Wetland walk

 It's not really walkies without a cat. The snow is too deep for Cinnamon, although it's been warmer. I forgot my scarf, and my gloves don't match, but I managed. I have another black and gray pair that match. Somewhere!

There are lots of deer beds in the snow. 

The wetland is rough walking. Durn good exercise, though! I followed the deer trails, but there are two problems with that:

1) They have skinny legs and my snowshoes don't fit into their trails.

2) They are on all fours and I keep having to duck under branches!

It's tricky, as my glasses used to protect my eyes, and I have to be careful. 

I have more evidence of LDD moths. There are many egg casing on the trees. What they tell me are the ones higher up will be killed if not at the base of the tree, perhaps covered in snow? I am hopeful, as it is a chilly -34 C.

You can see the egg casings all over the tree, and up high on the branches. It is terribly disturbing, and I've been trying not to think of it, but I have to be mentally prepared.

I hope this fine tree manages in spring. 

Here is trailcam #1. 

It's all about layers!

My boots got fairly snowy. I put them on the heater and had a nice hot shower. This morning, when I had to put out the garbage in the cold and dark, they were toasty warm!

Snowshoe time!

Friday, vs. Saturday!  🌴Balmy!


I did a brief Facetime with Caitlin. No phone, you know. We're about to buy a new cell phone plan, I bounced some ideas off of her. (Josee and Papa were off downhill skiing.) Grampa hustled into town to get some groceries before the stores got busy and the snow had accumulated.

It was World Wetland Day: Saturday, Feb. 2nd. The wetland is pretty unfriendly right now! It's so pretty, and full of life, in summer. I can dream.

Knowing rain was on the way, I thought it best to get out on the land before conditions deteriorated. It was heavy going. There was a blizzard. I took my GPS, whose maps are out of date. It was a good trek: nearly an hour and a km. The bottom left squiggles are where I shoveled the sidewalk. The bottom right detour was where I went back for the trailcam SD card,

I fell once. Snowy head to toe. It was a soft landing... I met the turkeys on the return leg.
They were on trailcam #2. Me, too!

Here we go. They aren't too exciting, these photos, but it was quiet, the odd chickadee flew up into the trees. The critter tracks were major grooves in the snow, as they save energy using the same path.

Can you see the turkeys? I meet them all the time. I saw one fly away from me, and it smucked itself into a branch, the noise of their big wings swishing. I felt badly for it!

Monday

I was out snowshoeing, again, Monday. It was awful. I spotted some blood on the trail, which means a deer might have shed an antler. I hauled myself back up to the garage and put the snowshoes on.


Alas, nothing. A difficult walk, but good exercise. The top crunchy layer must be awful for the critters. It was an awful walk around the wetland. The top layer of frozen rain on the snow led to an ice crust, on top of knee-deep snow. The poor turkeys are up to their chests. The deer wander through knee-deep snow with a horrid crust.

We were really wise NOT to do the driveway. The back deck shows where I shoveled, and where the ice rain stuck. The crust makes it difficult walking.


This morning, Tuesday, we had rain overnight. I hope snowshoe season isn't over.