monday walk at 15 below zero...

 these little toes stayed home....we had several meet us for coffee at kaladi's and skip the walk.  the little ones are probably better off in a toasty house as opposed to a freezing cold trail.  was great having a fun post walk gathering and getting our fix of healthy wee ones!!

 karen was the best dressed for the day...complete with santa hat.  never occured to me...great idea!  i think karen had a few extra layers on. her new skhoop is also one of the down ones so i bet that was nice and toasty too.  if the weather keeps like this i may have to upgrade.

 karen, tanya and lena joined me in the bitter cold.  it was at least 15 below zero.  luckily for us in anchorage the temperature is usually the temperature.  we don't have a lot of wind chill issues here.

 we all came with loaded packs for our bird and squirrel friendly tree decorating efforts.  i was impressed with our little haul.  hopefully, the critters enjoy our little snacks.  we'll clean up any mess at a later date.

 of course, we did soon realize that we should have brought a treat for the dogs as they were trying to get stuff as we were putting it on the tree.  indie got his chompers on a bird seed bell and wasn't about to let it go.  these dogs would never have any interest in any of this stuff except for today as we stopped on the trail and took off our packs....the dogs became totally overcome with excitement. silly beasts...live and learn.

 after our tree decorating we took the cut off out to the big field.  at these low temps probably best not to push our luck and take a shorter route.  if that makes us wimps...well so be it.

 not a lot of traffic out there on the trails today. a few bikers and there were some cars in the lot when we got back.

 i didn't sleep well last night.  not sure what was up with that.  hopefully tonight i crash out.  i rarely have any trouble sleeping.  playing with the new ipad.  so fun.  saw a commercial that said i could add it on to my existing at&t account at just $10/month so i may stop by there and then hit the mall for a film cover i think.

 did get the guitar out the other night and play some carols around the tree.  always a favorite thing to do.  i do need to locate a few of my music books that i have somehow misplaced.  probably with all the remodel in these spare rooms last year.

 managed to get back out tonight to get a few things at petsmart and lowes.  seems like everytime it gets super cold like this my heater gets buggery and i have to change the filter.  so i hit lowes for some replacement filters and those nice smelly things you put on the filter. love those.  my place smells like gardenia's now.  as soon as i change the filter the heat kicks in again.  managed a trek to the post as well.  the actual post office looked packed so i just headed to the aces store...they also do postal stuff in the back. they are actually super friendly, helpful and keen on being fast and efficient.  can't say as that always happens in the actual post office.  they are ace's employee's though...if that makes a difference.  (i think it does in this case).  i'd guess in 10-15 minutes i was out of there.  yippee!!  the lady in front of me had like 8 huge boxes. i figured it would take forever, but i beat her out.  she didn't cover her boxes and one was an old alcohol box...who knew that these aren't accepted.  i was taught by my mama to wrap all boxes in old paper grocery bags.  my other boxes should be the postal boxes so i think i'll try to pay online and just drop them off.  easy breezy i hope.

 still more to do and there is the local stuff i'm totally behind on.  ain't nothing abnormal about that.  i'm not a stickler for things arriving before christmas. i mean i try to some extent but in the big picture does it really matter.  i'd rather put some thought into the gifts and get it right than be totally on time.

 we followed this lone skiers tracks across the open field.

 me with frost.  of course, i smartly wiped the frost that collects on the peach fuzz on my face. very attractive!!

 then off to warm up with some hot cocoa with tasty whipped cream.  nummy!!

 tiffany (or tiffinanny as we decided she'd be to ms lucy) came with amy and lucy.  she just keeps getting cuter. so funny how their little personalities start to develop. sandra joined in for some cute baby time as well.

 speedy ( the other amy) brought her adorable girl sydney as well.  too cold for her to be out walking as well.

 speedy, sandra and tanya enjoy in the laughs, coo's and treats.

 love the younger members of the monday walk group.

 apparently, we all do...sandra takes a turn with the little lucy.

 lastly, a picture of me with tanya and lena on the trail.  was going to put the one in by the tree.  oops.  this last picture is by karen rode.  thanks for taking photos out there today.  it was cold.  my hands get cold fast.

perhaps i'll try to add the other tree decorated picture in on another day.  so another successful and fun monday walk.  thanks everyone for braving the cold for the walk and for kaladi's after.  it's not easy to get motivated to get outside at all on cold days like today.