Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. We haven’t seen temps above freezing in a week. Yesterday it hit the 30 degree mark. Nights are in the teens and twenties, but so far no single digits. Let’s just say the temperature doesn’t fluctuate much from day to night. We’ve had a few little snows but nothing to write home about. It seems to come in dribbles and drabs. Nuisance snows are what I call them. Just enough to coat the ground and driveway, but not really enough to make it worthwhile to snowblow. A darned nuisance. We’re supposed to get another one tonight and into tomorrow. An inch here; an inch there. Big deal.

Even though it was cold and a bit windy yesterday, I bundled up in my warm down parka, slapped my “Elmer Fudd” hat on my head, grabbed the camera and went for a walk. After all the food over-indulgence of the holidays, Rick and I put ourselves back on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks and I figured a nice walk would help that along. What? You don’t know what an “Elmer Fudd” hat is? It’s the kind that has ear flaps on it that you can either tie up on top of the hat or pull down over your ears. I wasn’t trying to make a fashion statement here, just wanted to keep my head warm.

My goal was to walk through the woods and all the way down the road to Green Turtle (a little over a mile round-trip). I hadn’t been in the woods in a long time and a visit was long overdue. The sun was shining brightly which hasn’t necessarily been the case lately, a real plus when trying to take photos. I’m going to take you with me on the walk, but in small steps. I took a lot of photos! First we visit the part of Green Turtle that is right at the end of our street, the part where it drains out over the dam. As you can see: frozen. I tried to take a photo without my shadow in it but it didn’t have the same impact, so I’m in it, bulky parka and all.

Here there are some nice cattails growing even though they hacked a good part of them away this summer. Not sure why either, they didn’t look like they were harming anything to me. Because it’s the outlet for the lake, the water is not completely frozen here.

The ice that has tried to form around the base of the cattails look like glass UFOs, or maybe sombreros!  Very cool. Take a closer look:

My fingers nearly froze taking these shots. Old Man Wind was trying to give me frostbite! I was hoping that once I was in the woods I would be sheltered from him.

To be continued ...

So much of the country is in the deep freeze this week.  We are unseasonably warm.  Mid 60’s and sunny.  This really is the nicest time in the desert!

I used to wear an Elmer F hat to keep warm, too!  Not stylish, but does the trick!

Oh I love the little UFO’s.  Never have seen anything like that. 
I hope we can get together this year when you come out here.  That would be very cool!

These are such beautiful shots! Love the icy rings around the stems - wow.

Isn’t it cool that Elmer Fudd hats are in style? They’re so warm.

It’s FREEZING here, too. And we had MORE snow last night. Wow. That’s three snowfalls this year so far. Very unusual.

Stay warm, Lynn!!

Jan, I love my Elmer Fudd hat! 60’s huh? wow.

Debra, I’ve photographed the cattails before when they looked like icy swizzle sticks. Look in the archives in 2007 and you might find them. You never know what shape the ice is going to take around their bases. And yes, we should plan on meeting in June!

Reya, thanks! How much snow, Reya? We only got about an inch. I think the South has had more snow than us!