Beavers Live Here!

The morning and evening sky has been puzzle-stoppingly beautiful over the past week.   I just can NOT capture the brilliant colors with my camera.   It's landscapes such as this that push a person to paint I'm sure!   I think I'll just stick to absorbing the brilliance with my eyes and keep knitting needles between my fingers instead of paint brushes.


I really wanted to get some snowshoeing in this week.   I checked the weather forecast to see which day boded best for my adventure.   Monday and Tuesday were slated to be bitterly cold at around -20°, but clear and calm.   Temperatures should warm up quite a bit later in the week, averaging a little above 0°, however there would be snow showers and the dreaded WIND.   I opted to go out Tuesday and suffer the cold for the clear calmness.   The weather reports seem pretty spot on so far this winter, and it held true for my outing...

I had this plan to snowshoe across the frozen Horseshoe Lake.   The trail was actually partially packed down by what appeared to be a sledge.   Seemed like some winter NPS employees did some work down on the lake, placing some poles along the frozen surface for readings perhaps.   I still snowshoed along the trail and out across the lake.   I decided to go across the most shallow part as I didn't want to disturb the pristine beauty on the main section (NOT because I was nervous or anything:)   

I trekked around the lake area for about an hour and a half.   I would have liked to stay longer, however the cold was starting to get to me.   My clothes for the most part are pretty awesome, and keep me nice and warm.   My two main areas of neglect are my face and feet.   I really need to knit myself some more hardcore face protection!   I also would have taken more pictures, but the cold got to my camera after a bit, and it seized up.    Brrrrrrrrrrrr.


One last comment on Horseshoe Lake.   I think because of the starkness of the winter scenery as compared to the summer foliage, all the defaced trees stood out very plainly.   

I have no idea why people think it's necessary to leave their "mark" on trees and such.   It kind of depressed me.   I took a picture of this tree because I, at first glance, thought someone had carved the word "vegan" onto the tree, which seemed very absurd to me.   On more careful inspection, I see that it actually says "vegas".  Still silly.   


Snowshoeing is pretty awesome!   I've been wanting to try it out since I first moved to Oregon.   I like that it's a rather tough activity, while also making an even tougher activity (walking in deep snow) easier.   Also, the tracks it leaves in the snow kind of look like beaver tails:)


In rather disquieting news, I awoke to a freezing chill about the cabin.   Normally it's so warm when I awake in my loft, I'm actually HOT.   Today, not so much.   I descended the ladder into a freezing-scape.   My heater was displaying an error message.   I did the old unplug/plug back in trick, and it started back up.   Whew.   I have no idea when it turned off, but it was COLD.

I think these new monitor heaters are pretty neat, but if I had it my way, I'd stick with good old wood heat.   Most landlords don't trust tenants with wood burning stoves (for good reason I guess), so it's hard to find a place that doesn't use oil heat.   Just gotta get started on my own cabin, right?:)


In more cabin news: I've noticed frost building up on the outside of the cabin in spots where I guess the insulation is letting heat out.   Just more research material for my future cabin!

Gotta make this cold work FOR me, not against me!   Welcome to my freezer...

Well, today the cold has relented a bit, AND it's actually colder in Anchorage (6°) than here in Healy (9°).   Wow!   The weather has been nothing if not totally inconsistent this winter to be sure...