Thick wool socks, is what. That was the winter of 2008, the coldest and most isolated winter I spent at the Gulch, and it’s odd to recall that it was actually my third winter here because I was so hilariously unprepared for it. But 2008 was a bad year all around and I wasn’t thinking about preps.
I thought about that while accompanying Little Bear on his (early, of course) morning walky on the coldest morning we’ve enjoyed in maybe a month. I must have slept with my foot outside the blankets because at 5:30 I was awakened by the pain in all five remaining toes, wool sock be damned.
I still have most of those socks, BTW. They last long when you only wear one at a time. Been using them, too, the past few days. By the time we came home the fire had the cabin up to a by-comparison painfully warm 50o and it has climbed another eight degrees in the time it took to brew a second cup and boot up the ‘pooter.
It’s actually supposed to be more pleasant today than yesterday, warmer and with slightly less wind. But cloudless nights at high altitude can be quite nippy – I guess that’s why we get such dramatic temperature swings. And day or night there’s nothing more lovely than a cloudless sky in the high desert – even if it’s too damned cold to go outside and enjoy it. 🙂
