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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Snowflakes in my Eyes

Skate skiing is meant to be done on groomed trails. The MVSTA folks do a good job – grooming many if not all of the 200k of trails every night. That’s great after a fresh snow fall. Today I made the mistake of going skiing right when the heaviest snow came down, at least on the lower part of the Community Trail. It must have snowed a couple inches in the hour or so I was out there. And I don’t have any glasses or goggles for this type of weather so there I went with my head facing down to keep the snow out of my eyes! It wasn’t too cold and the snow was light and powdery and my skis glided through it pretty easily but still, it wasn’t as much fun as other days out there. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for any snow that falls this winter. My timing was just bad for skiing today. The skies are clearing now.

 

 

Only 25k to Mazama

 

5k back to town!

 

 

Good Times and Music in Twisp

Once again, the Open Merc, an open mike at the Merc Playhouse in Twisp, provided lots of entertainment, surprises and also a few goodbyes. There were quite a few musicians, including my own husband Ken Bevis playing guitar and singing with Egon Steinebach on the harmonica, Brad and Eileen Pinkerton, Celeste and Kip Roberts, Biff and the Apostles (Brad and Peter and Paul) and several others. Josh and Tara surprised us with their original Methow reggae featuring banjo and medlodica! Everyone was talking about it. Sadly, Brad and Eileen are leaving this valley to move their musical lives to Westport on the ocean. We wish them well and hope that Westport is ready for them. This is rather a long set of photos but the evening was so lovely, how could I stop? Wish you could hear the music too.

 

Egon sets up and also does the sound and lights for the Open Merc. Thanks, Egon.

 

Brad and Eileen

 

Tara playing the melodica

 

In the winter around here, you rarely see anyone wearing nice shoes. To be truthful, even in the summer. We just live in boots or sandals most of the time. Thanks Tara.

 

Eileen captures Biff and the Apostles on her phone

 

Happy musicians

 

We love that old time music

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Egon and Ken closed out the evening

 

 

 

 

Above the Fog with the Dogs

Some winter days a thick layer of fog follows the river up to the mountains. It usually evaporates to reveal snow capped peaks and bluebird skies. Tuesday was like that. The dogs and I enjoyed our icy walk in the sun while trees emerged from the fog and slowly Goat Peak was revealed.

 

Sam and Kelly, the old dogs, trundling along

 

Luna is up to something

 

Flying?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snowy Owls

This year there has been a major irruption of Snowy Owls throughout the NW and other parts of the country. These bright white owls nest up in the far north and most years a few of them show up in Washington in the winter and occasionally lots of them migrate south. There are different theories as to why some years so many stray so far from their traditional wintering grounds – lack of food, overly bad weather, a succesful breeding season producing too many owls for the available food and so on and so forth. Whatever the reason, it is always a treat to get out in the field and see them.

Four of us drove more than 100 miles through Okanogan and Douglas Counties searching for them and we were fortunate to find two just before the cloud cover lowered nearly to the ground. This was the closer one and really, it wasn’t very close for my meager camera equipment. There are lots more Snowy Owl images out there of far better quality than mine. For me, it’s more about seeing the bird and being graced by its presence.

In addition to two Snowy Owls, we also saw a large flock of Snow Buntings, a Gyrfalcon, sevearl flocks of Horned Larks, numerous Rough-legged Hawks, a Merlin, quite a few American Kestrels and lots of waterfowl on the Columbia, Methow and Okanogan Rivers, including Trumpeter Swans and a pair of Eurasian Wigeons. It was a good day of birding.

 

 

As we watched, this bird spent much of the time preening

 

I like this image because it shows the big feather-covered foot

 

 

If you are interested in searching for Snowy Owls, here is a map showing reported sightings around the country.

Wax On Wax Off

Skiing isn’t just about gliding effortlessly through the woods on groomed trails. It takes some work to get to that point. In order to get to that effortless state, I really need to be in better shape. Around here, there are lots of top notch athletes who do make it look easy. One thing I can do to make skiing easier is to wax my skis once in a while, maybe once a week if I’m not overrun with other stuff to do. Last year I began waxing my own skis in order to save ten bucks each time I took them to town to be professionally done. I may not be as good as they are but I am getting better. A small greenhouse attached to our shed is a great place to wax skis on a sunny day.

First the wax is ironed on to the base

 

 

Pink wax for the forecast temperatures. That black stuff comes from the base of my ski. Sadly, the bottom is not perfectly flat.

 

 

That’s a pretty finished surface