when you got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.

He delighted in echoes, and said they were almost the only kind of kindred voices that he heard. He loved Nature so well, was so happy in her solitude, that he became very jealous of cities and the sad work which their refinements and artifices made with man and his dwelling. The axe was always destroying his forest. "Thank God," he said, "they cannot cut down the clouds!" "All kinds of figures are drawn on the blue ground with this fibrous white paint." Emerson's eulogy of Thoreau.

Top photo: Hiking down Alum on Sunday. Above: Winter wonderland near Cliff Tops.

Morning,

It was a really nice day up top. The high was 29. The low was 12, but that was early yesterday morning. The weather got better from there on out. It was mostly sunny and with all the snow on the ground, it felt much warmer than the thermometer indicated. It was 29 and snowing a bit at observation. We received about a half inch of new snow and the total is still hovering around 8 inches. Be prepared!

As Joni Mitchell said, you don't know what you got 'til it's gone - and though I doubt she was talking about frostbite, it certainly applies to  toes. Bring gaiters & extra socks, just in case your footwear fails. Wet skin loses heat 30 times faster than dry skin and that could be the difference between a really good 'close call' story and hobbling on 6 toes the rest of your life.

My favorite neighbor came out of his/her den to play.