Dear Ferret Folks-
 
Just when I thought things were going to settle down around here, my
husband and I had an opportunity to go skiing in Utah for a week.  Did we
take it?  You bet.  My sister-in-law Jenn is an excellent ferret-sitter,
no worries there.
 
Evidently Switch the Kit and Hurricane Lily were displeased with this
plan, and let us know it in their own, very special way.
 
Picture this.  My husband Dann is getting ready to hit the slopes in
Snowbird, Utah.  The day is glorious.  Blue skies, white snow, acres and
acres of good powder just waiting for him.  Unlike me, Dann is a double
black diamond skiier.  For you non ski people, that pretty much means he
throws himself off of cliffs with skiis on his feet, and lives to brag
about it.  It's sort of like bungee jumping without the bungee cord to
anchor you to the mountain.
 
Me, I ski at a sedate pace on the more or less flat 'bunny hills.'  They
resemble those motorized walkways you find in airports, only with snow
on them.  To each his own.
 
Anyway, there he was, suiting up.  Racing shell, snow pants, goggles,
helmet, and boots.  His boots are amazing.  He spent about what I earn
in a week on these boots.  They are icy blue and shiny, they have many
silver buckles and bells and whistles and thingamajiggies on them.  I
think that they say 'Dolomite' on them, which is a type of limestone.
People who try to walk with ski boots on really do look as if they are
wearing cement overshoes, so the name works.
 
First boot...jam the foot in, wiggle it around...snap down buckles and
thighten the little tighteners...and it's on.  Cool.  Now, second boot.
Jam the foot in...wiggle it around...and he gets this sudden look of rage
on his face.  He says a terribly, terribly bad word!  One that is even
worse if you use it in Utah!
 
Guess what little monsters helped themselves to his hi-tech, helps you
go a million miles an hour down the hill, space-age material, customized
(not available in stores) ski boot INSOLE?  The one without which you
cannot SKI?
 
I think we all know the answer, now don't we?
 
Switch the Kit: "How's that go again, Lily?"
Hurricane Lily: "Hee-HEE!"
[Posted in FML issue 4061]