Freezer

Cold, clear (high 20s)

Brr! When I drove in this morning, my car said camp was a whopping 22 degrees. Throughout the day I felt it, the inadvertent shiver, the full-body cold at the end of the day. But it was beautiful, too, so beautiful I couldn’t even stay inside for lunch. I spent my lunch hour gallivanting around the riverbank, testing the ice on the beach and even scampering down to the ferny glen to see if there were icicles. This was tough, because there are a few spots on the way to the ferny glen where little creeks trickle into the river, and these were totally iced over. I picked carefully across these, and then found the wall completely covered in beautiful icicles, which were just beginning to melt with the afternoon sun. It was like being in a stunning palace that’s falling down; I’d be admiring a cluster of icicles based on a maidenhair fern, and then one would crash down behind me. It was pretty fun.

I spent most of the day working on my arch. The branches I had intended to have cross didn’t work out, so I spent a lot of the day just plain frustrated. When I bent them, they were bendy in all the wrong places, and when I stood back, it looked ridiculously bad. So I lopped them off, and started over. I eventually ended up gathering cedar branches, which are bendy enough, and next time I work on it hopefully I’ll finish the top. This is the way these things go, though. I’m sure the branches being frozen didn’t help them bend, either.

My space heaters are on, and I’m in my sleeping bag with a fire going, and I’m hoping the water in my cabin won’t freeze. I guess Ranch is frozen, and I hope I’m not next.