Picto Diary - 07, 08, 09, 10, 11 January 2020 - 9:15 AM. Glorious.

Above: (19) Stein's Way. Deer Valley. 07 January 2020.

9:15 AM. Glorious.

Mountain Anecdotes today:
Sultan Lift. 55 Something Sacramento resident has had a second home in Promontory for five years. He's retiring in six months and moving to Park City with his wife and two teenaged sons permanently. Says he can't wait to get out of California with its high taxes, wasteful spending and crazy regulations.

Carpenter Lift. 65 something woman asks if its OK to lower the chair safety bar. Left to my own devices, I typically don't lower the safety bar. But, "Sure," I say. "That's the default position for the bar when people are on the chair. You really don't need to ask my permission, rather, just announce politely that the bar is coming down." The woman acknowledged that I was right, but said that not all people believe that way. She said that she was on a chair lift once and gave warning that she wanted the bar down. She said a guy said no because he was claustrophobic. That's a new one for the books!

Birdseye Run. Nobody on the run but me and this doofus. Doofus is stationary at lip of bottom runout to Sterling. He's the only one there. He's not moving. So, I ski on. Twenty five yards down the incline this doofus loser clips my skis from behind. Neither of us fall, but, clearly its a potentially dangerous near miss.

The guy says, "Oh!" Not, "sorry." Not "excuse me." Then he speeds up and skis way over to skiers left.... I'm thinking to avoid having to account for his doofus move with me at the bottom of the hill. I didn't follow him

They're out there. The popularity of zombie memes in TV and movies is not for nothing. Knock on wood.

08 January 2020. No entry. Stayed home.... caught up on office work.

Above: (20) Stihl and Golf on Stein's Way. Deer Valley, 09 January 2020.

These two interrupted my laps on Stein's Way. They said they wanted me to give them some ski tips. I was busy, but, what could I do? I couldn't be rude. So, we skied out the rest of the morning together, me giving them whatever help that I could. It was a pain having to wait for them at the bottom of each lift. But, you know? Sometimes its important to sacrifice...to help out... to suppress your own selfish inclinations.

(21) Above: Bishop's Office. Empire Lodge. Deer Valley. 10 January 2020. (21) Bishops Office. Empire Lodge. 10:45 AM.

Absolutely fabulous skiing. 1x Tycoon, then 2x Steins Way. Both runs with 4 inches new, wispy Utah Powder atop 1st grooming. Bright sunshine. To coin a phrase, it doesn't get any better than this...at least for a 74 year old geezer who didn't really learn to ski until his late '50's.

Again, as with Stihl and Golf yesterday, I was waylaid by a skier group seeking to get ski tips from me. This time, PGA and his Greensboro cronies, Biscuit, Bauble, Mike, and Jim cornered me at the Carpenter at 9:00 AM. Though it cramps my style somewhat by having to wait at the bottom of the lift for laggard skiers, I am happy to unburden myself of my vast stores of ski expertise to those eager beavers seeking to improve their ski skills.

The Actuary and his boss, Uniform, stopped by my office to say hello to me and PGA's crowd.

I was able to ditch these guys post coffee break at my Office, Empire Lodge. I told them I would be late for lunch with TIMDT if I didn't leave right away.

Nice group at LSDM, Wasatch Bagel earlier in the AM. PGA, Bauble, F16, 777, Goat Milk, The Actuary, and Cornucopia.

At pre ski, second breakfast (eggs and sausage), Snow Park Lodge, it was good to catch up with Baseball Glove. He was at DV to lead a ski group of his fellow alumni from the Park City Leadership Program. Baseball Glove and his wife are walk-the- talk activists in numerous Park City good causes. Baseball Glove updated on his Dad, a noted Citi alum from our 70's/80's Asia Pacific cohort. "Saw Dad in Sam Mateo over the holidays. Slowing down, but still kicking."

Above: (22) Grrrr. On the gondola. Deer Valley. 11 January 2020, deer valley caleb gondola(22) Gondola ride.

In a total turnabout from the last two ski days, where I was waylaid by friends who wanted ski tips from me, today, I found someone whose ski advice I desperately needed: Grrrr. He was with his Dad. Grrrr demonstrated to me how to effectively ski every side cut in Deer Valley. I am grateful for the lesson! I still don't measure up, but I continue to aspire.

Addendum:

Steve,
Your penultimate paragraph says a lot about today’s politics also.

Ahn Rhee,
Larkspur, CA

Steve,
An hour with saddlesoap and polish might make it easier to keep the boots in the rotation.

Scribe,
Boston, MA

Go, Margaret! Toss 'um.

Academy Theater,
Salt Lake City, UT

Scribe/Academy Theater: I should have made myself clearer. At the Deer Valley parking lot, to prepare for skiing, since I put my ski boots on at the truck, sometimes I have to step out into slush. That's the reason the shoes look the way they do. Considering what I use them for, it would be fruitless to polish them.

Hi Banker Steve:

Finished THE DESERTER a week ago. It was a cracking good read from the DeMilles (Nelson and Alex). I believe I too first read UP COUNTRY as an introduction to DeMille.

DeMille often writes about places I've been on my global travels with finite detail, reminding me of when I was there. This last one, THE DESERTER, reminded me that one should always beware when "Government speaks," like when the Native Americans were told by the War Department (home of the eventual Bureau of Indian Affairs - now in The Department of The Interior) "We're here to help you," LOL (here you should imagine Tarzan's chimpanzee Cheeta doing double and triple back flips while laughing).

I've a novelist acquaintance who writes detective/police/crime books similar to other writers in the same theater, and asked if he reads the competition's work like you suggested re: Carr. He said "No, I want to keep my story lines mine." He's done well enough over the years to option his novels for potential films, so the story lines are far enough apart to be distinguishable.

These suspension of belief books (novels) are good for my cranial gray matter, to shift it from the reality of the world today.

I wish I could write one of these 1,000,000 book sellers, but I've never been good at fiction, can't tell a lie worth s***. I've had one "in the works" for three years, but keep laying it down and attending to the "small stuff," like magazine articles and blog feeds. Publisher gave me a 2020 deadline, sro maybe ( :-) ) I'll finish it this year.

Good stuff - DeMille.

Best,

Dr. G
Across the Big Waters in Old Siam this week