Another morning

Ptarmigan

This morning it was 4F on the thermometer (-15C). Cold and clear. Everything is white or black or brown or various shades in between.

The group of ptarmigan that is hanging around Toolik and making their noises just flew to the shrubbery a bit further away as I walked out of my weatherport tent to take a picture.
A closeup on one part of the picture above, showing the birds in flight:
Here is closeup of one bird from Monday. They are definitely changing their plumage to match the landscape. The red above the eye only shows up from some angles. I love their feather boots. Now if they just didn't make so much noise, I would never know they are here.

View this morning from Toolik

How the weather is depends which direction you're looking. One way clear and beautiful. The other way a wall of thick fog. Everything is frosted from the 14F nighttime temperatures.

Almost 100k

Crazy. We've put almost 100,000 miles on the car since March 2002. And
I thought we don't drive that much.

Nome Creek camping

Cold licks

Sharing ice cream at Hot Licks

Glimpses

Fleeting glimpses into the lesson happening in the classroom