Birth certificates

The US national debt is more than 14.000 billion dollars, and the country is close to losing the AAA credit rating.

In the meantime the Republicans and the Tea-Party sheep argue about Obama's birth certificate.

These guys know how to prioritize.

By the way, I was born in Winterland. If you don't believe it, I might be willing to post my birth certificate here >:D

(I admit it: I'm a big fan of Obama, just like I was a fan of Clinton. Nice to get an oportunity to post a picture of the President on this blog. Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to take a picture of Obama, so I stole one on the Internet.)

Coltsfoot

You know that the skiing season is coming to an end when the coltsfoot flourish right by the lift.

We have been in the mountains skiing for a week now, without Internet connection. That’s why stuff has piled up on my lap top. I’m posting all of it today.

The god of skiing

Easter comes late this year, about as late as it can possibly get. The sun is warming, but the mountains are still covered by white snow.

The mountains are crowded. There are people everywhere. That’s an Easter tradition in Winterland. That’s how people spend their Easter holidays.

Some go out on long ski trips. Some just find a nice place to sit in the snow, make a camp fire, and eat lunch, with the kids and the dog and Mother-in-Law. Maybe someone even think of Jesus suffering on the cross. I doubt it. We have better Gods at hand.

The Bible hardly mentions snow at all, and there is certainly nothing about skiing. What kind of religion is that?

Today we went into the valley named after the Norse God of skiing. His name is Ull. He’s not as famous and powerful as his colleague Thor with the Hammer, but a God well suited for our needs up North, for those who insist on having one, or more.

I don’t. I just ski.

(I grabbed my camera and took the picture above when we passed by the little hill on our way into the mountains. I don't know who the people are, but they demonstrate typical Winterlandic Easter celebration out in the snow)

48 cans of Coke

Another freestyle competition for older boy today. It was slopestyle this time, which means several jumps in series, three big jumps to be precise.

He did quite well, and finished 2nd. His best run was a Misty 900 Tail followed by Switch Bio 900 and finally an Underflip.

The 2nd prize was 24 cans of Coca-Cola and a $60 check. His buddy finished 3rd. So, in total they brought 48 cans of Coke back to our cabin.

The service team (that’s me) got a couple of cans too. Good boys.

(The picture shows older boy at practise on the slopestyle course. It was shot by one of his buddies the day before the competition.)

Frozen streams

For more than ten winters I have spent most of my free time in alpine skiing resorts. That’s where my boys want to be, that’s the kind of skiing they love; alpine skiing, freestyle and powder skiing.

I enjoy it too, of course. But I also like to go cross-country skiing, and I miss that.

Little boy is 10 yo now, and old enough to survive on the slopes by himself. Today he was skiing with a buddy. For safety, I tell him to use gondolas rather than chair lifts as far as possible. The T-hook surface lifts are no problem.

My old lady and I put on our cross-country skis and headed into the quiet and peaceful backcountry. It was mild temperatures and no wind. The snow was good above timberline. We made a 15 km (10 miles) round trip, and stopped half way to eat our lunch packets.

(Late in April the frozen streams start to break up. Crossing the streams can be challenging at this time of the year. Skis make it easier, since the body weight is distributed over a larger area (giving smaller pressure on the ice, if you want to think physics). We skied pretty fast across the stream, without stopping, and didn’t get wet. I turned around and took the picture above. I have no idea who the people are.)

A penny candle, you know

The pastor from Florida burnt the Koran, and the Muslim-world exploded in riots and revolts.

It reminds me of this quote, from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev:

"A penny candle, you know, was enough to burn the whole city of Moscow."

Many people are killed, in attacks on UN officials in Afghanistan, UN officials who were there to help them rebuild the country.

Was it worth it Mr.Pastor? Probably not. Burning a book is a very stupid act. You should rather read it. Maybe you will learn something.

But there's more to it. The Muslims must learn that the right to commit blasphemy is an important part of the freedom of speech. What's sacred to you is nonsense to me. The Christians have learnt to accept this (not without pain), and the Muslims need to learn it as well.

I respect anyone's right to choose their religion, but I don't respect their Gods. None of them. Actually, I have read quite alot in the scriptures, The Bible, The Koran, The Book of Mormon.

The more I read, the less I believe >:)

(I will not burn my copy. The picture above is from the bookshelf in my office. Can you see the Koran, between math and physics books? And next to it is Pretty is as Pretty Dies by Elizabeth Spann Craig)

Daylight saving time

This weekend we swapped to daylight saving time, or summer time, as we call it. I assumed my new cell phone automatically adjusted the clock, like my old phone did.

I'm using my cell phone as alarm clock, and Monday morning we got up when the alarm went off at 7am. We had breakfast and I sent little boy off to school, before driving to work at 8:15, I thought.

Little boy thought so too. He rang the door bell of the house next door, where one of his friends lives. They walk to school together every morning. He got an early warning when his friend's mom opened the door and said that his friend left an hour ago. He was embarrassed when he came to school and had to tell the teacher that we had messed up the time.

Little boy was annoyed when he called me after school. Sorry about that. My fault.

I told him that it will be less embarrassing in the fall, when we switch the clocks back. Then he will be one hour too early >:D

(I found this picture on the internet. When I was young, I had several Swatch'es, in all kinds of weird patterns and colors. Now it's more than 10 years since I carried a watch. Maybe I should get one?)

Powder to the people

We had a really heavy blizzard this week, lasting for five days.

This weekend was the time to harvest, from the heavy snow fall. We went up to the mountains, and had a great time skiing in all the fresh powder.

The wind calmed down, but the snowfall continued throughout the weekend. I was off-piste skiing in the sparse birch forest with the kids. Today, it was powder all over the place, even on slopes that are normally groomed. Great! The white gold >:)

(I forgot my camera at home. The picture above was taken about a month ago. It's Little Boy skiing in the birch forest. This seemed to be the weekend when we forgot almost everything. When we stopped on a gas station on the way to the mountains, I found that I had forgotten my wallet and my cell phone at home. I asked my old lady to pay, but she had forgotten her wallet too. Fortunately, Little Boy had some cash that he got for his birthday a couple of weeks ago. He was kind enough to let me borrow his money >:D )