Hank and Megan headed off to Park City for his first official free ride competition last weekend. Hank spent most of this season developing his skills with a well-coached team in McCall. Free ride is a discipline focused on descending, natural un groomed mountain terrain, such as powder filled bowls and steep chutes, away from marked, patrolled trails. The most advanced rider’s are hacking off cliffs and doing aerial tricks when the snow cooperates. For now, Hank is skiing the terrain with occasional air. In training they are doing some hiking, wearing helmets, protective vests and have beacon equipment in case of a snow slide. This is not a sport for the faint of heart, much easier to get on a lift and ski the groomers. Hank made two excellent runs, finished each one and placed well for his experience level. The event concluded late on Sunday so the return trip was to be early on Monday morning. Hank convinced his Mom that an hour at the Park City facility that is equipped to train athletes made sense. Megan had a call and imagine her shock when she was informed that Hank had hit his head hard enough to cause a concussion. The ambulance ride was Hank’s first.
I am glad to report that Hank is getting better, but his vestibular concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. It can take the brain up to 3 months to fully retrain itself. The impacted inner ear balance center can cause dizziness, vertigo, imbalance, and visual instability. Scary stuff. Hank finally was released and got home Wednesday afternoon. He is definitely not ready for prime time. Imagine a Dr. advising a 12 year that he must restrict his screen time to an hour a day! There will be some physical therapy as well. I knew Hank was ok when he told me with a straight face that he had a testicular concoction. The horse awaits as he is hoping to be back on skiis this winter.
Each morning, I get to take the grandkids to school. We have had some interesting conversations. They know I like puns, riddles and rhymes and most any other off the wall topic. What is the smartest insect? Too easy, it is the spelling bee. Lots of moans and groans. Having some experience in financing row crop and seed producers I had an idea of the importance of bees. Leaf cutters are a unique pollinator but do not create honey, they are essential to alfalfa production. Honeybees are critical in the pollination process of nearly one third of all of the food we consume. It is estimated that the bees can be given credit for our $17 billion in annual Ag production in the United States. No wonder the largest loss of honeybee population on record in 2025 has our attention. It is reported nearly half the countries honeybees were lost last year to a virus, pesticides and environmental impacts. As our country is ravaged by the effects of climate change, we need to protect the food chain.
I now think the bee may be the smartest insect. They are proven communicators. The bees do several different dances to recruit foragers and to direct them to sources of pollen. The waggle dance is performed in a figured eight pattern, it starts with a wavy line that is determined by the distance to the nectar, then a semicircle to the right back up the original line and a semicircle back to the start point. All this time the bee is buzzing and vibrating. The actions are nature’s map to food and provide, direction, distance and quality of the food source. There are also round, tremble, and alarm dances that have specific meaning. Each of us can help by avoiding pesticide use and plant the flowers that make the best tasting honey.
Anus Tangarinus, the Orange TACO, or our Wanna be King continues to wreak havoc on our country and around the world. The man and his henchmen have done irreparable damage to our economy, reputation and world credibility. Our best first step is to turn out the vote in the upcoming election cycle. So far, the Democrats have flipped 28 races with the Republican’s flipping 0. Keep the faith. Mike