February Freeze

Much of the country spent the last coupe of weeks working through a cold snap. Montana has been no exception. Last weeks’ wekdays hovered in the mid single digits above and below zero. We also received about a foot of snow in the valley. So trails have been off limits. The Lab has a very hard time when the snow gets pushed up between his footpads and the temp is below zero. So, we have been doing a lo of park walking. Once the temp approaches 10 above (-12c), the snow doesn’t seem to bother him as much.

This week looks to be a bit worse. overnight lows may dip to -15f (-26c) until Friday. Looks like there will be a bit more park walking in our future.

Some folks were reporting seeing a short-eared owl in the valley, so we went out looking. I suspect we went way to early in the day. It was -10f (-23c) while we were out there. We saw a decent variety of birds, but this Sharp-tailed grouse captures the feeling the best. Hunker, puff up to conserve body heat, and sit with your body at a nice angle to sun for a little bit of warmth.