Call This a Cold Snap??

A friend of mine sent me this from North Pole, Alaska this evening. It was the 10 am reading. Celsius or Fahrenheit, who cares? Hope it warms up for them soon. It makes our -30 seem like a heat wave.

Firewood for the Day at -40

If you wonder how we can possibly stay warm when it is -40 and colder here is the answer! With our two wood stoves and an ample supply of wood. This wheelbarrow load is the daily dose at this temperature. Although we both go outside and do things everyday no matter how cold, it still is a drag when it stays cold for a long time. Pottery is also cancelled at school because I hate to put my vehicle through the stresses at this temp. Aside from being on an almost deserted road in the dark! Hopefully next week will warm up and life will get back to 'normal'.

Canning Moose Meat

Time for some domestic activity! The day before we left on our trip to Alberta one of my friends brought us a front quarter of a moose. I only had time to cut it in pieces and freeze it. Today seemed to be a good one to can up the tougher parts. Amazing what 75 minutes at 10 pounds preasure can do to tenderize the toughest cut! Having these jars of meat are really handy for those times I am too busy making stuff to cook. This is real bush food. Potatoes from the root cellar, vegies from the freezer and a jar of home canned moose meat! Talk about eating local......hard to beat. Latest on the weather front-it went from -4 this morning to -25!

Hat Factory

Looks like chaos, but it isn't really.....Right in the midst of filling an order for 60 dog fur hats. They are all in natural colours which makes it a bit of a bore for me. Almost 40 are in this big pile. This is how I keep myself occupied when it is too cold to make pottery. Of course this winter happens to be one that I could have keep my studio open and warm! Very warm weather for us so far. It is supposed to change next week though. Last week was -51 in Tanana, Alaska. That cold was supposed to come down here but we lucked out. Another Pacific storm was big enough to displace the cold. While waiting for Spring I'll just keep slogging away on these hats.

Texas Hats!

This photo was sent by one of my loyal customers in Texas, USA! These are some of the dog combing hats that I make. Thanks you Harriet, for the business and for the photo. I hope they get enough cold weather and snow to enjoy their hats.