Winter Fun Photos-- Call For Entry!

With frigid winter temperatures happening in much of the US lately, it feels like winter time. This morning on my drive to work, my car said it was -18! Yikes. The first blast of winter always feels the coldest, and in this case, it's pretty dang cold up here in northern Montana! In this post, I'm going to ask all of us to look to the fun side of cold weather with some reader participation. Keep reading to find out more!

I've been a little bummed about it being so cold because, for one thing, it makes completing my November Fitness Challenges a little more mentally tough. I don't mind running outside in winter conditions, and in fact, I actually enjoy it quite a bit, but I'm a little bit more picky about exactly what type of conditions are tolerable for running. Here's some of my preferences:

• Temperature above 15 degrees. Although, I'd go to a lower temperature if the next two qualifications are also met...
• Minimal wind. This can be a tall order out here on the prairie. 
• Sunshine, if possible. 

Some days, even just one of those three qualifications will be met and I'll head out for an outside run. But this week, it's not likely to happen. Our highs have been in single-digits during the warm part of the day, so by the time I get home from work and it's already evening, it's been below zero. Welcome to Winter!  Needless to say, I spend a lot more time running on the treadmill during the winter months. Ugh. So boring. Hence why I said this week's attempts to stay with my Funk~N~Run challenge have been a bit more mentally tough. I struggle with treadmill running. 

Then, today, I spotted this post on the Oiselle blog: Tis The Season To Go Funning! It's full of great ideas to make winter running more fun or at least more bearable. There were tons of really great, fun-sounding ideas that I would love to do, and in fact, I'm starting now.

One of their suggestions is to take a camera or phone with you while running (thanks to all those extra pockets in your winter layering scheme!) and snap some wintry images while you're out there. I realize that many of my readers are here to read about what we do on our farm, or about hunting, or life on the HiLine, and not all of you are interested in running. So, to make it more inclusive of my whole audience, I'm changing the rules to: Take a photo of something wintry while you're outside. If you happen to be out for a run, all the better for you! 

Here's your mission, if you choose to accept! 

1. Get Outside and take a photo on your phone or camera! Go for a walk or run, do farm chores, spend time with your kids or dog, whatever. Bundle up and get out there!
2. Mimimal Editing. We want these photos as real and as easy as possible. Don't worry about taking the time to tweak and polish. Try to go #nofilter, if you can. 
3. Captions are Cool! Try to include a caption of what you were doing or where your photo was taken, just for a bit of context. 
4. Send me your photo! You can email me at kra1984montana@yahoo.com or at my gmail address if you have that one, text me (if you have my cell phone # already), or post it on Pinterest or Facebook and tag me. 
5. Deadline: Monday, November 17 by 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time. On Monday, I'll compile all the photos and do another blog post with all of your wintry outdoor scenes! So, this means you have the whole weekend to get out there!

There are no prizes or anything for this-- it's just for fun. Consider this your official call to entry! The idea is simply to bundle up, get outside, have fun, and share your photo! I'm hoping that by Monday, I'll have a whole big long post of fun outside photos that we can all enjoy viewing! If you submit a photo, I'll put it on my blog with only your first name and your caption--unless you want me to link to your blog or something like that!  

To get us all started, here's a photo of my barn, smiling in the winter sunshine:

Can't wait to see what you all submit! Until next week... :)