January 26^th, 2003:

Cold again! It got down to –34° last night, and the wind was stiffer today. I went for a walk last evening, and despite the bitter cold there were some snowmobiles running around. There always seems to be a dozen or so parked at the Cove.

The Naicam Cross Country Ski Club’s Greenwater Loppet was held yesterday. It was –30° with a north wind, and we wondered if any skiers would turn out. When we went over for coffee, the registration desk was set up in the Cove’s lobby. At that time, only about five skiers had gone out. All during coffee, though, participants straggled in, and then a tour bus brought a bunch. By the time we left, there were nearly fifty participants. The trails are pretty well sheltered, and skiers generate their own heat.

They did have one case of a skier who got too cold; in fact, they said he almost froze his feet. He stayed in one of the warm-up buildings until he thawed out, though, and was able to ski out.

I had coffee with Joe Ottenbreit. When he left, he said he was going to get the emergency gear ready. The Park has a snowmobile-drawn sled that functions as an ambulance, and when the Loppet is on they station it at the trailhead. There are a number of cell phones and portable radios scattered among the skiers, so if a skier has trouble, the first skier along with a radio or phone calls for the emergency sled. The sled can be closed in; I didn’t ask, but suspect it is equipped with a stretcher or backboard. The most likely emergencies would be broken bones or broken skis.

It has been very cold all week; early Thursday morning the temperature dipped to –38°, but there has been little wind so walking is no problem. With a warm house, warm car, and warm outdoor clothing, the cold doesn’t bother us at all. This is how it is supposed to be in January, and it’s nice to see proper seasonal weather! We are ready for more snow anytime, though.

We had a couple of dogs visiting over the holidays, and, of course, they left their yellow marks on the snowbanks. Now all the dogs in the neighborhood have to come around and check them out, and leave their own marks. I have tried digging them out and chucking them back in the bush, or covering them with snow, but that doesn’t help. Last week I filled a spray bottle with bleach and sprayed the yellow spots, hoping it would bleach out the yellow and offend the dogs’ noses.  It didn’t do much for the yellow color, and there seem to be fresh yellow marks every morning so we assume it didn’t work.

Ardie has been baking again! I walked past the dessert cabinet at the Cove, and put on two pounds just ogling the banana cream pie!

Bernardin underestimated the wrath of the western home canners! Last year, Bernardin refused to fill orders for the 78mm jar lids, saying they were out of production and would no longer be available. Their motive, we suspect, was to force home canners to buy new jars. That started a real uproar, with petitions flying around, letters to editors, media interviews and so on.