Thirty Below ....

Our temperature has been hovering between -25F to -35F with the forecast saying it's suppose to be even colder this weekend.  We have 25 dogs and 20 of them live outside in this stuff!  I know, that sounds harsh, but you have to realize that these dogs are made for living in this.  They actually do really well out there.  It surprises me every night when we go out to clean and they run around like it's warm!!  They stand there looking at me, panting because the have been running around playing chase with the others that are out in the open run area!  They are all frosty and look like they need to be shaken to get the frost off!  They all have individual dog houses with warm bedding straw in them. We have taken time to bring the outside dogs into the house to warm up and they get too hot (because of the double coat that is made for the cold weather, not for 70 degrees) before they are dry.  And, you don't want to put a wet dog outside again at -30F!  So, really, since we do not have a heated barn for them to live in daily, they are better off being full time outside dog, even in these temps!

Now, the 5 "inside" dogs are not as hardy and do not really care to be outside in these temps!  The old dogs enjoy the warmth of the house to keep their bones warm!  The pups, well, they aren't really puppies any more at 3 years old, but they are the youngest in the kennel, so they are the pups, the love being in the house and now that they even stay inside over night, they are happy little campers!

So, now, are you wondering how the humans say warm in these temps!  We dress with lots of layers and lots of warm clothes!  Here is my typical layering for these temps: top - cotton shirt, fleece shirt and vest. Bottom - long undies (usually a fleece type), sweatpants (you guessed it, a fleece type) and wool socks.  Over top of all that, I wear a pair of insulated Carhartt pants and a big parka with a hood (with a fur ruff).  I put a neck warmer over my mushers hat and a headlamp on that.  On my feet, I wear either the Baffin boots (which are "rated to 80 below" but are really only good down to about "20 below") or my Ice King boots (these are some of the warmest boots I have ever owned).  I have weighed myself before getting dress and again after to discover that I wear about 20 pounds of gear when going out to the pens or out dog mushing!!

As a matter of fact, I am about to go get all that gear on and get out to the pens.  I am going to add straw to the dog houses.  That is always a fun event in the dog yard.  The dogs love the new straw and some even begin rearranging it before i have all of it in the house!!  They are so fun!

Happy Trails.