In my backyard, I can judge how good the skiings going to be based on the dog poop.
The dogs head out to the yard to take care of their business roughly every morning and evening.
I clean up all the dog poop most days around midmorning.
Or the dogs are seriously constipated.
Either way, if I cant see poop, Im going skiing.
They pepper the once perfectly white backyard, stinky reminders that the dog needs to eat less human food.
The amount of waste was incredible.
I looked accusingly at my dog, Jolene.
Did you do all of this when we let you out last night?
She didnt have a plausible response, but thats typical for her.
Then I remembered the incessant dripping the evening before.
That sort of misassumption leads to short and disappointing days at the ski hill.
She stops halfway along the path and makes eye contact.
So now Im left shoveling the path, and her poop.
and Why does Jolene go to the bathroom so much!?
The neighbors chihuahua screams his protest at them from the window and Jo chews on an antler they left.
Inevitably, though, our midwinter warm spells snap.
The holiday crowds dissipate and all returns to how it should be in the mountains.
Of course, as the season goes on that yard matrix has to shift a little to adjust.
Well look forward to sunny afternoons and slushy snow as onesies and straight skis appear from closets.
Eventually Ill have to move to other indicators, start checking webcams instead of just looking at the backyard.
Until then, though, life is good.
And with any luck, well have a few more days of that this week.
I dont need a buoy off the coast of Kauai, or some complicated weather model.
Ill ski pow until the dog poop shows
