The forecast was wrong again so instead of sunny skies, the morning brought a cloudy sky and frosty trees. Sometimes the frost look like spikes and from a distance, the frost might have appeared as needles but up close they looked more like snowflakes or flattened pine tree.
Flaky Frost
While the snowflakes were falling this morning, I watched a little red squirrel race up and down several trees like something was chasing him although I didn’t see any other squirrels nearby. I hadn’t notice the red squirrel most of the summer but at least he hasn’t found his way to my bird feeder yet.
Speedy Squirrel
In the summer, cooking on a wood stove in a small room might provide more heat than comfortable but in the winter, the extra heat from the stove would feel nice on a night where the temperature is dropping to below zero.
Old Cook Stove
Listening to the forecast this evening and hearing about the temperatures falling again made me feel cold even before it drops to zero. The drops I like to see are decreasing gas prices so I can visit more northern Wisconsin waterfalls to watch the rivers drop in elevation as they make their way down to the lake. Superior Falls, last 65 foot drop of the Montreal River, is just a few hundred yards from Lake Superior on the Wisconsin and Michigan border.
Dropping Water
The month of November and the start of December have been extremely cloudy months this year and the plants I rescued from the cold outside are fading away due the lack of sun. At least cloudy days in October have a hint of color compared to white landscape now.
Cloudy Color
In the pioneer days, people in parts of country would have needed their winter supplies purchased or harvested before the heavy snows came and cut off access to towns or neighbors. A very early snow storm could catch people unprepared and hopefully those early snows would melt quickly.
Getting Supplies
After watching the snow flying quickly past the window as winter made its return felt, the hard work of spring plowing might feel like a better option than shoveling and plowing snow in the cold.
Spring Plowing
The snow storm sure moved in quickly as only a few small flakes were coming down when I filled the bird feeders. But twenty minutes later, the snow was coming down rather heavy and plastered snow over the bird feeder covering the seed tray. The one chickadee looked confused why the seed disappeared so I know once it stops snowing, I will have to remove that white stuff.
Seed Lost in the Snow
Meteorological winter starts tomorrow and with some predicted snow and wind, it probably will look and feel like a white winter wonderland for the start of December. But I rather see white in the form of foam caused by lovely waterfalls instead, especially on a nice summer day hike where you don’t have to be bundled up in coats and hats.
Foaming Falls
This morning there was a lot of critter tracks in the fresh snow like deer, squirrel, dog and cat, including some bird tracks at the door. It is always interesting to see the variety and number of tracks created in a few hours but it is more fun to observe bird tracks left on the beach sand during a warm and sunny day.
Seagulls on the Sand
