Icy, Wintery, World up North!

I often try to describe our winter world up here and the old aged that a picture is worth a thousand words is true.  Over this weekend we had freezing rain, snow, winds just a good old nice fall storm/weather.  I have seen far worse here over my tenure. Saturday night we were getting hit with freezing rains and in the morning everything was coated in ice!  I mean everything facing east had a wonderful new ice jacket.

Glazed over windows from the freezing rain which made me feel like we were inside a submarine over the weekend.

Sunday morning dog duty call was interesting. The dogs do a great job of running on their tippy toes with short strides across the ice. They seem to skim across the top of the ice skating rink we have outside. Meanwhile, I walk around in cleats.  We have 2 styles of ice cleats that we use most of the winter.  When it is 10ºF and colder the snow/icy are pretty grippy.  When it warms up the walking can be quite slick.  I wear cleats most of the time to stay upright!

 
 The cleats on my shoes are from L.L. Bean.  I have had several pairs of these over the last decade they last a long time.  Even it a part breaks I was able to keep using them.  They are more reinforced now and hold up well.

 

This 2nd pair of cleats on my husbands L.L. Bean Boots we bought off of Amazon.  I use these some and like them as they don't lift you up higher.  The drawback to this is if you have to walk on rough jagged rocks and ice often the cable that is holding all of the pieces for traction breaks.

Freezing rain is to be taken seriously though.  Once the sun hits all of this ice it should be a world of encapsulated crystal objects.  No planes arrived on Sunday and only one or two were able to land on Saturday.

We got out for a nice ski on Sunday afternoon.  We were on either crusty break through snow or nice soft powder depending on how the snow drifted.  We each take a thermos full of hot tea out with us when we go for a ski tour.  In our packs, we have extra clothing, a first aid kit, extra dog booties, dog leash, hot tea, snacks, dog snacks, and a foam pad to sit on or to use for a brace if ever needed.

I am subbing today as the volleyball team is on weather hold in Stebbins.  They are hoping to fly in today (Monday).  Other staff members are stuck in Anchorage.  The school is missing students and teachers.  Late yesterday some of our players made it home to the village and other teams are still in Stebbins.  The weather for us is nice but the ice is the issue on the runways.

I am hoping that mail will arrive today and the PO will be open as we have a lot of ski gear coming in for the ski program.  Plus we have food on order which would be nice to get home and unpack.

Sadie takes rural Alaska life in stride!