A Sunny Day in Winter

A couple of days...a dusting of snow here and there, enough to slide one's skis on. We had some cold, cold days the end of this week. The ice on the pond and in the wetlands hardened, enough to venture out on and not crack the ice. We were able to explore areas of the wetlands we'd never been to.
Yesterday wild turkeys were dashing over the snow on the frozen ponds; you can see the dash in their footprints. I tried to take a photo, but had a temporary malfunction and before I could get a snapshot one of the the turkeys had sprinted across the road - the others followed stopping traffic.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Another icy day! we are catchng the storm that has blasted across the Midwest, but in our part of the Granite State it hasn't been nearly as bad as in other portions of the country. It started this morning with a downpour of ice, then turned to sleet, snow and now silence. I walked out on my own and up the hill. I brought an umbrella. I like the crunching sound the ice makes when it hits the cloth of the umbrella...sounds like opening a present wrapped in mylar. Still...we have had very little snow this winter. It's concerning...all this warmth. It's hard for me to understand how there are still so many people in the country who aren't seriously concerned about Climate Change. I keep a close eye.

It's the first day of the year...ice, mist, rain. A dreariness has settled in. We were supposed to do a 5k, but opted out after considering the icy conditions. My husband said he felt a cold coming on. I was restless, though, eager to start the New Year off with a blast of energy.
I did get up the hill on snow shoes, though they kept falling off as ice clumped to the metal teeth on the bottoms. Trees and small trees had fallen over here and there on the trail as I trudged up the hill. A snow shoe rabbit had criss-crossed the trail. Did not see any other evidence of creatures.
We have enjoyed observing the construction of a beaver lodge in the wetlands near our home this fall.. Since spring we had not seen the beaver, but last Sunday we spotted a fluffy brown blob on the ice near an opening in our pond. We soon discovered it was one of the beavers. He was munching on something. We dashed into the house to fetch the camera and took some shots before he got spooked and splashed into the open water, disappearing beneath the ice.