Solitude For Saturday. #8 Winter Walks.

Good morning everyone on this mild and snowy December day. It is 28F (-2C) this morning, which really is very nice for a winter day. But we are getting a little bit of snow, nothing serious really, but it must be dealt with once again. There was 2 1/2 inches (6.25cm) of new snow this morning, a wet kind of snow because of the temperature, and that makes it heavy. Good thing there was not that much. I cleaned that off the deck since it had stopped snowing.

However, it has since begun snowing once more, and there is already another half inch (1.25cm) of new snow out there. Enough to cause some problems with the feeders, although the birds are doing okay so far. But I will have to clean them off soon. The chickadees, nuthatches and a downy woodpecker have been here this morning. Only about 4 blue jays have shown up however, and there should be 12 of them. Their breakfast peanuts are still out there, at least some of them anyway.

Likely enough for lunch too unless more of them show up. That is very strange. There was a nice pileated woodpecker out on a tree this morning, but it was snowing too much at the time to get a picture. One time I was out for a walk in January and came upon a pileated woodpecker pounding away at the base of a pine tree, about 10 feet away. Solitude. That was the first time I had been so close to one. They are a big bird, the size of a crow. I watched it for a while before continuing my walk.

It was not much further when I came upon a young buck, a white-tailed deer. He was not quite so friendly as the deer around here, but he did not run away. He just slowly walked away, munching on some branches as he went. Solitude. I was in a new area for walking. There was not too much snow that winter and it had been very cold. I came to the shore of the lake where we lived at the time. I looked out there, it would be much shorter to walk across the lake than to walk around it.

The ice is always good on that lake, especially with cold weather and not much snow, most of which blows off the lake anyway. I had a small axe with me so I could check and see how good the ice was. I walked out about 20 feet and checked. I chopped down 6 inches without hitting water, so that is plenty of ice for walking. Off I went and finally got to an area where there was no snow at all. The ice cracked. I stopped and chopped down again, still lots of ice. Off I went.

Suddenly it began cracking a lot. I stopped. I took another step and lots of cracking once again. I bent down and chopped again. My axe went through the ice with the first chop. I picked up a piece of ice. Half an inch, maybe. Not enough to hold a person. I looked behind me, there was water on the ice. That is not what I wanted to see. I was already half way across the lake. Crossing the lake was not one of my better decisions. Never do that, especially if you are alone, no matter how safe you think the ice will be.

Things happen and that safe ice can suddenly become hazardous ice. Since I had already crossed the ice to that point, I decided it was best to go back the way I came. At least I knew the ice will get thicker, and safer, going back. After that I never went on the ice alone. Much too dangerous, even for someone like me who does not mind taking chances. I made it back to shore and walked around the lake. Sigh.

Have I ever mentioned that I like summer? And warm places? Well, I do. The trees are covered with snow with some light snow falling right now. Solitude. Snow. It is cold, it is heavy, it is cold, it is hazardous, it is cold, it lasts a very long time, it is cold. But it does look beautiful. I hope you have a beautiful Saturday everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2022 Steve McLeod.