Have had a busy day.  Got up and decided to hit the work out room early today.  Did my bike ride and had my steam (the best part of the workout).  Wandered down to the badminton courts and visited with some of my badminton buddies.  I think it's the first time I've seen them in over a year.  Just haven't gone there......it is funny how you tend to avoid things you really miss but once you negotiate the hurdle it gets much easier.  Don't think I'll be so hesitant to go there again, although I don't think badminton is in my "things I can do" zone yet.

Came home and had lunch then decided I would dust off those x-country skis and give it a try.  Well...it's been awhile since I've been on them (a while being years.....) and they aren't the best skis.....are you getting the feeling I'm making some excuses here!?  Had my first wipe out in the back yard putting the silly things on.  Finally got them on and headed out back to the ravine.  Boomer couldn't figure out what the heck I was doing.  He was quite alarmed that I was moving faster than I have in a long time and kept leaping in front of me.  Not too much of a problem til we hit the hill going down.  Here I was picking up speed and he was dancing around in front of me.  I was pretty sure I was going to take him out and wham.....wipe out number two which was quite a bit more of a wipe out than the first one!  I'm sure anyone looking out their back windows was enjoying the show tremendously.  Good news.....no one hurt....bad news....I'm annoyed!  We have seen skiers in the ravine all week and he hasn't even given them a sideways look but as soon as I put on the skis it's a whole new story.  It's just like taking him to the beach.  He doesn't even give swimmers the time of day until the swimmer is me and then it becomes time for Boomer to save Leslie.....the problem being that instead of saving me he practically drowns me as he comes at me with front legs splashing and that look of panic in his eye!  Skiing, apparently, brings on the same response.  He definitely lacks confidence in my ability to move with boards attached to my feet.  We continued down the ravine with him still bouncing around in front of me and stepping on the both the fronts and backs of my skis resulting in wipeout #3.  It's around about now I'm ready to kill him.  I have tried the firm approach...."No....leave it...stop it!....No!"  None of those commands (which, by the way, he knows) are working so I decided to try a different tactic.  "Boomer.....where's a stick?"....hoping he'd gallop away and go look for a stick as he does when we are walking.  Ah but I'm not thinking like a labrador....in the eyes of a labrador ski poles are nothing but big sticks and I happen to have one in each hand so he bounds over to me with great delight and grabs one of my poles and gives it a nice big tug.  Wham....wipe out #4.  He might be a great walking companion but he is failing miserably on the ski companion front.  We continue on, reach the turn around and start heading back up the hill.  He is finally getting tired and is becoming a bit less of a nuisance but I am definitely hoping the expression "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is not true.  This might be a job for the dog whisperer!  A good workout for both of us and one we are definitely going to have to work on.

Now back inside and thinking about getting dinner started.  Think I am going to sleep well tonight!