Ice impressions

I am sitting at home and looking out at a world of ice. It is ice not quite thick enough for ice crampons and I like to walk so I am feeling stuck. My mind is wandering to a weekend of ice in Vermont when there was no staying inside. I had signed up for an overnight dog sledding trip back in December when the snow was fluffy but by late January, it was icy snow and very cold. The trip started at a kennel. I believe we overnighted in Cambridge, New Hampshire. At any rate, the sleds were slippery and the poor dogs were slipping and sliding too. At the end of the day, we arrived at a clearing in the woods with four canvas tents and a wood pile. 

We disengaged the dogs and then two of us went to get water from the lake.  Thick ice covered the water hole.  We both jumped on the tall ice pick over and over again and did make quite a dent but didn’t reach water.  It was getting dark and starting to snow.  Others came looking for us and with their help, we finally reached water.  We got the dogs their food and water and then sat down to a feast of greasy food, the kind that tastes great when you are in extreme cold. I bunked down on a floor covered with a few layers of fir branches, and it was quite comfortable in my sleep sheet and two sleeping bags. The wood stove helped a lot.

In the morning, there was another 8 inches of snow on the ground which made moving around much easier though the ice was still underneath.  Before leaving the tents, we patched some of the flooring with more boughs. We fed the dogs, chopped some wood and it was time to depart. Traveling on the icy lake was still treacherous for the dogs.  I bet they were wishing they had stayed home. I had a memorable time all in all.  But I left thinking that Minnesota was the better place to go dogsledding.  I warned you I was in a bad mood while writing this. And I never learn because after relaying all that, I’m thinking I’ve had enough staying home and should go outside for a long walk on the icy sidewalks.

TATTOO—Journeys on My Mind by Tina Marie L. Lamb…GET the audio book (7 hours, 13 minutes) at Barnes and Noble or Google Play or Chirpbooks or Kobo or AudiobooksNow or Downpour or The Podcast App or Scribd or Overdrive. On iTunes, click on audiobooks and search by author.  GET the paperback (232 pages) or e-book at Barnes and Noble, at Apple Books or at Amazon.  The ebook is also at Smashwords.

Characters of Huffinfield by Tina Marie L. Lamb is now available as an ebook or a paperback at Barnes and Noble and at Amazon.  The ebook is also available at Kobo and at Smashwords.

Buy it. Read it. Let me know what you think.