Pam Bustin
creator, editor, story tender
Winter Walk
So… the world spins on.
It’s been cold round these parts this week. Down to -39C one morning when I got up. On the 22nd, we passed the magic number -40C. That’s cold enough to freeze…. pretty much anything.
Curious things happen at forty below zero. For one thing… Mercury freezes. They use alcohol thermometers to read temps BELOW -40. Though mercury is more precise, alcohol doesn’t freeze until minus 200 fahrenheit. Who knew?
Minus 40 will also freeze skin, of course. And I’m pretty sure that I’ve felt it freeze my eyeballs. 
OK… not truly freeze them, but it goes beyond the lil frost on the eyelashes. It feels like the liquid in your eyes is … crystallizing. ESPECIALLY if there is a wind.
Why on earth would I be out in -40 weather?
Well, here, I was out to get the wood in. I did quick trips out to the woodshed on those super cold days. I have a little sled I use to pull the wood to the house. It’s adorable.
I also remember some -40 days from back in the way-back. I think I went out in them just to play. Probably not for very freakin’ long though. Probably where I got that spot on my cheek that always freezes. Once frost bit….always frost bit.
The super DUPER cold only lasted for a few days. On Thursday, the sun was shining and it was a balmy -28 when I decided to strap on the snow shoes and head out on the river. I walked out around the island in front of our camp. It’s about a 1/2 hour trek.
I’m posting because I snapped a pic for KIM.
And a few others for myself.
It gets so silent when it is this cold. All I could hear was my own breath.
And it felt so good to be out on the river…
moving through the white.
Here’s to more snow shoeing adventures.
Get on out there, my people.
It’s a beautiful world.
go easy -p
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Pam Bustin 