Waiting on ol' man winter

The calender now shows a new year, which should put us right smack in the middle of winter, right? Well it hasn't felt that way here in Northern Maine the past few days. I am excited to be back up in Caribou and have been all reved up about getting a few weeks of good training in here. But between a lingering cold and the warm, rainy weather, I have felt a bit deflated. These are two things that are top on my dislike list, being sick and a snowless winter!
Despite the dreary weather and my marginal health I did manage to get out and check out the skiing that was avaliable this week at both Nordic Heritage and 10th Mountain.
I was at 10th Mountain on Thursday so I am not the conditions are the same, but while I was there the trails were in fairly decent shape. What I was most excited about was the shooting range. Half of the electronic targest for the World Cup are set up and running. The electronic targets allow you to clear and change targets by simply pushing a button. You can also program them to automatically rest themselves after five shots have been taken. This is really nice when you are shooting on the range by yourself.
Things are coming toether nicly up at Nordic Heritage Center as well. Quite a few more upgrades were necessary at NHC in preperation for the World Cup, so they aren't quite as far along as 10th Mountain, but all that they have done is looking great! The range has been moved back and left three meters in both directions. This creates a lot more room on shooting points one, two and three. The other half of the electronic targest are up but aren't hooked up just yet. The stadium area looks great, (exept for the lack of snow). While there isn't much for snow coverage anywhere in The County right now, I did manage to get a three hour ski in at NHC this afternoon. I was on my fish scale skis, that I love because I can ski in ANY conditions with them. They were perfect for today, skiing over grass here and there and probably a few rocks as well. Those skis can take it and I was very thankful for it.
I am here until around mid-week and then will head down to check things out at Nationals down in Rumford. The forcast is calling for cooler winter so perhaps Ol' man winter is still around. Let's just hope he can round up some badly needed snow for all of us snowbunnies!
Happy New Year to you all!
BethAnn