Z is for Zaugg

The only constant is change.

None of us were around when men worked in the gas lamplighting profession.  Men would light the gaslamps on the city streets each evening, and extinguish them in the morning.  When electricity was invented, gaslamps went away.  So did the lamplighters.

New professions spring forth. Think about all the new jobs that computers spawned.

I saw this machine in Colorado.  One stops.  Stares.  Tilts one's head, puzzled, but only briefly.  New sports birth new tools.

It was parked on a slope above the resort's snowboarders' terrain park.  Got it yet?

It's a half-pipe groomer. 

It took several days to get a good picture.  Most of the other attempts were on grey, cloudy, flat-light days.  The Etherknitter, after solving the ABC-Along "Z" problem, was giddy.  A big smile lit her face, and she pointed her skis into the half-pipe.

Yeah.  The flat light made the sky, the snow, and the half-pipe walls all meld into each other visually.  I couldn't see where the walls sloped up.  Too late, I realized why I was the only one in the pipe.

Picture a gerbil trying to climb the glass walls of its aquarium enclosure.  The half-pipe had been groomed and ridden until the surfaces were a sheet of ice.  My skis were not the right tool for the job.  Terrain park skis are much shorter.  Half-pipe riders are much younger.  I couldn't tell when up was up, and when down was coming.

While there wasn't frank carnage going on, it wasn't a pretty sight.  Humiliation isn't understating my exit from the bottom of the half-pipe, as I desperately scrabbled to stay on my feet. 

But I got my Z. 

Comments

[margene]

What we don't do to please our readers. Too bad Mr. E didn't have a video camera. You could be on YouTube:-D

[Kathy]

You are endlessly charming. Great "Z."

[Kat]

Excellent Z. I've got mine all planned but need to scan the pictures in, once I find them.

[maryse]

haha my favorite Z so far!

man i've got to do my Y....

[colleen]

I think that you win the prize for the most interesting Z so far. Imagine the engineer who had the job of designing that.

[PumpkinMama]

I can picture the scene - but yay for a very original Z entry!

[rho]

excellent Z --- congratulations!!

[Manise]

Boy,what a humbling experience, but so worth it for your "Z" post! What a trip! Better you than me- I would have broken my neck!

[Diane E.]

Zowie! you made it, I've only skiied the ridge of the pike, never daring to "dive" in. Cheers!

[Chris]

No broken bones, so it was worth it! Brilliant Z. I am SOOOO jealous.

[Anne]

Well, I mean.... of COURSE you sacrificed yourself to the half-pipe for the honor of completing the ABC-along. Geez. ;)

And it IS a brilliant Z.

[Chris]

Impressive! The photo, the concept and the image of gerbilyou scrabbling along the ice half-pipe, all for your devoted fans. I needed a good grin today and you provided it. Thanks!

[Barbp]

How wonderful! The Z. Flat light and skiing through an unexpected compression have done the same thing to me. Even with the amber lens.

[Cathy]

Wow! I am impressed! And to think you did this last winter shortly after the ABC-along began. Kudos to you!

[Janine]

Very good! :-) I'm still working on a Z here - got to get Y out of the way first an I am running out of time :-)
Have a lovely christmas

[Jackie]

As far as ice tools go, that is WAY cooler than a zambonie! Thanks for risking your dignity to share! ;)

[Cindy D]

Kinda like a roller coaster ride on skis....You are a tough woman!! Happy Holidays!

[Dorothy B]

We'll all pretend we never saw a thing and tip a wine glass to your most unusual Z.

[Lucia]

I am wondering if I could do a whole alphabet in a week... once again, you will be pleased to know, you have confounded expectations. One would have thought, given that you put people to sleep for a living, that one could guess what your Z would be.

You wouldn't catch me dead on skis, never mind in a half-pipe. You're a braver woman than I, Gunga Din.

[vanessa]

have you been skiing in colorado?
great z!

[Mel]

I wouldn't even have made a pretense of trying to stay on my feet. I'd have been flat on my ass, all the way down, and to hell what anyone else thought.

[Lynn]

That is some machine. Isn't human ingenuity amazing? Think of the complexities of spinning wheels and looms, of the different structures of yarns.

I'm really glad you didn't break a leg in the half-pipe, even though that would give you more time for spinning and knitting.

[lisa Co. Springs]

Oh dear---that might have been fun to watch :)

[claudia]

I can truly imagine the carnage. Thanks for the smile.

Happy Holidays!

[Ina]

Wow. Definitely the most unusual Z!

[Zaugg]

My last name is Zaugg!