and the Sun did return......

 

 

Been over a week now since we've seen any sunshine, so this mornings rays, peaking up over the eastern skyline,  was a welcome sight. It's return did come with a price though, 5 degree outside temps...yikes! In the last week  we've had blizzard and winter storm warnings, both of which seemed over hyped to me. After it was all said and done we ended up with about 6 inches of snow, not bad considering. The endless gray days do wear on you.

 

I could tell by the way things looked outside that there was a decent coating of hoar frost on and having been cloistered inside for a number of days I decided to bundle up and take a morning sunrise walk to see it all.

 

 

One of the interesting things about a fresh coat of snow is that it records the travels of different wild things that one normally can't see. As I stepped off the front porch I saw how the deer had been busy in our front yard. I followed their meanderings and it lead me to a group of hawthorn trees I planted nearly 17 years ago. When we bought the property we planted over 500 trees that first year, not all hawthorn but all kinds of nut and fruit bearing trees, along with fair share of evergreen. The deer seem to particularly like the hawthorn berries, evidenced by the lack of fruit up to about 6' off the ground. A picture of one of the tree is below:

 

The rest of the tree is loaded with brilliant red berries which the birds and squirrels will end up finishing off.

The hoarfrost turns our fields into a sea of crystal and catching it in the first mornings light always seems to conjure  up the wonderment we all lose in chasing that ghost we call life.

I took a number of shots but it's so difficult to capture how delicate and amazing the ice crystals are. Delicate in their patterns and also in their lifespan. I knew that within an hour  most of it would be gone, burnt off by the sun we had been so missing. So here's my feeble attempt to capture some  of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another reason for my morning  walk was to make my way over to the cabin to check on the inside temperature. I 've been trying to get the thermostat on the heater figured out. It has low, medium and high marked on the knob, with large spaces between. I've been taking an ink pen to mark different temperatures on the knob in an effort to "fine tune" it. My goal was to keep the place around 50 degrees throughout the winter months.

 Took a shot of the deck when I got over there.

 

 

 

I didn't even go into the cabin. I just peeked in through  the siding glass doors and I could see the inside temperature was 51 degrees, not bad.

 

 

In four weeks I should be watching the sunrise in temperatures about 70 degrees warmer, can't wait.

 :-)