Another spectacular sunrise and moonset at -11F

Click on photo to see it in entirety

"Just" an hour run yesterday morning. We are in a mini-cold snap here and I had a passing thought about using the treadmill as I layered up. But being outdoors is always worth it! As I ran through the park the waning crescent moon with Jupiter to it's left was visible. I made it a point to summit Rock Knob in time to catch the sunrise and moonset over Lake Superior. Despite the cold I took a few minutes to stop and soak in the beauty before moving on. 

I am not by nature a morning person, but in order to get my workouts in, have dinner at a reasonable hour, and get at least 7 hours of sleep each night I have switched to running(biking) in the mornings vs after work. It often means getting up at 4:30 am in order to be out the door by 5:30 am. Which also means going to bed no later then 9:00 pm (I think my grandkids and I have the same bedtime now!). 

It was hard at first, and often means running at the coldest time of day. But the trade-offs have been worth it! I almost always have the trails to myself, and if it has recently snowed, this means I get to make first human tracks. And see who else is out there sharing the trails with us two-footeds. 

Tuesday morning I followed fox tracks for much of my run; most days there is ample evidence of the rabbits, deer and smammals that inhabit the park. Often I hear Barred owls hooting, and now that the sun is rising earlier I am greeted by the songs of Black-capped chickadees. They have recently been throwing in some "fee-bees*" to their usual "chick-a-dee-dee" routine. It's getting to be that time of year! *fee-bee is the chickadee's version of a pick-up line

Today, as it's my day off,  I am taking a much more leisurely approach to things and waiting for the temperature to get above zero for my run. I took the time to make myself some gluten-free blueberry pancakes using a baking mix I found in a small natural food store in Great Falls, Montana. I am really impressed with Montana Gluten Free - not only their Pancake and Waffle Baking Mix but their commitment to gluten free (and other common allergens!). Cross-contamination with other allergens is unfortunately all too common in many products and can severely limit options for folks when looking to purchase food items. It has meant that I do a lot of cooking and baking from scratch and have learned more about the sources of some common baking items then I thought I would ever need to know. 

So, get out there! Enjoy our remaining winter and the transition to spring. 

Good Morning Duluth!

Click on the photo to see the full image

Sunrise and moonset from Rock Knob in Hartley Park. 

It was a magical fat bike ride on the multi-use trails in Hartley this morning. Snow sparkling in my bike light. Firm trails with just a dusting of fluff. And as the sun came up, frost settled on the trees and shrubs painting them with a lovely coating of sparkling white.

It just doesn't get much better then this!

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For the past few weeks I have heard an occasional Black-capped chickadee singing "fee - bee", a sure sign that spring is on it's way. Though it does take chickadee's a bit of time to get twitter-pated enough to get close to each other for mating....