Back in the Freezer

We dropped back into the freezer for a couple of days here.  This morning, it was once again thirty-five degrees below zero.  Fortunately, the wind was down so there was no wind chill to deal with.  I noticed one day recently that the Fairbanks weather report doesn't even include wind chill readings or predictions.  They must be tougher than we are. 

While I was starting the fire in the bread oven at seven, Greg was in the kitchen making coffee.  I heard him open the back door, and when I looked over, he was tossing a cup of boiling water into the air.  It's so fun to watch it evaporate, and then it sort of turns to ice pellets that hit the snow.  I asked him to repeat it, so that I could make a video of it.  It really does remind me of fireworks...of a different sort.

The cold didn't stop us from baking some ciabatta, which we enjoyed with some turkey and white bean chili in the tent.  I found that it is a little harder to get the tent warm when the temperature doesn't get above zero, but we managed.  It also hasn't been too cold for some of our guests to take a sauna and jump into the lake.  We have a decent hole cut into the ice, with a depth of about four feet.  I'm told that one can dunk easily under, should that be the desire.  I admit that I have no desire to do this!  It's much easier for me to cool off just by sitting out on the porch.

The wolves were howling this morning.  We haven't heard them in a while, so we were both happy that they were singing.  I guess it's time to start keeping the windows open a crack, cold or not.  The howls of the wolf are sweet music to wake up to.