Other than when I was riding my heavy town bike uphill or wrestling with the garden tiller there haven't been many times in the past year when I've really felt as though I was pushing myself physically to the point where I couldn't go any further—until yesterday. The sunny weather had compressed the deep snow and the snowshoeing was an absolute slog. Even though I skipped one climb it took me two hours to do a hike that would usually take less than 75 minutes.

While the hike yesterday was something of a surprise I knew the level of exertion would mean swollen muscles and a weight gain today and I guessed it before I saw it: 141.4, up from 140.6 yesterday. It continues to amaze me how intuitive I've become about the daily fluctuations in my weight.

Meanwhile I'm still on a cheese kick so when I got an e-mail from Bobolink Dairy yesterday about a new batch of their Foret-washed cheddar I placed an order. Now we can indulge in the last of the previous order.