Sent from my iPhone
|
|
||
|
Sent from my iPhone  Sent from my iPhone  After 4 days of tough survey Lily goes over to her new owner Robert Schwamberg Sent from my iPhone Sent from my iPhone  Sunny walk with Seven to the Schwellisee where we ice skated a month ago but now covered by meters of snow!  The growler has snow tracks! Unstoppable now, even with all this endless snow! It took 5 hours to install; first time, with lots of mistakes. Next time: 1 hour. The growler went straight up the hill to our chalet and then again with our trailer. We are enthralled, enraptured, and the coolest inhabitants of Arosa now! 
 Oops. Rod drives too close to the edge with Growler. An anchor and use of the winch gets her out of the snow. Oof.  Snow and sun in Arosa! The Winter season begins. Happiness all round! 
 With pulleys and ropes from our sailboat Lily, and using the power of our side-by-side quad “the Growler”‘s winch, we hoist Rod’s motorcycle 3 metres into the air and into the barn for the Winter. 
 Wood splitting in Arosa. Great fun and fresh air. Oof!!!  Relived the 80s last Friday in Zurich. Sade’s still fab!  Rod works his chainsaw and Laura collects river drift wood into the trailer for additional fire wood for long Winter in the mountains.  The bike path disintegrated into a narrow walking path, down steep slopes through leaf-blanketed forests and across rocky gullies and streams. Seven had a few runs after families of deer along the way. As we left the Arosa sunshine to go deep into the shaded North facing side towards Ochsenalp, Tschiertschen, Praden and Passug, the temperature dropped precipitously and we were reminded that Winter is near! Luckily we found a leather tanning workshop in Passug and bought some locally made fur hats and gloves. After a well deserved late lunch in Chur, we took the train back to Arosa and in the dark, biked the last hardest couple kilometers of the day back home. 
 Welcome to the teen years Edward! 
 Last Sunday, the Shooting Club of Arosa participated in one of the most Swiss of traditions, the Ruetli Shooting, held on one of the most Swiss of locations, the Ruetli Meadows, where the nation was born on August 1, 1291. The deputies of the three founder cantons could not have picked a more beautiful spot enjoyed year after year, since 1873, by now nearly 900 pistol shooters from all over the country. Reached by boat from Brunnen, this green hilly clearing is surrounded on the sides by forests, above and facing the Lake of Uri, opposite the Mythen mountains. The 110 shooting clubs settle themselves in the one welcoming chalet Restaurant Ruetlihaus, or on its terrace, or else unroll their blankets and fire up the cookers for bratwurst and warm soup. The Shooting Clubs must participate every year, with 8 shooters, and a no show or a missing member and they are only allowed to come every 2 years. This is Arosa’s shooting club’s state and one more miss, and they are never allowed in again. Not all 880 shooters fire at once their ordinance pistol, but in groups of 40; 5 clubs at a time. The shooters line up on the not so flat terrain of the meadow and take aim at their targets, 50 metres distant (since 1899; before that it was 20 metres). Each Club has on display their own beautiful flag, often with their canton or town colors and the name of their club. The Arosa results of the heart racing 4 minutes of shooting, were not so bright, coming in 73rd place out of 110, and so were decidedly not to write home about, but show the Arosa Shooting Club’s need for more talent! The winning team reached a score of 68 out of 75, but every team received one pewter cup with engravings of the three founding cantons shields. Our best shooter, Arosa’s shooting club president Curdegn brought his proudly home. Regardless of the scores, the sun shining, the stunning views over Lake Uri, the laughter and story telling, gave for an unforgettable time at the Ruetli Meadows. Plenty of traditional Swiss foods to eat and drink, though modest if not totally sober before the shooting, the wine and beer flowed aplenty after. ‘Can’t wait to go back in 2 years! Sixty centimeters of snow fell a few days ago here in Arosa! Rod and Laura have the crazy idea to go snowboarding in the deep snow. Rod waxes the boards, Seven looks very peculiar with the balls of sticky white snow on her chest and underside after the 20 minute walk through the deep snow to the gondola lift. Our failure to ride to the lift itself on the heavy snow should have been a hint as what was to come… A bratwurst and beer at the top of the Hoernli Hut, and we set off: at first it went well and we had our first downhill experience of the year, happily swishing our way on the springy snow. But soon, the terrain became less steep and the snow heavier and heavier. After taking our boards and putting our snow shoe rackets half a dozen times, on and off, (not an easy exercise in deep snow), with the sun soon setting and the temperature dropping fast, we gave up using our boards and headed down the rest of the mountain on foot, and at times on our derrieres, down gullies, across and up the slopes of streams, trudging on from one lump of grassy ground to the next with in between what seemed like canyon-deep snow-filled expanses. Exhausting! Even our Seven was pooped after leaping through the white stuff for 3 hours, even after figuring out how much easier it was to follow behind us, for once, in our tracks. Feeling partly proud and relieved it’s over, but also somewhat foolish that we even attempted this odyssey. Luckily our thoughts of having to call for a helicopter remained in the realm of only possibilities. Today is pyjama day, reading by the warm fireplaces. Even Seven barely pocked her head out the doggy door this morning, had a look outside, turned around and headed for the comfy duvet where she’s been ever since. 
 |
||
|
Copyright © 2012 LILY'S LOG - All Rights Reserved |
||
recent comments