In some churches, such as the Anglican, Lutheran and Catholic churches, today is the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. The pictures often show them standing in water during the baptism but it would be an extremely short service and a definitely a chilly one if it occurred in January in Wisconsin. And a baptism by immersion would definitely take your breath away, assuming you find a river with open water.
A Chilly January Stream
It is finally above zero this morning, still not above freezing, but at least the wind isn’t howling causing the extreme wind chills so I imagine there will be people out skiing today. I still rather take a walk in the woods when the trees aren’t bare as they seem so lifeless during the winter dominant phase. Autumn signifies the bare stage of winter is approaching but I love the last hurrah the colored leaves give before making their way to the ground.
A Walk on an Autumn Road
The sun was out today but by the time I finished the chores outside, I had enough of the cold wind chills that a walk through the woods did not appeal to me, especially since there wouldn’t be any wildflowers to stumble upon in the fields or woods. Other than a few stray oak leaves with a slight hint of orange, there is not a lot of color in the snowy landscape so I just have to count down the days until the first spring wildflower appears but I will have a longer wait before the late summer flowers, like the wild bergamot to brighten the road ditches.
Purple Color in the Road Ditches
It seems like when the temperature finally gets above zero, then it snows like this morning. And the wind is blowing the snow sideways as well as making it hard for the birds to land on the feeders except for the feeder which the gray squirrel as commandeered (who is now a white squirrel with all the snow gathering on his back since he has been squatting for a while as I gave up chasing him off after the fourteen time).
But since it still below freezing, the bears should at least be hibernating yet so maybe the birds will be able to use this feeder since the squirrel hasn’t climbed the pole yet. This feeder disappeared last spring when the bear broke the pole and ran off with the feeder. It took a while before I found it behind a brush pile in the woods and the bear must have eaten a lot of seeds that day since he left some big brown piles on my lawn!
Snowy Bird Cafe
Now that the Twelve Days of Christmas is over, I am ready for spring! The moon was out bright last night and would have been a perfect night to go walking except for one tiny fact that the wind chill was in the warning range and frost bite could occur in less than ten minutes. And I figured with my luck, I would trip on a limb under the snow and would freeze to death taking a walk through the woods. But then it isn’t much better walking in the cold sunshine as the temperatures haven’t improved much. There are some critters tracks in the snow but I won’t be adding my tracks today through the woods.
Update : Just after the sun set this evening, three deer came walking up through the trees in this area. They were bouncing and running around so I they don’t mind the cold as much as I do.
Cold Sunshine Walk
“On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Twelve Drummers Drumming.” Twelve drummers banging on drums inside my house would be too much of a racket, as even one would be too noisy. It wouldn’t be a sound which would attract me to my true love, even though a tom turkey will drum in the spring to attract hens. He will drum a two note “pffffft, duuuuuuuummmmmm” forced deep from his chest either softly or loudly depending on the location of the hens. On another very chilly morning, the gobbler won’t be drumming for girls for springtime romance but could be calling the hens to see if they knitted a sweater for him. A present of twelve turkey drummers does have an advantage over a gift of twelve musicians since you could shoot the turkey and have a drumstick!
Twelve Turkeys Drumming
“On the Eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eleven Pipers Piping.” If I had a true love, I’m not sure what kind of piper he would send as images for the eleven pipers are commonly either playing the flute or bagpipes. And while I don’t mind the sound of a bagpipe, having eleven flutes or bagpipes piping in my small house would be a little overwhelming and too noisy. And it would be hard for them to play outside since it was -18ºF is morning and their lips would freeze onto any metal part of their pipes. On a non-winter day, I would rather see and listen to a different type of piper piping.
Eleven Pipers Peeping
“On the Tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Ten Lords a-Leaping.” Only a man would think ten lords would be a great present, but not to a woman would have to wait on the lords serving them food and drinks. I don’t know what good ten lords would be other than blowing a lot of hot air around which might help warm up this very, very cold day. I figured lords fell in the category of slimy critters but that would insult frogs which are a better class than lords.
Ten Frogs a-Leaping
“On the Ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine Ladies Dancing.” I am too much of a country kid to appreciate the culture of ballet ladies dancing in leotards with pink ballet slippers. I much rather see pink lady’s slippers in a different form, one that you would see in the woods in the spring (whenever the snow melts again). A member of the orchid genus, Cypripedium acaule, is commonly called Pink Lady’s Slipper.
Nine Ladies Slippers
“On the Eighth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eight Maids a-Milking.” I don’t think any wise maid milk would stick around during a Wisconsin winter to milk a herd of cows when the highs will be below zero. Of course technology has changed the way cows are milked with even robots do the milking, and while the machine might breakdown occasionally, they don’t call in sick from a New Year Eve hangover!
Eight Machines a-Milking
