Snow...

We received 6.5" of snow today, which brings us to 45.5" thus far. We are matching the last two years around this date. And, these were very low total years. On years with lots of snow we would have somewhere between 60"- 95" by now.

A brief flash of springtime in winter

It was a pretty morning with the temperature at nearly 60F. There was lots of evaporation happening at the snow surface which made for patchy ground fog. Drew dropped me off at the dentist office and headed out to walk his favorite hidden gem of a trail in Topsham. It runs along a creek which adds to the mystique.

He said that it was so gorgeous this time of morning and he photographed it from a few different angles as the light changed each time he passed the creek.

The shafts of light were stunning as they beamed down through the trees.

In contrast to this beauty, was our walk on the Hix Small Cemetery Road yesterday afternoon. Talk about MUD! I am so glad we don't have to drive on this road during mud season!

As we were not wearing YakTrax, we decided to give the forested road to the cemetery a miss as it was rather icy. We sure have enjoyed these past couple of warm days before going into the deep freeze of the weekend.

Mother Nature's Cubism

I was walking down our path to Caesar Pond when I came upon slick ice that was blocking my way.

As I looked down upon it, I saw that it had a somewhat fractured appearance all over its surface.

So, being me, I stepped on it and the surface bent under my foot, but didn't break. So, I stepped off it and kicked it to see what would happen. Lots of cubes of ice! Sooo cool!

Here is one cube that broke off from an edge area.

And, here is Mother's Nature cubism artwork, with a little help from yours truly, as the sun was setting!

Birds, birds, and more birds!

Blue Jay in a snowstorm

We love our birds! The feeder has been busy dispensing food to a huge flock of goldfinches, bluebirds, blue jays, as well as the resident mourning doves, chickadees, brown creeper, titmice, red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers. 

The bluebirds are still flocking with a smaller subset of the large flock of goldfinches. They are not appreciating the cold weather that we have and only come in to feed on the warmer winter days.

Lately, we have been seeing our resident brown creeper on the bird feeder tree. He sometimes flies to the feeder and gathers seed from the ground.

When the sun comes out, the temperatures plummet. This gorgeous blue jay was enjoying the sunflower seeds.

And, then was puffed up to ward off the cold.

Weather

 As of this point in winter we have only had 39" of snow. And, look at the week to come. We are now oscillating between winter and springtime weather. This translates to rainy snowstorms, followed by super cold temps, followed by melting, which translates to layers of ice buildup. UGH. And, we still have the rest of February and March to go. Here is what this next week will bring us. Crazy!