Frosty Morning

This morning Diane called me from work to tell me that the trees along the Racquette River were covered with hoarfrost. It was about -11° so I bundled up and set out for Ives Park in Potsdam to shoot some photos of the frost. The frost was already being blown from the trees by a light breeze. I only spent about 15-20 minutes shooting but even with lined mittens my hands got so cold I had difficulty unlocking my truck when I returned to it.

Snowshoeing

The forecast was for temperatures in the mid-20s today but it barely broke into double digits with a high of 11°. I was looking forward to a long walk in moderately mild temperatures but 11° with a stiff breeze is not moderate. On my usual route I go by a large farmer's field that leaves me wide open to the wind so I decided to try a snowshoe in the nearby State forest. I figured at least I would be out of the wind and it turned out to be a good choice. The snow wasn't deep but there was enough to justify the snowshoes and it was a good workout. I think I'll continue that in place of my walks as long as the snow holds out and next time I'll take a camera.

COOOLD!

This morning it was COLD. Minus 17° to be precise. I waited until about 10 to go out but it was still several degrees below zero. I drove the quarter mile to the Post Office rather than walk as I usually would. When I got to the bottom of the hill I noticed that all the trees along the river were coated with frost so after getting my mail I dashed home to get my camera.

After spending 15-20 minutes taking a dozen photos in the frigid air, trying to keep my fingers warm enough to work the camera I decided that my photo fixation must be a form of lust. I hate getting cold and can't imagine anything other than lust for beautiful photos that would get me to stand around in sub-zero weather.

Strange Christmas Revisited

Last night I took the Christmas tree down. In a normal year I would take it out and stick it upright in the snow near our bird feeders to give the birds a place to roost out of the wind while eating the seed we put out for them. This year there is no snow. Not even one flake.

In fact I put up and took down our outside holiday lights in weather more characteristic or late March/early April than Dec/Jan. I remember one other mild Christmas in my life time. It was 1957. I remember it well because that was the year I got a new sled for Christmas and had to wait several weeks for enough snow to use it. Fortunately I also got two books I had seen in a catalog and wanted badly. They were make-it-yourself projects for boys. Those books went to shop class with me several times and quite a few of the projects from them were built that winter.

So is this Global Warming? Even those scientists who are warning of the prospects of Global Warming are saying that this warm winter in the Northeast has more to do with El'Nino than Global Warming and a few are saying that we may have weather like this all winter. One thing I know it isn't... It isn't much like what I think of as Christmas. I don't suppose the birds will mind not having the tree near the feeder for shelter though.