It should have been

 ...a good day to stay inside and do...

Well. Read, nap, lounge, make chili ..or maybe even go through things and purge more crap out of drawers and the basement.

But by mid afternoon I was climbing the walls. I took Charlie out for a walk with me and he made it about 40 steps before his feet froze. I carried him back to the house and let him in. 

I thought I'd go finish breaking a trail up through the summer meadow and grab the trail camera down in the woods. With the subzero temps, I figured the batteries would be dead.

The wind chills were still in the - Below Zero Range, so I covered up. Since I live in a hilly and forested area, I can walk into the woods and avoid the winds. But covering my face and eyes is by far the most important thing for me to do.

I got down into the woods and retrieved the trail cam. Of course there was this shot of me walking during the snowstorm. 

And here is a shot of me coming to get the camera. In both of these photos I am using snowshoes. The more often I break trail, the better it is to walk on. During the storm, I was  up to my knees even with snowshoes on.

It was pleasant in the woods, but my feet did start to get cold since I'd neglected to put on my snow boots. 

The walk was beautiful. I'm not going to kid you. I did not march with great speed up and down the hills. It is very hard work with snow shoes and deep snow. I walked, I rested, I looked around and admired the scenery.

I do love shadows on the snow from the trees. Out in the meadow there were oak leaves sticking in the snow like this. I always find it amusing as to how they ended up that way.

I have to give a nod to Aurora  at equine expressions and her beautiful winter photos that are always inspiring! Where there are oaks and snow, there will be those oak leaves doing their cool winter things!

The sunshine is so welcome to see after what feels like months of dreary skies.

Even the mules enjoyed it.

The photos are soft because I took this shot through the window and screen.

Today's menu includes chicken veggie soup with rice. I have to go tomorrow to town and get some groceries as the cupboards are getting a bit thinned out.

Charlie and I finally got a nice long walk in this morning. I walked along our plowed road and out to the ridge and back. I figured Charlie would get cold feet, but he didn't. He trucked right along and chased as many smells as he could.

We noticed that the deer had been out in the soybean field digging up snow like crazy. I imagine the food is harder for them to get now that they have to contend with deep snow.

Stay warm and enjoy the sunlight if you have it!