Monday, 11 December 2006
Balmy and overcast, and I saw the twitching tails of two deer and this little guy (gal? critter?), which I almost stepped on, since s/he was stretched out in the mowed path and resembled a weed stalk or dried grass stem.
Sunday, 10 December 2006
Our view across First Pond included a lovely sundog, and we reveled in the near-tropical temperatures (well into the 40s!); what a great Sunday!
Saturday, 9 December 2006
Walked this afternoon in a park along the more rural banks of the Grand River (still in Ingham County), along trails that during other seasons are reserved for mountain bikes. Since the water was higher when its surface froze, we saw planes of ice clinging to the bases of trees and weeds, remaining in place as the liquid below them has receded, leaving eye-catching “ice-shelves” along the floodplain pathways.
BTW: noted this personalized license plate—IH2OSKI
I assume: not in this weather!
Friday, 8 December 2006
…with a cutting breeze, but we still got in an hour walk, by staying among the protective trees as much as possible. Most of the star-breaks in First Pond are frozen over, and perhaps the combination of vegetal exhalations and water-ice chemistry that Pooh’s suggested are both at work.
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
I am mystified as to how these breaks in the ice covering First Pond occurred. Can’t be jumping frogs or landing Canada Geese, right? So, what?
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
First Pond’s scum is now replaced by a skin of ice, which extended across most of the surface yesterday, and is almost continuous today.
This morning’s snowfall yielded to sunshine in the afternoon, which made the granular new snow sparkle like the fake snow I remember from department store displays of my childhood.
Monday, 4 December 2006
The snow reveals all.
Not quite all, but much. Yesterday we spotted the pair of turkeys that accelerated my heart rate several weeks ago when they flew out of trees forty feet above my head—flushed them in the back meadow. Today we saw their tracks many places, so we know they’re busy doing their guajalote business.
Other track-leaving species: white-tails, mice, and bun-buns (or are they hares?).
Sunday, 3 December 2006
We have been oh so lucky to not lose our power—or the neighbor’s wifi, although we have to open the front door (brrrr!) to get enough of a signal, fortunately, through the screen door (yes, the door’s in winter mode, with glass instead of screen!).
Today has brought more snow, which alternately falls and builds up, then melts off a bit, for an overall accumulation of a centimeter or so.
Saturday, 2 December 2006
Today’s brilliant sun dissolved some of the icy coating on the vegetation, and the wind cracked off other bits, but enough survived to luminously highlight woody shrubs and trees.
