Chilly Backyard Campout

It may seem silly to sleep outside when you're paying (a lot) to heat a nice warm house...where your wife and dog are sleeping in bed. But here in the foothills we honestly don't get that many nights where temperatures dip below zero, much less into the negative double digits. Heck that's probably happened less than 5 times since I've lived here. So while "real" camping it is not, sleeping in the yard at least is helping my body continue to develop it's cold adaptations without wasting gas driving to the mountains. Plus hopefully I'll be a little smoother with the whole system by the time my Fatback is ready. Not to mention it was a good excuse to sleep in my new pyramid tarp!
Temps were just at zero when I went out after 9pm and they dropped to a low of -11.7F by dawn. I spent much of the night not quite zipped up all the way in my -25 bag and skimpy sleeping pad but by morning I zipped'er to the hilt and snuggled down in way too many dollars worth of awesome down warmth.
Time to get up and start the day! I didn't sleep in the DAS parka but it was nice pillow. Marni stole it to wear to work this morning :) Temps are going to start warming up slowly now and I'm not sure we'll see negatives again down here in Westminster for a while but if we do I'll be sleeping outside. Got to get ready for Minnesota and Alaska!

And in unrelated news, I'll be darned if my ankle isn't slowly, slightly getting less swollen!