Mornings are when I get time to myself in the house.
Since I love coffee in the morning, but coffee doesn't always love me. I switched over to decaf and it made a huge difference. I thought I'd go through caffeine withdrawal and have terrible headaches.
I didn't. But Folgers Decaf is some of the nastiest tasting stuff around. My son's girlfriend works for a coffee company and while talking with him last week I asked if she knew of any kind of decaf coffee that actually tasted good.
This week, I received a package in the mail.
Yum.
This is one of the flavors. Color me tickled to have a smooth and good tasting coffee in the morning. It helps me start the day out with a brighter mood.
Saturday was all about weather. Warming temperatures, ice, sleet, and then rain. As the temperatures warmed up to nearly 50 degrees, the melting snow and warmer air created instant ground fog.
Even though it was raining lightly, I decided to head out the door and explore the intense weather.
I knew that it would be just a short walk through muck, mud, and ice to get to the runoff area just west of our fenceline.
Aurora was absolutely correct in saying, don't follow the trails. Stay off the beaten path. This deer trail was treacherous.
The meltwater and ice follow this dip towards the bigger ditch.
The foam is due to organic matter in the stream like fall's dead leaves. Chunks of ice were slowly spinning around too.
This drops into another lower spot that is wider. I don't know how many years ago this vehicle was dropped in here, but it was probably used at the time to slow down erosion. Of course the water just goes around it.
Just past this car is another one that is nearly submerged in mud.
I kept walking down the hill to follow the water. I got almost to where the creek that flows into our land starts when I heard thunder and decided to hurry back to the house.
Here is a shot from about the same spot in 2018, after a huge rainfall February 21st.
Another storm came in and now the Kickapoo is flooding. I'm all up for going to the creek bottom and exploring today, even if it is dreary looking.
Who knows what I'll discover now that the temperatures have dropped to just below freezing again?
I am a little worried about you navigating this path on your own! But it is just beautiful! We switched to "half caff" before moving to decaf. My husband sticks to Maxwell House black, but I have a stash of flavored coffees from a nearby coffee shop and have turned into a barrista during the pandemic. I just doctor the coffee from the pot, I don't you to think I have one of those fancy pants machines that my daughters and daughter in laws got for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a fancy pot either, I used to make coffee the old way with boiling grounds and adding an egg whipped up to it. When the egg cooked to the grounds, add a cup of cold water and it all sank.
DeleteThe egg took out the bitterness.
Now I enjoy the coffee maker, the old cheap kind because our hard water gums them even after cleaning with vinegar.
I'm careful and have been hiking these lands for many years so I know what to expect. I had YakTraks on and really was quite careful.
:)
Like Taquamanan Falls in Michigan. (Upper Peninsula) The tannin stains the water brown. Very pretty.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been there. However, this is dirt and clay.
DeleteAh the peace to be found in nature! I always loved the spring melt and runoff. When I was a kid we would sail leaf boats in the little creeks.
ReplyDeleteI went from coffee to black tea and only having coffee on the weekends. It works good for me, probably because there's a fair amount of caffeine in black tea. But it doesn't get me as motivated as coffee does.
I don't know why but I seem just fine without the caffeine right now. I used to do a lot of odd shift work and then I needed it for sure!
DeleteI used to drink leaded Folgers back in my long retail hour days. I think I would drink tea now, instead of decaf. What a nice and thoughtful surprise to receive a tasty decaf option!! That would probably change my mind. I am glad changing to decaf has made a difference for you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I could wake up without a cup of joe. I am not a morning person. Of course these days I could just step outside to wake up, lol.
Great photo of your Fools Gold pic, the process fit's perfectly.
Water was really flowing by you! That run off is something else. Cool comparison pics.
I thought I could never do without the regular coffee and was surprised when I did. Though I've slept better than I have in ages, so I wonder if that really has anything to do with it.
DeleteThanks on the compliment! I had a lot of fun doing that shot setup and edit.
Looks like a melt to me, you will have grass soon:) Glad you found a coffee that works for you!
ReplyDeleteWe had more snow, but it will probably melt again today...Tuesday and then freeze again! But grass is showing in some areas!
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