Photos from a day of Brrrrrr...

Climate change is pretty undeniable in Fairbanks. Decades ago, periods of -40 to -50 degrees would linger for weeks. When I first arrived in Fairbanks even just 12 years ago, -40 would last for 4-5 days. Now, there are winters where it never gets to -40 at all, and when it does, it's only for a few days. Today was the coldest day so far of this year, and it wasn't that cold by that standard:


It's not difficult to stay warm with light, puffy layers of down. Although these boots! So disappointing! The rubber got hard in the cold! I suppose there are reasons that Sorels and LLBean boots are still the gold standard. A high percentage of natural rubber keeps them pliant even to -40 and -50!


Cricket selfie in front of the fire!


Aaaahhh but then she flipped over for a belly rub!


This is them this morning before our run. I thought, "Ohhhh I'm gonna have a hard time convincing them to go." But nope. As soon as I put on my coat, they were at the door making Noises. ("Rooooooooos" and husky yelps)


I thought it would be a poop n dash kind of day, but they were REALLY enthusiastic! So we ran our short loop of 2 miles. When we got home, I was all frosty!


Time to bust out my turd coat!


We heat predominantly with wood, but we have an oil stove that has a programmable thermostat so that the cabin doesn't freeze up when we don't have a fire (which is after we go to bed, or while we are at work). Because I like to sleep cold, and the huskies don't care if the cabin is cold when we humans aren't home, I leave the thermostat at 52F/11C. Just enough to keep the cabin unfrozen. The thermocouple for the oil stove is on a rather short wire, so the stove tends to undershoot, blowing warm air on itself and concluding that the whole cabin is warm, then shutting itself off. So the opposite side of the cabin can be quite a bit colder than the side with the oil stove. When Autumn and Linden were still alive, we'd have stretches of -40 temps when I'd come home and find a sheet of ice on top of their water bowl! (Although there'd be a paw-sized hole punched into the middle, such clever girls they were!)

So the cabin is pretty cold when I get home. It's nice and comforting to light a big fire and hover near it. Red wine is nowhere near a decent drinking temperature, so I warm it up. Starbuck-a-Roo sez, "I'll sit nicely for a photo if you hold my paw."

I love her paws!