This morning it's 13 degrees and we have another clear cold day coming our way. There is a lot of ice in the bay in front of the lodge. At low tide, there is a border of thick icy plates scattered over the rocks. Wind and current hold floating ice against our side of the bay, surrounding the dock and boat with sparkling crystals as the sun comes over the mountains to the south.
We've had several days of strong northerly winds that whipped up waves and spray inside our normally protected bay. These waves crashed onto the dock and froze.
Our domestic waterline finally froze, even though the lines are buried and insulated under several feet of snow. Once it gets cold enough for a long enough period of time, the lines freeze in spite of all the precautions we take. This means we need to knock a hole in the outflow from our hydro electric system--there is running water under all that ice--and we then carry it about 50 yards to the house.
Ice forms around the edges of the bay and is stranded as the tide drops.
We get lots of blue skies and cold temperatures during these high pressure systems. This was one of the rare calm days when the wind didn't blow into the bay. Juneau (about 100 miles north of us) had several days with wind over 70 mph and peak gusts of 95 mph!
One of our cold weather procedures is to run water through an "overflow valve" below the deck. The theory is that keeping water moving through the lines will prevent it from freezing. Even though we kept this valve open and ran water in all the faucets day and night, there came a time when the water just stopped--the quiet always gets our attention. Even though we had all the faucets full open, the water started to trickle and stopped completely within about five minutes.
Ice under the deck where the overflow valve sprays water around.
As the boat rocks back and forth in the waves, the fenders dip in and out of the water. It's been cold enough to actually freeze the salt water onto the bottom or the fenders.
High tech 5-gallon buckets are our replacement for the frozen water line. We use 40 to 50 gallons a day (320 to 400 pounds) and carry the water about 50 yards to the house. Most of this water goes to keeping the hot water heaters full, as the load controller from our hydro electric system absorbs excess energy by boiling that water away. Jen and I split one cup for bathing and brushing our teeth.
Ice forms around the edges of the bay and is stranded as the tide drops.
We get lots of blue skies and cold temperatures during these high pressure systems. This was one of the rare calm days when the wind didn't blow into the bay. Juneau (about 100 miles north of us) had several days with wind over 70 mph and peak gusts of 95 mph!
One of our cold weather procedures is to run water through an "overflow valve" below the deck. The theory is that keeping water moving through the lines will prevent it from freezing. Even though we kept this valve open and ran water in all the faucets day and night, there came a time when the water just stopped--the quiet always gets our attention. Even though we had all the faucets full open, the water started to trickle and stopped completely within about five minutes.
Ice under the deck where the overflow valve sprays water around.
As the boat rocks back and forth in the waves, the fenders dip in and out of the water. It's been cold enough to actually freeze the salt water onto the bottom or the fenders.
High tech 5-gallon buckets are our replacement for the frozen water line. We use 40 to 50 gallons a day (320 to 400 pounds) and carry the water about 50 yards to the house. Most of this water goes to keeping the hot water heaters full, as the load controller from our hydro electric system absorbs excess energy by boiling that water away. Jen and I split one cup for bathing and brushing our teeth. 
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