Should I?

Keep track or not?

So far this year I've gone on a walk/hike every single day with the exception of two days with the dangerous wind chills. On some days I remember to take my cell phone and activate a free app called MapMyWalk. 

I don't always remember to activate the app while taking my daily hike/walk. 

When the temps got up to 11 degrees I thought Charlie and I should go check out the old ridge road on the neighbor's land. Part of that old ridge road is used as a snowmobile route in the winter.

I thought the footing would be nicely packed and I wouldn't have to break trail.

I activated the app and thought it would be fun to see exactly how far it is to the creek and back using the road and the old snowmobile road.

The footing was not great. Charlie decided about a mile in that he wanted to be carried and we trudged all the way to the creek. AND I mean trudged. The trudging was downhill and as I trudged I thought, this is going to be very difficult going back up.
Normally with good footing, this is an fairly nice hike, yes it is uphill but it is not difficult. It is a good cardio workout.

We did stop at the creek where I wanted to look for some beautiful frosty formations along the water. The snow was over my knees when I climbed down to look for ice and frost.

I got a few shots to prove to myself that I was there and decided to head back up the hill.

With the drought, the creek has really been diminished. It flows, but the grasses and weeds that grow along its bank have taken over.

Still, I like to just go down into the valley and listen to the water. The sounds it makes are so pleasing and relaxing.

Here is Charlie standing guard on the trail while I climbed down next to the water to try and get a shot of the frosted grasses.

Frosted grasses and multi flora rose growing into the creek:

Returning UP the HILL was

demanding. And exhausting.

I figured it would be with the slightly churned up trail. IF I'd worn snow shoes I may have had a better grip. 

I decided I wasn't in a race and took my time.

Of course, I've never mapped out this walk and checked the details carefully. From where the mile numbers are in the map ---> 1 and 2, to the creek is a descent of 300 feet in a half of a mile. One section is very steep.
In 2/10 of a mile the ascent from the creek is 100 feet.

Huh.
No wonder I was struggling! Did I mention that I was carrying Charlie too?

When I got to this point I heard a snowmobile coming so I scooped up Charlie and stepped off to the side of the trail.

What a nice surprise. The fellow that was traveling, stopped and asked if I was okay. Did I need a ride somewhere?

[OMG...did I look that bad???]

I replied that we were fine, just out hiking and I lived about a mile away. 

When he continued on I looked up and saw a Sun Halo!

Cell phone shot....

Well indeed! That alone made the whole trip worth it.

When I got home Charlie and I stretched out on the couch and snuggled. 

So in the end. I wonder if it would be fun to track my daily mileage -- when I remember to activate the app. 

My second wondering...

Snowmobiler to friends: So out in the middle of NOWHERE, was a lady with a tiny dog and a backpack walking out of the valley on the trail! Was SHE nuts or what?

So far with my 'tracking' this month, I've had 16 miles of hiking just around home. I missed those subzero days for obvious reasons.

So Cool...

Yes, I still like winter. But I think I like it in a different way than other folks do.

When I had to wear a skirt and heels to work, I hated winter. When I lived in urban areas, I disliked winter and cold. After all, the snow was pretty for a few hours, then the snowplows came through. Where I lived when I was young, the city had garbage trucks double as plows. 

Once in a while the city drivers would plow a car's side. That was winter in the city. Folks would dig out their parking spot and deposit a chair in their place on the street when they left. The chair was a way of reserving your spot and hard work. It didn't always work.

When I moved where I am now in 1996 all of that changed and the seasons somehow became more interesting. 

I became a winter lover. A person who loves the cold and the snow. 

I learned how to be comfortable in a rather hostile environment. Believe me, it does take a bit of prep. For me, it is worth it as I can see things that most others don't.

I also live in an area where I can avoid the winds that chill a person through to the bone. The valleys provide warm sunny areas out of the winds even when it is well below freezing.

I stopped by the ice wall which is growing by leaps and bounds. Ground water seeps out of the top of the rock and sandstone and freezes as it makes its way towards the creek below.

The sun was bright and the light reflected off the ice was bluish. On other days it is more dull with other colors depending on how much soil and sand it has gathered.

I hiked out of the valley and into the bright sunlight. I found a spot out of the wind and sat in the snow just to listen and observe. I could hear a chickadee in the forest and a red tail hawk.

