February 1st, 2014

Here are the first of the month pictures of The Puddle Pond. 

I took these pictures around 7:30am this morning just as the sun was coming up in the East.  You can see that the pond is frozen solid with some snow here and there across the surface.

 

Frozen Solid

 There are some interesting squiggles along the left side of the bank in the picture above.  When I walked out of the woods, I could hear this rooster, that resides across the pond, crowing away.  As soon as he saw me, he put on quite a show.  When I stopped to take his picture his fluffed his wings out several times and started crowing again.  Isn't he a beauty!

Check out the footprints some critter made that stretch from one side of the pond to the other.  I couldn't tell what type of an animal made the tracks but there were deer, rabbit and I think some cat prints on the ground around the pond.

 I couldn't resist getting a closer shot of some these neat "shapes" in the frozen surface.

 This is on of three craters at various spots on the pond.  Not sure (not going to walk out and find out either) if they are unfrozen areas but they're kind of scary and different looking.



 This morning, Mr P and I met a couple, D and J, who were coworkers at a part-time job he worked at for several years after his retirement for breakfast. We don't see them nearly as much as we all would like so it was nice to get together and visit.   I needed a few things yet for the Super Bowl dinner for tomorrow evening so we stopped at a farmer's market that is just around the corner from the restaurant where we had breakfast.

My walking buddy, R, and I managed to get our walk in this afternoon.  The temperature was around 42 degrees F and after the single digits we've been experiencing at night and low, low double digits during the day, it felt downright balmy.  I took my ear warmers and gloves off soon after we started out and ended up unzipping my coat on the return trip.  

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day and everyone will be interested in whether Punxatawney Phil sees his shadow or not.  Winter here has been harsh so far and I know I'm not the only one who is eagerly anticipating spring.  I'll be back tomorrow with a few photos from earlier this week and today.

Oh, and if you live here in the States, you know that tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday.  Our friends who have joined us to have dinner and watch the game for the past 30+ years will be joining us for the evening. 

Have a good evening and hope to see you tomorrow.