Musings

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!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Trail riding/walking

…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.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Cold, clear…

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?

Posted at 8:04 PM | 1 Comment »

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.

Posted at 8:15 PM | Comments Off on Winter progresses

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?).

Posted at 12:55 PM | Comments Off on Snow tracks

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.

Posted at 5:34 PM | Comments Off on Snow returns

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.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Weak(-)ened?

Today, I finally got a chance to escape the house and go for a walk. The weather, of course, was not propitious. For two days, we’ve been hearing about the storm headed our way, with predictions of rain, snow, sleet, and ice. The morning arrived with some ice coating the vegetation, but the road out front, a primary county road, had enough traffic to be merely wet. We made it to the 8:15 am doctor’s appointment driving through rain and road splatter, but even the bridges were not icy. By 10:20 when I left the house to walk, the rain had even quit, although I wisely wore my rain gear. Sure enough, the moisture kicked back in, first rain, then rain mixed with sleet, then RSS, then mostly sleet and snow. The ice-coated vegetation had begun to accumulate a layer of snow when my allotted hour-and-fifteen minutes were up. I was so glad to have gotten out!

By mid-afternoon, the wind kicked up, knocking some of the ice off, crash-tinkle, against the sliding glass door. Nasty day for outdoor activities. Welcome to December!

* RSS = rain, sleet, and snow

Posted at 4:48 PM | Comments Off on Ice World

I do not know why reflections are so fascinating to me, at least as a subject for the from-the-hip photography I do. Is it the reduplication of reality, albeit not quite the same as the real thing, but oh so close?

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Reflections

The shallow edges of the pond at the park we visited yesterday were choked with water-weeds, and there was enough light to make a good reflection….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Pond life