I'll tell you a little secret. I found that if I wear my goggles with my glasses on, the glasses fog up. So I take the glasses off and stick them in my camera bag. The dark lenses of the goggles protect my eyes from the glare of the snow.

I can see well enough in the distance and what I am walking over that the lack of the glasses isn't bad at all. 

There I was sitting when the hawk soared over me. I pulled out my camera and stuck it to my eye. There was no time to pull out my glasses, so I depended on the cameras Autofocus:

Not too bad.

I'd done the same thing when I saw a deer while walking in the creek. Mind you, it isn't a perfect shot, but considering I did it without any visual aids other than knowing I'd placed the AF focus point directly in the middle:

For close up work or menu adjustments, I need those glasses on. However, it was pleasing to see that the AF worked better than I thought it would. 

Cold weather is not for everyone. However we grew up playing in it.

Me age?

It takes a certain kind of nut to enjoy the cold.

Wednesday is supposed to be 39 or 40? Eeeks!

Time to get out the shorts!

Good Morning

The weather app said dense fog, but I saw the hazy moon and decided to walk out to the cropland on the ridge to try and get some pre dawn photos. Maybe I'd get lucky.

This was a bit of a struggle for me. There were so many things to look at and photograph, I could have stayed all morning. I wanted to stay until the sun came over the horizon, but duties back home sometimes dictate my time.

The walk to this part of the ridge is only a half mile. The cropland is the only part of the area this is not crowded by wild forest. I say wild, because well...it is! 

Not only did I get a look at the predawn light bouncing off the snow and tracks, I got valley fog!

Don't laugh but I did a little happy dance in the snow and then started to shoot. Since these conditions don't come around often I did a lot of guessing. 

I was enamored by the blue tint and reflections in the snow. Once on a discussion board for learning photography, I was told that snow always had to be white, no exceptions. Of course I argued about it. 
Well, since it was about 12 degrees out, I felt fine with the cold blue tint on the snow.

Anyway. My whole purpose of walking to this part of the ridge was to see that one lonely tree in the dip. My intention was to hike to the tree and shoot with the tree against the sky.

Pfft. I nixed that idea. First shot is with a 12mm lens wide open. The second shot is with the all powerful zoom as is the third shot. I had fun, I enjoyed it.  

I really struggled with the white balance and the colors bouncing off the snow. I am not afraid to admit it. 

I may try another trip down towards that tree a bit later this year. I still think it would be neat to get a solitary tree against a sunrise.

I headed back home.

Time to make the coffee and get my morning duties taken care of.  I could have happily stayed out for most of the morning. Wait, didn't I already say that?

I got hubby situated and then took Charlie out for a look see. Charlie was into finding rabbit pellets and deer pellets. We were both content.

I'm not sure, but I think this last one ended up as my favorite because I tried something very different.

Shoot at the sun with the trunk blocking it. The frost was coming down like a snowfall. 

It was more glittery in person.

So.

Good morning.

Hiking with...just me.

Sometimes the outside just calls out to you. I thought it would be nice to get in a nice fast and hard hike to the back valley. I wanted to see what the snow melt, the rains, and the sudden freeze did to the ice 'cave' and other spots.
I have some friends coming to visit this weekend and they'd like to see some water, ice, and ice formations on their hikes.

They are not afraid of cool or cold weather.

Like me, they know how to dress for it and enjoy the fact that there are no bugs to contend with in the winter. There is no oppressive heat or humidity either.

And I don't have to worry about 'doing' my hair.

A fox hat works just fine and when the cold winds blow, I let down the fur flaps. I do get a kick out of feeling the fox tail wiggle around as I walk. Makes me feel as if I have a pony tail [which I don't...I keep my hair short right now].

The woods with north facing hillsides had a hard slippery crunchy snow cover. Any coyote or other wildlife could've heard me coming for a long ways.
The ridge top was wind blown and frozen with no snow on it. Not good for anyone with alfalfa fields. But there I was!

I was headed down into the back valley, where the sun doesn't shine most of the winter.

I was not disappointed!

Ice...ice, ice! Everywhere on little rocks where the water splashed and on bits of grasses and roots that hung over the side of the creek bank.

And to my delight, I had arrived at just the right time to catch the reflection of the sun on the hillside lighting up the back valley creek.

