Tomorrow morning we will endure still another Winter wallop … Mother Nature is showing us who is boss.
While my walking regimen was going great at the beginning of the year, having walked 50 miles (80 km) as of January 12th, the progression has not been so wonderful since then. As of today, I’ve only walked 90 miles (144 km) so far in 2019 and I’m lagging way behind the miles I’ve driven (139) (233 km). That hasn’t happened in a long time.
So what is this walker to do? We have freezing rain coming tomorrow morning, sure to gum up everything – sigh. I’ve lost track how many ice storms we’ve had this year.
It was a marvelous morn for a moonwalk.
Monday morning was beautiful, albeit cold. The sun kept trying to pop through the gray clouds and that made the light layer of snow glisten.
So, before I marred that pristine snow by walking through it, I decided to see what animals and birds have been lurking around. I figured that even if I was not making tracks, I might as well see what tracks I’d find around the ol’ homestead.
I’d put peanuts on the porch already, so I had hoped to get a few outside pictures of my furry and/or feathered friends taking their peanuts. I suited up and was out within ten minutes of dropping those peanuts, and, while I didn’t ring a dinner bell or anything, they were all gone, just the shells remained.
Well, the furry and feathered friends were “working the porch” pretty quickly. From studying the tracks, it appears they were probably pacing down the side of the house …
… and across the driveway …
… while waiting on that slacker Linda to produce their breakfast.
I had the camera all ready, but, so much for those missed shots.
What happens in the backyard, stays in the backyard.
Camera in hand, I headed to the backyard, my heavy snow boots leaving their own tracks in the snow.
I’ve had these Khombu snow boots for decades. The toasty-warm, fur-lined interiors kept my tootsies warm when waiting on the bus and their heavy soles keep me upright in slick and snowy situations. Sadly, I noticed they are starting to crack after all these years.
I did a round robin in the backyard – so who has been visiting?
There were delicate bird tracks etched in the snow on the patio, likely belonging to the sparrows who nestle together on the back windowsills, protected from the wind and precip by the patio roof. I wonder how they determine the pecking order of who gets those primo sleeping spots?
The bird tracks photos were not clear enough to use in this post, but what was clear, was birdsong … a robin’s cheery notes suddenly appeared in the still morning. I looked around for that songbird, but could not find him or her. The song made me happy, though it is very far from a Spring or Summer day. I watched the frosty vapors coming from my mouth as I tried to whistle back.
I also heard a blue jay so I left some peanuts on top of the boxwood bush, hoping to lure that beautiful bird down so I could get a picture.
But there would be no photo op with that beautiful blue jay. I suppose the deal breaker was that I had to step away first, because this morning’s trip to the yard yielded lots of empty peanut shells atop the boxwood bush.
I got a few pictures of the moonset … the dregs of that beautiful Snow moon.
I tried to take some photos of the moon in the night sky, but the reflection from the glass on the storm door messed up the photo. It was a beautiful big moon to gaze at and remember all those years ago when I was a little nipper and believed the moon was made of cheese.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Bill told me about the supermoon this morning. I missed it! Thank you for the pictures. At least I got to see them, if not the real thing. I am hoping that once some warm weather gets here, you will be able to make up for lost time in your walking. Loved how the tracks in the backyard (including yours) tell a story. We are supposed to get walloped tomorrow too! Bill and I walked Benji today and I took pictures of snow flowers. Tomorrow they will be buried!
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Hi Laurie – I think the moon still might be spectacular tonight again, and I heard a rep from Cranbrook (where they have an observatory here in Michigan) say there will be one more Supermoon this year, in March. Here is the scoop on it to pinpoint for viewing or pictures (maybe it will be warmer and I’d stand on the front porch not through the door (https://earthsky.org/tonight/full-supermoon-on-march-2019-equinox)
Glad you liked those tracks Laurie … I thought it would be fun to do that. My post on Sunday was going to be too similar to the day before, so I didn’t post and went with something different tonight. You’re right, the snow flowers will be crushed. We’re getting an inch of snow, followed by freezing rain … it is either the 5th or 6th ice storm this year. I hope to make up for lost time too … my goal is 1242 miles this year.
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Yes, Bill told me about the supermoon in March. Maybe I will see that one. Thanks for the link! You will make up the miles this spring and summer.
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That’s good and you’re welcome Laurie. Hopefully it does not rain and we get a great view of it. It will be the “Worm Moon” … the worms are likely frozen right now. 🙂 I hope to make up the miles too – I have to look into a rain suit and shoes that are waterproof so I don’t miss as many walks this year as I did last year. I may not go out in a torrential downpour, but I’ll go out in the rain to get ‘er done.
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Your photos were most enjoyable. I find it hard to keep track of you.
