How is this possible? Even colder.

Even for those of us who are Canadian prairie "lifers" like myself, what we are experiencing in the way of weather is a bit daunting. Every week of late I post some sort of carry-on about the cold, wind, snow, wind-chill, in the full (but evidently unrealistic) expectation that by my *next* post, things will have moderated and all will be relatively well. Sadly, so far this is not the case.

Mind you, today the temperature shot up to about minus 16, which if we didn't have a pretty brisk wind making it feel like minus 37 (the dreaded wind chill effect) would have been quite OK. Even with the wind chill, it seemed relatively balmy after yesterday. I awoke yesterday morning and clicked on CBC radio, as always, to get a bit of a heads up on what the world in general, and the local weather in particular, was up to--or, in the case of the weather, down to. Imagine my dread as I heard (almost incomprehensible to my sleep-dulled brain) that the actual temperature was minus 41, and that with the wind chill factored in it was equivalent to minus 59. Doesn't really encourage a person to get up out of bed. 

Luckily, I did get up and made a sortie upstairs to the studio to turn the temperature up (lowered at bedtime when I shut down at the end of the day) so it would be tolerable after breakfast when I would come up to poke at the computer a bit. Studio seemed a bit nippier than usual, and when I checked it, the room temperature was down to 9 degrees C (49 F) which is quite a bit lower than it should have been. About that time I also realized that I hadn't remembered to leave the hot water tap running a bit overnight as I try to remember to do when we have extreme cold and wind. The studio is up on top of the house and the wall with the water pipes is north facing. Frozen water pipes, with the potential of one rupturing inside the wall, are not something anyone wants. However, that's exactly what we had yesterday morning. 

I went down to share the news with Jim that the studio heating system didn't seem to be working right, plus we had frozen water pipes. For some reason passing this info on to him made me feel quite a bit better, since now it could be "his" problem. While he was upstairs trying to figure out what had gone wrong and how we could get out of this mess, I finished loading the dishwasher and started it up. It toiled away in its usual excessively loud and irritating fashion until the stage where it emptied itself of water, this time onto the kitchen floor rather than down the shared sink drain. Luckily I was in the kitchen when this began so I got it turned off pretty quickly and got a towel onto the immersed part of the floor. 

Lest you start to feel too sorry for me over all these little domestic dramas, let me hasten to reassure you that everything worked itself out over the course of the morning. New batteries in the remote temperature control unit for my gas fireplace (heat source for the studio) fixed the room temperature concerns. A heating fan that we use in early spring and late fall in our little outdoors greenhouse worked for the frozen pipes, and as best we can tell the pipes have not split or ruptured. The downstairs drain for the dishwasher had a plug which we were able to dislodge, so the dishwasher was able to complete its cycle with no further water added to the kitchen environment. Even the garage door opener worked today, unlike yesterday when the extreme cold meant we couldn't get the door open except by brute force. 

And yes, I have fully recovered from my nasty Christmas/New Year's illness. I rode both Saturday and Sunday, and that is the best benchmark for me that both the horse and I have recovered from our various complaints. 

Despite being somewhat down and out of late, and in the clutches of extreme Arctic high pressure systems, I have been getting out and nabbing shots here and there as I was able to. I have developed the habit of taking the camera to the barn with me most days, especially when I wasn't able to ride, since I would have a little more leisure for photo ops en route if any presented themselves. Today's shots are all of that sort--either on the way to or from the barn, or actually at the barn. 

The first shot is one I got last week as I was heading down the grid road for home. Just north of the outdoor riding rings I saw a little fox curled up in the sun amidst the stubble of last year's crop. He was rolled up in a ball and not moving, so I quickly stopped the car and grabbed for the camera. By the time I had backed up a bit and got the window rolled down, the fox had decided that fleeing might be a good option. Once he was up and running, I was horrified and appalled to see that the poor thing had lost its tail. Seeing a fox without that glorious bushy tail is really quite a shock. He appeared a bit lame as well, and all in all was a sad and sorry little fellow. It was about minus 35 that day and going to be a lot colder at night, and I felt very badly for him, but there was absolutely nothing I could do to make his life any better. I suspect the feet might have been a bit frozen, and I wonder if the lost tail had anything to do with that, as a nestling fox will use its tail curled around its body for added warmth, and I'm sure tucking your feet into a nice foxtail blanket would keep them warm, but that is sadly no longer an option for this fellow. 

Second shot is a happier wildlife one of a coyote that I encountered as I headed to the barn the next day via a different route. It was another snowy day and I had gone the long way to the stables, getting photos of my favorite herd in the snow along the way. I could see something trotting down the road ahead of me, either a dog or a coyote, and it turned out to be the latter. He seemed pretty unconcerned about the vehicle until I got fairly close, at which point he veered off across the ditch and into a field, where I was able to catch a few shots. He looks to be in good shape and has a very thick coat, so I think he's getting through this weather reasonably well. 

The final shots were all taken at Ebon stables yesterday afternoon. The stabled horses are turned out daily into paddocks of various sizes, but on the extremely cold days, as yesterday, they are brought in earlier than usual. I had just arrived for my ride when the horses were being brought in. I've always liked the way the cold air creates an instant fog effect as the west door is pulled open to allow entry.  The door has to be whipped open just as the horses are brought up to it, then shut again quickly as soon as they are in, to prevent losing too much of the warmth of the barn. These days their feet are often quite balled up with ice and snow which has to be hammered out before they can safely be led down the cement alleyway to their respective stalls. Even the simplest of tasks can be a big operation when we are in extreme weather conditions. Shot number three shows Elaine (owner and trainer) leading a couple of horses, with our friend Jane on door duty. Luckily there were quite a few helping hands there yesterday to get the job done--made me feel a little less guilty about lurking in the alleyway taking photos instead of helping bring in horses!!

Shots four and five were taken in the riding ring yesterday before I rode. The mirrored long wall (shot four) is the north wall which, being an outside wall, is exposed to the cold and tends to become like an ice palace in the winter. The south wall is much less frosted as it is not an outside wall, the stalls being on the south of the ring. There are overhead heaters in the riding ring that help keep it usable, but it's a good idea to keep moving when you are in there or you can get pretty chilly. I love the frost patterns on the mirrors, and most years I collect a bunch of shots of the lacey shapes as they form and evolve, as in shot number five.  

Rumor has it that there is a moose in the area of the stables, so that is my next wildlife photo quest. Moose have traditionally been more associated with the northern forests that start a couple of hours drive north of here rather than in the more open terrain of this area, but in the past decade they seem to be establishing themselves here as well, although they are still pretty uncommon. If I do get a chance to photograph the moose, I hope it will be from the safety of my car, and not when I'm out snowshoeing in the fields, as that could be an unfortunate situation, moose being very large, very fast and rather ill-natured.