And after the storms...

I found this photo floating around Facebook. So this is the result of our two snow storms (fairly normal) with the ice storm in between (not so normal):

Photo credit: Unknown

That was hard to deal with! For those of us that plowed/shoveled after the first storm, the ice covered the driveway! For those of us that did not, digging out after the third storm involved breaking through that layer of ice! Moose are really struggling, too. Their browse is under that ice, and every step they take requires a lot of extra effort, during a time of year when they are already running lean. They are also traveling along human corridors, since we have plowed/graded them. I'm afraid this will be a low survival year for them. :(

Here is a photo of Miss Thistle eating a bok choy stem:

And here is a photo of Miss Cricket eating a bok choy stem:

The side roads in our neighborhood had not gotten plowed after storm #1, so they were covered with thick snow. All of the grading/plowing companies in Fairbanks were severely backlogged, and our area is prioritized below higher population density areas in town. So nobody could go anywhere for a while. We had stocked up on groceries in between storms #2 and 3. The girls and I decided to skijor our morning run loop on the roads. How funny! Looking at this photo now, it does not look like a road! It looks just like it was taken on the trail system!

Looking up the road in the opposite direction:

Took off my mitten and stuck it on a pole for a selfie!

Some giant rig had gone down here! Look at the giant tire treads! I wonder what it was.

The snow was really deep in some places. At this point, all of the risk-averse people are staying home, and the bold people are attempting to drive, with varying degrees of success.

And we're back! That's our cabin on the left.

Looking behind to the main road we'd just crossed:

The winter light is very pretty!

The next day, I decided to snowshoe down and break our spur to the main trail system. I could barely see the trail:

Even my snowshoes sank!

I made two passes, so the trail was 4x snowshoe width wide. That way when we skijor, the girls can run side by side.

My first pass:

Before:

After:

However, when I got out to the main trail, it was still unbroken, alas. We'll have to wait until some snowmachines go first and break a trail. I think the dogs would be willing to do it, but it would be hard on their wrists and ankles with that ice.

Look at the back yard! That lump is the guest dog house. It doesn't look very inviting, does it?

Sweet Miss Thistle gets a bell pepper:

Do you think Princess Cricket is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.

APPLE!!