That Was Fast

Bye bye January...you went by quickly!  That's the little path in the photo above that the skunks, feral cats and raccoons have made in the back yard.  The snow is melting quickly now that the temperatures have finally gotten above 32 F.

A close-up of some little cat prints.

This photo, and the three following photos, were taken yesterday morning.  Good thing I got them then, because they weren't there this morning!

I'm linking with Our World Tuesday

Brrrr!

A few days after one of our little snowstorms, some really nice icicles formed.  I grabbed my camera and took a few photos while the sun was out.  It's been clouded over here pretty consistently for almost three weeks, and almost every day we've had a little rain!  By my reckoning, we've received nearly 11 inches so far...yippee!  Not enough to fill up the lakes and not enough to make the streams flow again, but still so very welcome.  

Linking with:  Through My Lens

Goodbye February

It's starting to look a little like spring might be on her way: Here and there Ivy is poking a few leaves out above the snow...

The snow on the roof is melting fast and the last icicle is barely hanging on... 

But the most telling sign is the greening Dogwood buds, which will be the centers of the enormous white blossoms in April. 

Goodbye, February!

They Were Right!

Last week the weather forecasters predicted we would get a foot of snow during Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.  They were right!  I was so surprised because usually they're quite wrong. 

The sun came out in the afternoon though, so it's melting off the trees pretty fast...but only on the sides that face south!  Today, none of the trees in the above photo have any snow left on their 'sunny' sides. 

Which is probably just fine with the birds!

Ice Sculptures

I had never really noticed how intricate icicle interiors could be...

until I took this series of photos,

getting closer and closer with each shot.

Worlds within worlds, color upon color, sculpted by wind and water working together. How could I not have seen this in all the years I've been looking at, and admiring, icicles? Looking closely through the lens of a camera can really make one aware of things previously unseen.

Winter's Jewels