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We headed south today to find a cache hidden about 4 miles off the road, near a waterfall. It was a lovely low-level walk, good for winter. The fog never quite lifted, but it hardly rained at all. The hike took us past Queens Well and along the Water of Mark.

After finding the cache we stopped for a cuppa before heading back the way we came. As we were scrambling down the scree I saw ahead of us something unusual, alien-like on the ground. [The next bit is not for the squeamish] As we got closer we realised it was the scattered internal organs of a deer. We only figured out it was a deer, because one of the organs was a placenta complete with tiny dead foetus. It is easily the weirdest thing we have ever seen. I took a photo. We don’t know how far along the female was when she was killed, but the foetus is a perfectly-formed tiny baby deer, complete with hooves. Head diameter perhaps 3cm. If we had a shovel we would have given Harold a proper burial, but we just named him (obviously the gender is a guess) and hoped the buzzards would get him soon to complete the circle of life. What an odd experience. I’m including the photo; even though he’s dead, he’s so cute and peaceful.

So The Big Freeze hit the UK this festive season, which was such a novelty for us! Here’s a BBC satellite image so you can see the extent of the snow and frozen-ness.

So we went snowboarding – twice so far! The first time at Cairn Gorm with Gerrod and Kristy, the second time at Glenshee with my friend Cat’s husband and his mates. Cat was cosied up at home with little Aimee, bump and a hot chocolate. Snowboarding’s too dangerous when you’re up the duff, so she lent me her gear and off I went. And didn’t I find out how dangerous it is! Oh my tailbone. Two weeks later it still hurts when I walk and when I bend over. But it was so cool to be on the slopes doing something with Wes that he loves. He had a fantastic day up on Glas Maol in the afternoon cruising off piste from the black runs, he’s so talented!

And of course the surf is working as well, so Wes has been out in the water too (I’m far too chicken to get wet in this weather – water temp seven degrees).

We’ve also been out walking/geocaching. I’m completely addicted to geocaching now.

We were blessed at Christmastime with the company of Gerrod and Kristy. We had a lovely turkey, presents and vodka shots time with them on Christmas Day, before we headed west for our mountain adventure.

As you may have read, we had some car trouble, in fact Wes at first didn’t want to drive it at all! But we convinced him we could call the AA if he got really worried, and his worry was justified when the whole exhaust fell off! Lucky we are members of AA (we joined when we bought the mini), and they came to our rescue!

We managed to squeeze in a day of skiing, we’ve been blessed with the ‘best snow conditions for 15 years’ this year, so we were in luck! Unfortunately the visibility the day we went (27th Dec) was so poor, down to 10m at times. Ok for me though – I had my first snow sports experience ever. I had a snowboarding lesson, and I was only going 10-20m at a time anyway!

Even though it’s flippin freezing, it’s really beautiful in Aberdeen. Y’all should come visit! Happy days! Here’s to a rocking 2010 everyone.

We popped out this arvo to nab a couple more geocaches, and it was a gorgeous sunset.

Wes and I popped out to Kirkhill Forest today to select our tree. Last year, I chose a lovely bushy pine tree, so this year was Wes’ choice. Quite the drama, they are all so different, but in the end he decided on a cute little spruce called Bruce.