Transition II

I have been on the Ice near a month now.  More and more I feel better adjusted to my new surroundings.  Still, this past week I find that there are lots of 'normal' things that must be adapted to live and work in the cold.  One thing is that hands and ears are subject to freezing no matter how tough you are.  I am a wimp so I mind my ears from getting cold.  My hands, are a different story, they are subjected to the harsh environment like its a cold Colorado aftenoon.  Tempatures in the -40, yes that is both F and C, with windchill temps below -70 are not an everyday occurance in the Denver metro area.  Three minutes into a call, thoughts of how I really ought to have warm gloves on race though my mind as sensation quickly vacates my metacarpels.  Another point of adaptation.  Water freezes.  Noble thought as I am holding a hoseline rapped in a loop so that the weight of the hoseline pushes down on it self so all one has to do is sit on it to keep it from spraying violently to and fro.  Textbook right?  Oh, yes this works well on the surface of, say; a parking lot, or any common terrain that one would expect to find on a sunny day in July.  On the common surface of a land capped with ice: not so textbook.  As one angles the hoseline up the less surface are of the hose to be in contact with the surface the more it trys to sneek under a firefighter sitting on it.  The less angled hose a)the less distance covered by the stream, b) the more direct nozzle reaction under the sitting firefighter (for all the force pushing the water out of the hose, the same pushing the nozzle away from the water coming out).  Why is this not a problem? I must have an answer deep down inside as I put large quanities of the liquid form of the surface down which transforms fast enough to stand on with in minutes it being poured, much less from a crystal circlet around the nozzle of my firehose.  At least I had my glasses (which fogged over every 5 minutes) which made me look cool.