Winter Photos

When I took the dogs outside this morning for their first constitutional, we were all disconcerted by the noises the forest was making. Normally winter in the forest is a very quiet experience, but at -2 degrees, I can report that the forest complains a bit. As I waited impatiently for the crew to get on with their business, we heard the trees make creaking and cracking noises. One crack was so loud that the dogs started barking in alarm. We all decided it was time to go back inside.

The weather for the past few weeks has been appropriately wintry. But the past several days gave us a precipitation pattern that every North Idahoan dreads. It starts with a nice snowfall (about 5 inches in this case), immediately followed by rain. If the soggy snow doesn't get removed, it forms slushy ruts and what I call mashed-potato snow, neither of which are any fun to drive or walk through. If it does get removed, the packed snow layer underneath turns into a soft ice. The coup de grace is when the storm is pushed off by an arctic air mass that gives sunny days, but drops the temperatures into single digits or lower. The roadbed turns into a shiny luge track. If it weren't for those snow berms that you can't push back any farther, your car probably wouldn't be able to stay on the road.

Our private road has become particularly nasty. Yesterday, the UPS man called us on his way up to our house and begged us to meet him at the bus turnaround where the county road ends. He had chains on his truck, but said it still takes an 11-hour day to complete his normal route when conditions are like this.

So, this week's pictures are for all those people who've asked me questions like "what is your road like in winter?" and "does it ever get below zero up there?" My usual answer to the first one is "unpleasant," and my answer to the second is "oh, yes." Here's the proof.

This morning, our back deck thermometer showed a temperature that I'm sure my relatives in Arizona will shudder to see. It reads about -6, although our front deck digital thermometer said it was only -2.4. Yes, we have a lot of thermometers around the house. When your life often revolves around the weather, you sometimes overcompensate.

Photo courtesy James Byrd

Photo courtesy James Byrd

I know the road looks wet here, but it isn't. That's ice you see on this corner. When conditions are like this, it is not unusual to find a neighbor stuck in the snow berm on the far side of the curve. Getting them out of the berm without joining them can be tricky.

River of ice: I have some nice winter hiking boots with great traction, but I still slid most of the way down the road to get these images. Where our road crosses a meadow, the puddles and slush from two days ago are now a smooth river of ice with a few ice sculptures sticking up for you to stub your toe on. We have fairly new studded tires on our vehicles, but still find ourselves going a bit sideways down parts of the road.

Photo courtesy James Byrd

Photo courtesy James Byrd

The ponds have frozen over, and in some cases, even moving water gets a layer of ice across the surface. This stream was adorned by ice along its banks and interesting little frost "stars" on top of the ice. The stars, which are most easily seen in the lower left of this picture, looked like delicate little pressed Christmas cookies.

The best $10 we ever spent: I have a pretty good sense of balance and I'm not bothered much by the idea of sliding down the road in my boots. In fact, sometimes I do it on purpose, much to the annoyance of my spouse. At 45 years old, I should probably have more sense. Susie prefers to err on the side of caution. She puts chains on her boots like the ones you see here at the first sign of ice. Every other year or so, her Christmas list includes a new set of chains from the local army surplus store to replace ones that she's worn out.

Photo courtesy James Byrd

We have neighbors who live up here only in the summer, spending the winter in a warmer climate. I guess you'd call them snow birds, but I'm starting to think they might just be smart birds.