You can see where the snow is gone from the edges of the creek. That is how full the creek was on Monday when it was raining. I wouldn't have been able to cross it at all during that time.

I knew that I didn't have much light left so I hurried along the side of the creek and started the climb out of the valley. I was curious if the water had created an ice formation at 'the cave'.

I had a huge desire to go back down the side here and get a better shot. Common sense prevailed. I had no one with me and I had to get home. I could have gone back to the bottom of the run and walked up, but that would take too long and I'd have to back track.
So I hurried up the trail and crossed the ridge again dropping back down into the valley that our creek is on.

I hurried along the creek noting all of the beautiful little ice 'fingers' and formations along the way.

At the Sandy Wall, I stopped. The light was fading quickly in the creek bottom. But I just had to get a photo...of....

...more cool ice...

And I felt the temperature dropping. I looked at the compass thermometer that is attached to my backpack and it read 9 degrees.

Time to head home.

I took on look back before heading up the hill road....

The evening sun was lighting up the woods above me....

And as I crossed a field of ice, I felt joy and accomplishment in my afternoon hike. There was a self satisfaction that is hard to explain to those who don't venture out in cold weather or enjoy pushing themselves a bit. For me this was a treat better than a dinner at a fancy restaurant or night out.
I got to see mother nature in her afternoon winter's glory.

Some folks sure don't like winter.

But I love it.

With my handy dandy GPS running watch, I'd logged 4 1/2 miles of hiking. No mean feat across this landscape.

Man it was great!

I loved the chill

Yesterday morning started out cold. It wasn't a killing frost, but anything that wasn't under a tree or the porch got nipped.

I used the remote for the Subaru for the second time since we bought it as I warmed up a cup of coffee and gathered a few items just before sunrise. September sunrises can be extremely colorful with all the moisture in the air. I had missed some spectacular colors this past week, but decided to go out and brave the first Frosty Morning.
The Subie was nice and warm when I hopped in and the windshield was defrosted.

I drove up to my morning spot and sat while the sky did it's thing.

Before the sun arrived, I headed back towards home but stopped to take a shot that is similar to the one I did with the IR filter a few days ago. At least there was a lot of color and you can see the frost on the fields.
Now if only they would stop putting up cell towers!

By chore time the winds had picked up and the clouds moved in. I wanted to go move the trail camera and gather up the temporary electric fence in the woods.
So after breakfast I headed out.

And...one thing led to another. For many years we had use of the neighbor's meadow that adjoins us. We used it all summer to graze our equine and hubby kept it clipped with his tractor and brush hog. After his stroke, we reduced the herd and I couldn't keep the Meadow up. Multi flora rose, burdock, and other weeds grew over the lines. I gave up and last fall started to take down the posts and fencing. I only got part of the way done by the time winter set in.

Yesterday was chilly enough for me to work in my old coveralls and a stocking cap. So I pulled out the 4 wheeler and buckled down to work.

Thick gloves and coveralls were a good thing. Pulling fence wire and posts in the above mess is not exactly fun. I brought nipper and clippers and in some places had to actually cut my way around a t-post in order to pull it.

I'd brought the 'fence puller' that hubby had made, but put it in the cart as the ground is still supple from all of the rain.

I filled the cart as full as it could get and headed back to the house with my load. I was thirsty, warm, and wanted something to eat.

I considered not going back out, but there was one last section to do. The dividing line we used to rotate pastures. The wire in this section was new so I'd save it.

I had something to eat. Rich said he wasn't hungry. He watched Netflix most of the day. I asked him to come help and he said he couldn't. Or well, maybe after he'd watched another episode of whatever he was watching.

When I sat on the bench to put my work boots back on. A Junco appeared and landed on the chair just across from me. It stared at me and tipped its head.
"Well hello!" I said.

My grandmother used to say that snow would arrive within 30 days or less after a Junco appeared.

I went out and pulled the rest of the posts and as I was coming back through the gate there he was! He'd come out to see what I was doing. He then did his 'walking' exercise. He only did the driveway twice but I considered that better than nothing.
He then volunteered to feed Dixie and the donkeys while I did the mules.

I consider that a win.

The cold air felt great on my face. I do like the cooler weather.
I know, I am odd.

But I do like the chill.
Winter is coming.