A cure for ants in the pants

Sometimes I get "ants-in-my-pants" and after having my seat planted in front of the computer photoshopping for too long yesterday... I got a little stir crazy in the rump and the head. I grabbed Tim, Annie (our dog), some beat-up towels, and the car keys and headed for our favorite hidden forest hot springs. It was the relaxing magic we needed. Tim read “The Name of the Wind” to me as a warm wind dropped pine needles into the pool. We sank in and let the little warm waterfall and the slick, soft moss against our skin pull us into a blissful trance while Annie stood guard for squirrels.

We hiked back to the car and decided to drive further up the mountain and explore a bit, happily plowing through piles of snow until we met one that was too deep ...we really should have seen that coming. We were high-centered. The weather had been toasty so Tim had taken the tire chains and snow shovel out of the car last week. We had a camping shovel the size of a spatula and a windshield brush to clear all the snow out from under the car. Nearly two hours later, and surprisingly invigorated, we plowed ourselves out. Today the ants are gone and the snow chains are back in the car.