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Ha ha – I do not tread lightly though! This is my substitution for not being able to hoof it around the ‘hood. 🙂
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It was a pleasant substitution.
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Thanks Anne – I’m glad you liked it … too bad there were not more types of tracks.
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Miss Linda………………………..yes the SNOW moon was beautiful yesterday and tonight too………………….I’ve always loved following animal tracks in the snow………………………………….my ONLY winter fun thing to do…………………………………….
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An astronomer from Cranbrook was on WWJ today and said tonight would be as spectacular as last night. I got a reflection off the glass – too bad as that moon was so big and bright. Did you follow a lot of animal tracks up North when you went ice fishing Ann Marie? You’d see so many more than my few tracks here – raccoon, deer, moose, possums, maybe even bears, come to mind. We all need a diversion because Winter is not fun this year at all!
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Linda
We are enjoying your winter through you. Though you paint a sad picture of your wintry days, your post speaks otherwise. You are able to see humour through the white days.
The footprints were beautiful and you are smart to have used them in a post, where they are stored for some time and you can look at them after they are gone.
Love the beautiful white snow. I wish you could identify Grady’s foot prints. Could they be a fox’s prints in your back yard?
Susie
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Hi Susie – I am glad you are enjoying the wintry pictures – tomorrow I should try to take pictures of the ice through the front door – it is supposed to begin later, during the morning rush hour, so that might be doable. They say by 8:00 a.m. The last few times the ice came overnight and it was amazing looking – sparkling in the light from the moon or streetlight. I will look at these footprints in the middle of Summer and be grateful we are not in the middle of Winter. This season has been very trying – too much of the frozen precipitation.
The snow is beautiful when it is freshly fallen and before people start treading on it or it gets street grime in it. It just melted in the driveway and then tomorrow the weather will wreak havoc once again.
I can’t identify Grady’s footprints along the side or the driveway or porch in case the Fox squirrel was out – he makes a lot of them though in relatively short time, as he runs around pretty quickly. I don’t think we have a fox in the neighborhood – we are not that rural, but the first year I walked at Council Point Park, a jogger told me he saw some fox in the snow and it was beautiful. But I’ve not seen one yet.
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Linda,
The weather is playing tricks for us too. Some days it is cloudy and it looks like a hit and miss situation – where it looks like there may be rain but often it disappoints.
We dread the summer coming fast at us. You are happy to welcome the heat of the summer- we are not. Humans are difficult to please, aren’t they?
Susie
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Hi Susie – We are difficult to please and every year, just around this time, I will make the remark to remind me when I whine about Summer’s heat and humidity. to reflect on about these bone-chilling, snowy and icy days … how quickly we are to forget and also, we are, as a general lot, malcontents. The storm did not arrive at 7:00 a.m. here, but more on the East Coast they are enduring it already and lots of cancelled flights. Our storm is about an hour out and hopefully the ice does not plague us with downed wires for power outages. We were supposed to have an El Nino, or milder, Winter. Where is it? They were wrong, that’s for sure. Our Summers can be hot and humid and that brings the severe weather – the tornadoes worry me, in a minute your house is gone and possessions are flung to the wind, but you, Susie, will suffer the extreme heat and dry conditions … that is no picnic either.
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I swear I see a heart in the footprints. I think they are leaving you sign language with their footprints! lol
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I like that idea Diane!
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How fantastic! A wonderful walk indeed
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Glad you liked those pictures. A little nature wonderland without expending much energy on my part Michael … frankly I’d like to be expending a little more energy and walking more … the weather here has been atrocious this Winter.
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Fantastic pictures but the moon photo is especially beautiful.
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Thanks Clare – I figured if I could not walk in the neighborhood or the Park, I’d take a trip around the yard and see what I saw. Lots of paw prints … the moon was interesting … there were dark clouds going in front of it, and then the sun would shine on it … I figured I’d try and take a picture and was surprised I got any shots of it.
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Looks like you have had a bunny visiting your back yard. Have you seen any? Nice photos of the moon.
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Hi Ruth – I see lots of bunnies in the backyard in the Summer, not so many in the Winter, but saw those tracks cutting across the yard and also around the bushes, so I knew they were there. Also a possum (something dragging its tail … I could see the tunnels in the snow, but not along the fenceline, so know it is not a rat … the “tunnel” was very wide, so a wide tail). Most of the houses around me don’t have bushes along the fenceline and I do, and I suspect I am a safe haven for the bunnies now that those Coopers Hawks are around. My neighbor said he saw a hawk get a squirrel in his yard … their yard is wide open. I hope I never witness that. I’m happy to give the bunnies a safe haven. I lost most of my plants and flowers, except the roses when we had the Polar Vortex in 2014. Not much left for the bunnies to eat. I planted Bleeding Hearts for my mom years ago … she liked them and I bought Bleeding Heart bushes several years in a row. The bunnies ate the flowers off … then they worked on the greenery, so I just gave up. They must have tasted very sweet, being heart shaped and all. 🙂
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Last winter the bunnies “pruned” my rose bushes at the farm. At least it wasn’t the blue berry bushes like they have eaten in past winters.
