis tuned up.  I need a new helmet and new ski gloves for this season and I haven't ordered them yet.

I need to rent my daughter's skis for the season, something I normally due in early October.  I still have some winterizing to do around the house.

And, I haven't stacked my firewood yet, but that one is not my fault.  I don't even have my firewood yet.  Apparently, the person we buy our wood from got married this summer.  While he was on his honeymoon, the person who covered his firewood business sold a lot of wood.  That included 4 cords of wood that my wife and I had reserved in April.  Trying to find firewood in the fall in Vermont is a fool's errand.

We had reserved 4 cords at a price that seemed fairly high to me - $260 per cord.  All we've been able to find so far is quality dry wood, but at $370 a cord.  So, one person's business error is going to cost me an additional $110/cord for firewood.  While the original seller has been apologetic, he certainly hasn't offered to help pay that extra money.

This weekend, I need to finish the winterizing work - mostly rain gutter stuff.  I still need to take the air conditioners out of the bedroom windows and store them for the winter.  I'll probably sneak in a little bit of fishing.  Snow tires go on the first car next Friday.

Soon, it will be what Vermonters call stick season - that time of year after the leaves have fallen from the trees, but before we have snow on the ground.  Once we hit stick season, the long range weather forecast starts to become important, telling us when we can expect to start skiing.  I have occasionally skied in early November, but it's been a while.  Last year, my first day was November 17th.  I'd be happy to be on snow that soon this season.

And, it will probably seem like just a couple weeks until I'm back in Addison County for the opening of trout season.