a snowy day

Woke up to a couple of inches of snow covering Vermont like powdered sugar. Salt trucks on the road. Season of windshield washer fluid. The salt and sand is spread from the trucks in a circular fashion. When it melts through, there are semicircles of darkness left in the snow, like a parade of parentheses.

call

from Larry Meade on flickr

I was watching the 49er game last Sunday, and my friend Chris said that he had heard a bird on Thursday that one hears in the summer. I heard the same bird on Thursday as well. I have heard the same call during the winter the last three years. I thought it was a bird that had returned from the south. I understand from a woman at work that it's actually a black capped chickadee which is a bird that stays over the winter. What changes is the kind of call that's used. The usual call is a warning call while the newer call is a territorial or mating call in anticipation of spring. I heard another spring like call at work the other day. My co-worker said it sounded like a tufted titmouse.

"dead" of winter

Rainy. The other day I was driving to Proctor along the Otter Creek. I came upon this scene. There were hundreds of Canada Geese. I'd never seen anything like this before. I stopped to take a photo. The place was so vibrant and alive with the sights and sounds of wildness. Three ducks went flying over in their hell bent for leather manner. There was even some kind of raptor skulking around along the fringes. It is thrilling to experience these concentrations of life during the "dead" of winter.
I asked about it at work, and was told that during winters when there are patches of open water, ducks and geese will stay around. It was wonderful to see.

steam

 from quinn.anya on flickr

We've had some cold days. Ice forming on the Ira creek. Steam coming off the water. The other day I found my wool hat stuck to the frost forming at the bottom of the door jamb.

January thaw

We seem to be going through a January thaw. Squirrels out and about. Raining on top of ice which makes for slippery walking. Not burning wood during the day to save on the wood pile. Caterpillar ambling across the walkway at work, very slowly

the twins

from Utah Skies on Google Images

Windy. Saturday night was cold and clear. I went outside to do some star gazing. Wood smoke pouring out of the chimney. I was looking for some Caldwell objects, and one of them, NGC 2237, is located at the foot of the constellation Gemini; Castor & Pollux, the "Twins." Finding these Caldwell objects is a struggle for me, and I looked at Gemini for a long time. As I was looking, putting the celestial pieces together, I finally got it. I could really see the twins. They were holding hands, skipping their way across the night sky. I had that feeling that I often get from astronomy of the expanding of my heavenly universe, that I was welcoming the "Twins" into my personal neighborhood.

???

What color is snow anyway?