Only 28 days ’til Spring!!! 🙂
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Yes those bunnies are good at “pruning” aren’t they? Not that I want to wish my life away, but 28 days til Spring sounds fabulous to me!
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Beautiful pictures! Being in Texas we don’t see much snow, thanks for sharing!!!
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Glad you liked these pictures Taushah – I’ll be happy to give you some of our snow. 🙂 I would take your warm weather any day.
What we’ve really had this year was ice … one ice storm after the other since mid-January. Our Winter came early in November, then relaxed a bit in December and early January, so I could bulk up my walking miles. In mid-November we had a snow storm before I had a chance to “put the garden to bed” … I went out in the backyard to take pictures of the poor roses covered in snow and ice: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/11/14/jack-frost-nipping-at-your-rose/
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Love the photo of the moon!!! So serene. Also how cute to see all their little footprints. Thanks for sharing, Linda! ❤
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Glad you liked it Mackenzie – I know it was bigger and brighter in the night sky, but pretty awesome as a moonset too. The little footprints were cute – all over the place in the newly fallen snow. ❤
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taking shots of the moon is tricky but I like the tree limbs and translucent clouds for mood.
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Yes, it was tricky Wayne. I came in with dozens of shots and those were my best of the bunch. The clouds kept passing in front of the moon, and the bare branches on a gray morning made it almost spooky-looking with the moon still hanging out in the sky.
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by the time the sunsets,its already too late and once the moon is bright you might as well forget it. That is if you want to see any detail of the moon. Other than that the moon will appear just like the sun.People won’t be able to tell the difference.
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You’re right – I knew it was moonset but it was bright enough to be the sun, so people might have thought I was pulling a fast one on them!
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ya,they think you were trying to fool them!
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Linda – fun as always seeing how you spoil those critters. This never-ending winter weather crap – it has us all in a funk, doesn’t it. I like those moon photos, they are very magical, and who knows maybe there really is cheese there! xo kim
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Glad you are enjoying these posts about spoiling the critters Kim – it’s a momentary burst of happiness and smiles to get through this Winter. You are right … it is never-ending weather crap. If it’s not snow, it’s ice, or wind … in fact, I just perused the weather report for the weekend which leaves me feeling worried about the big winds: “Metro Detroit weather: Powerful weekend storm looms after warm Friday.” That moon looms large doesn’t it – another Super Moon on March 21st, the last of this year. I’ll grab some Ritz crackers and I’m ready. 🙂
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Ritz crackers ha ha – love that. xo kim
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Neat shots, Linda! Animals tracks in the snow are always fun to see and do photos of! 🙂
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Thanks Tom – glad you liked them. I thought it would be something different. A friend of mine lives on the end of a wooded area. She had 17 deer in her backyard yesterday.
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I love it when you share the sneak peeks at signs of Spring! Keep ’em coming! Don’t worry – you’ll catch up fast to your walking goals. Spring is just around the corner!
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Thank you … must keep the faith that Spring will arrive sooner rather than later.
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Mother nature is showing you no mercy. She has now invaded Las Vegas and Arizona. What’s next, Hawaii???
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This year Mother Nature is all over like cheap underwear – (I wish I could say I coined that phrase). I didn’t hear about Las Vegas until this morning – a fellow blogger moved from Michigan to get away from Winter and woke up to two inches of snow. Hawaii has had its share of Mother Nature’s wrath the past year – hope they stay safe.
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How lovely being able to do your own kind of nature hunt in your back garden of snow. I am glad you didn’t find any yeti footprints 😂
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Ha ha – I would have run into the house and probably left my boots in the snow, as I would have been in such a hurry!
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😁😁
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Gorgeous photos, Linda. Spring will be here soon and your walking (and running) can pick up once again. :0)
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Thanks Pam – I’m looking forward to a regular walking schedule once again. This has been a nasty Winter since mid-January …. but nothing like a fellow blogger’s tales from Wisconsin, where it has been non-stop snow.
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Ah, thank goodness that’s not happening where I live! These last bits of cold 🥶 are terribly depressing. Spring will soon arrive!
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Yes, you’re right Pam – by the end of February, I’m ready to move on for sure. More snow this weekend and another cold spell next week.
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Us, too. 😩
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