The year is going out with a very cold bang and with another night of minus 40 wind chills, many towns cancelled outdoor New Years Eve events. The sunshine was deceiving making it look warmer than it really is and I am not going to take a walk in the moonlight.
Cold End of the Year
It just doesn’t seem fair that I had to shovel snow when the temperature was below zero, and it snowed again after I had cleared the cement off so had to reshovel. I have thought that winter could last during Christmas break so the kids could play in the snow, but a week of winter feels too long with this cold spell with no warming in sight and spring is too far away.
Snow on Cold Day
On a very cold day like today, there is no way to sneak up to a critter to take a picture as the snow squeaks very loudly. On the sub-zero days, the snow doesn’t melt when stepped on but instead the ice crystals are crushed making a squeaking, or creaking, sound.
Squeaking Snow
With the temperature below zero and wind chills down to -30, baby Jesus would have needed extra blankets in addition to his swaddling clothes while lying in a the manger if he was born here in the north woods on this Christmas day.
A Chilly Christmas
One year I put Christmas lights on this tree, even all the way to the top by standing on the tallest stepladder I had in addition to a 20 foot pole, as I don’t like trees with light only near the bottom. But Mother Nature decided to add more decorations in the way of icicles and the heavy weight of the ice pulled my lights down towards the bottom so it looked like a dorky tree. So the next year, I did a smaller tree that I could put the lights back up easier but the rabbits decided to chew on the extension cord. So now I just let Mother Nature decorate the tree however she wants – although I wished it wasn’t in the form of cold temperatures.
Mother Nature Decorates the Christmas Tree
The sun managed to peek out late this afternoon but clear days this time of the year can mean some very cold weather like the predicted sub-zero temperatures for the coming week.
Cold Sunshine
The house wren didn’t wait until the first day of winter (according to the calendar) to head south to a warmer climate. They even left before autumn came and with the cold spell that is coming, I bet a lot of the other birds will wish they had headed south too.
Abandoned for the Winter
The foggy morning decorated the trees and other things with hoarfrost making pine trees appear white and stripping even more color from the landscape. I like to see the hoarfrost in sunshine and blue skies to see the crystals sparkle and stand out before they melt. But many times like today, it stayed cloudy and when the wind picked up, it looked like it was snowing as the frost fell.
Decorated in Hoarfrost
Another coating of snow was added to the ground overnight covering any trace of green grass. I always thought red barns looked better against the snow than white barns but I prefer red barn displayed with the summer greenery instead.
Red and White
Sunday morning arrived with another snow dusting and sounds like more snow tomorrow morning too. So far it has just been the nuisance kind and not a lot at one time so no deep snow drifts yet to wade through to church.
Church in Winter Snow
