Jack Frost nipping at your ears

Today was interesting.  I got frostnip.  Apparently thats a stage prior to frostbite.  They keep telling everyone to watch everyone else outdoors for the signs, since it leads to frostbite.  Me and a couple coworkers were walking back from the shop down to the main building for dinner or what have you, and I realized I was still wearing my safety goggles.  I pulled them off and put them in my pockets, then touched my ears.  They felt like they still had something tucked behind them, like another pair of glasses or something.  I poked at my ears more and realized that they hurt, but also felt like they were made of plastic.  I asked my coworkers what color my ears were, and they said white.  Well, we were only right outside the main building, so I just went inside where it was warm, went to my room, pulled off my coat and then held my hands over my ears until they thawed a bit.  They were beet red for a while later, but are fine now.  I'll remember to wear a hat from now on, or at least when my ears start to hurt.  We used to walk to school in the snow and wind in Virginia, and they used to hurt like that, but I didn't think how my ears felt today was anywhere near as bad.  Anyways, frostnip you can easily recover from, you just need to get your body parts warm once they start turning white.  The ironic part is we just got done with a four hour lecture on outdoor survival and environment-related injuries.

Otherwise, things are going well.  I spent four hours today shoveling the 'Goat Path'.  Its a treacherous path up the side of a hill to the carpenter shop, a kind of shortcut carved into the snow.  Well, it used to have steps but over time they wore down from use and piled over with later snow, so they were a mess and I never felt safe on them until I started wearing StabilIcers everywhere.  Those are a rubber sole with metal cleats you strap to the bottom of a shoe, and they are awesome.  I used to walk slowly on the ice so I wouldn't hit a bad spot and slip, but after wearing the StabilIcers the first time, I subconsciously started walking MUCH faster without realizing it.  They're great, unless you accidently wear them into the main building.  The floor in there is like those garage floor kits you pour down, and the metal cleats make you slide across those like you were wearing ice skates.  Well, I had spent half the day repairing the path and making new steps where I could.  Everyone said that they liked it and that it was much better than what they had, which was probably borderline dangerous and nearly resembled an ice slide.

The seal research things we were assembling were mostly completed yesterday, which was good.  The seal researchers managed to grab a seal and bring it down.  Apparently they caught the sucker up north and were driving it down in something, so they were rushing to get the seal corral up and functional.  Kind of funny, I did not realize they would be catching seals elsewhere and bringing them in, I thought they were expected to pop up unknowingly into the dive shack where they get grabbed.

I was rather warm today.  I think the Cabela's thermal underwear I have might be a little too thick.  I'll switch back to the Under Armor thermals tomorrow.  I might need to wash them too.  I wore them for over a week and since we're urged not to shower every day things can get a bit pungent.  My Rei wool hiking socks are great, though.  I can wear just my insulated work books with them and not have cold toes unless my toes are pressing against the steel toe, like they do when I kneel in them.  All of my Outdoor Research gear I've had for the last several years has been working great, though.  The silly sherpa hat keeps the cold off my ears and the insulated cover for my water bottle has been keeping things from freezing.  The jacket is fine when you wear enough layers under, but on its own isn't enough to wear on its own on really cold/windy days.