The winds today was blowing the snow around, causing some drifting like at the end of my driveway. Summertime would have butterflies floating by instead of the cold snowflakes and after being outside in very cold wind chills, I would like some summertime temperatures.
Summertime Swallowtail
The morning’s light revealed another new coating of snow, which hid the ice underneath and made it treacherous for man and machine. My snowblower hit a patch of that hidden ice and slid the front tire off the driveway and all of my pushing and cat litter couldn’t get it out so I had to use my car to pull it out. The snow might be pretty until it turns against me!
More Pretty Snow
The cloudy day looked rather dull today without any blue skies to see and definitely not as colorful as an autumn day when foliage displays bright colors.
Autumn Maple Tree
The birds were busy coming to the feeders today in the colder temperature and I had to refill several with seed. Sea gulls don’t visit my yard, even in the summer time, and definitely not in the winter with no open water nearby. I wouldn’t mind seeing a gull since that normally means a trip to a lake in the summer and warmer conditions
Sea Gull on a Warmer Day
At the end of the icy tunnel, you could look out to see other people walking on the ice. This year, the ice caves have not been open because the ice isn’t safe, especially since last week the wind blew all the ice away and it is open water where these hikers were standing in past years.
Peering Out an Icy Tunnel
The snow which melted yesterday created very icy conditions today when the water refroze and caused me to do some unplanned sliding. Four years ago, the ice caves on the Lake Superior shores provided a range of ice formations including this tunnel with a slippery smooth ice which I carefully walked through to explore the frozen creations.
Icy Tunnel
The warmer temperature and strong winds today finally started to shake and melt the snow off the trees so my chickadees can perch in their tree by the bird feeder again.
Snow Melting Off
The wind during the last snow storm whipped some areas bare and piled it high in others, sometimes making it look like waves on a lake rolling in instead of snow drifts. By the end of January, seeing waves on a lake not frozen would be a welcome sight.
Waves Rolling In
The chickadees were complaining that their normal tree limb perches were still covered with snow today and they had to land farther away from the feeder than normal.
Limbs with Heavy Snow
Daylight revealed the new snow layer covering everything. The average depth was around a foot but some of the drifts piled the snow as high as the door handle. The new snow looked ‘pretty’, but it was hard to move around in it.
New Snow Cover
