Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Shadow Shot Sunday: Tree Shadow

Though our snow is long gone, I'm still working on a backlog of shadows in the snow.  In this image I was taking a shot of the tree shadow and the thousands of little bird prints in the snow when a bird (a Dark-eyed Junco, I think) decided to contribute its shadow too.

Please visit Hey Harriet to join in the Shadow Shot Sunday fun.

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Shadow Shot Sunday: Tree Shadow

Nature Notes: Snow Stories

There are many things not to like about the ground being covered with snow, but one of the good things is being able to glimpse the previous night's events written in the snow.  Rabbit, deer and even coyote tracks are fairly common, but this was the first time I've seen evidence of an owl pouncing on prey.

To see more nature photos or participate in Nature Notes, please visit Rambling Woods.

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Nature Notes: Snow Stories

Shadow Shot: Cow Trails

Cow trails through the snow.

This is our driveway, which is around .8 of a mile long (1.3 km).  We are snowbound until the snow melts.  Three days of sunshine and daytime temperatures above freezing have melted a lot of the snow, but there's still much left to melt before we can make a trip out.

Please visit Hey Harriet to join in the Shadow Shot Sunday fun.

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Shadow Shot: Cow Trails

My World In Black and White

An "X" in the snow marks the location of my world in recent days.  

How was the "X" formed?  Ice accumulated on the power lines above, forming an ice tube around the line.  When the sun came out, it melted the top off the tube and the remaining ice fell to the ground.  These two pieces just happened to land on the snow in the pattern of an "X'.  The rake-like tines on one side were caused by icicles hanging down from the tube's bottom side.

An additional couple of inches of heavy, wet snow fell overnight.  This photo was not converted to black and white.  My world IS black and white on Monday morning.

Please visit My World to participate and/or find links to other photos from around the world.

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My World In Black and White

Tree Year 2011: American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) #3

Our American Persimmon enjoyed a variety of weather over the past week.  Tuesday (2/1/11) began with light rain.  Our temperature dropped below freezing mid-morning, the rain became freezing rain and ice began accumulating on everything that was up off the ground.  The freezing rain lasted for several hours, but fortunately, there was not enough ice accumulation to cause any limbs breakage or other visible damage to our trees.  Sleet and the a light dusting of snow followed the freezing rain.

Wednesday was mostly clear and cold yielding lots of sparkling ice, but little melting.

Snow began mid-day on Friday (2/4/11) and kept falling throughout the afternoon and evening.  We were predicted to receive a couple of inches of snow, but about twice that amount actually fell.  It was a wet, sticky snow that clung to the trees, but caused no damage.  Saturday was sunny and our temperature climbed up to around 40°F/4°C.  There was much snow melting, but plenty of it is still around.

Celebrate a tree in 2011.  It's easy:  Observe, photograph, sketch, discuss and share with other tree huggers.  Please click the logo above for participation details.

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Tree Year 2011: American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) #3

Shadow Shot:: A Shadow in Black and White

The remnants of our last snow were reduced to hiding in the shadows when I took this photo.  Now we have 6+ inches of new snow on the ground.

To participate in Shadow Shot Sunday and/or get links to more shadow shots, please click the logo above.

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Shadow Shot:: A Shadow in Black and White

Tree Shadow in the Snow

Right after our last snow we got a few brief moments of sunshine before the sky clouded back up again.

To participate in Shadow Shot Sunday and/or get links to more shadow shots, please click the logo above.

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Tree Shadow in the Snow

Melting: Snow Removal the Old Fashioned Way

Sunshine and temperatures in the upper forties lead to much snow melting on Friday.  Above is the worst section of our driveway.  It never receives any sunshine.  With a little weight in the rear of the bed of our little pickup truck, I'm pretty sure we could make a trip out, but since we have no where we need to go, we didn't try.

With the low angle of winter's sun, even a slight change in the road's tilt or direction can make a big difference in whether or not it receives sunshine and melts the snow.  Above is the beginning of the section shown in the top photo.

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Melting: Snow Removal the Old Fashioned Way

Afternoon Walk In The Snow

Jo and Rusty heading home on our afternoon walk.

We got a little bit of snow on Sunday, only a couple of inches.  Since then, we've enjoyed mostly sunny days, but our temperatures have remained mostly below freezing.  Not much of the snow has melted.

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Afternoon Walk In The Snow

Nature Notes: Frost Flowers

From a previous post:  Frost flowers occur when the air temperature is below freezing but the ground remains unfrozen.  Here in the Ozarks, that is a fairly common wintertime event.  Our ground never freezes deeply and usually thaws between cold snaps. Some dried weed stems continue drawing moisture up from the ground.  A frost flower forms when water inside a plant stem freezes, expands and is extruded through cracks in the stem forming thin ribbons of ice. Air bubbles trapped in the ice make it appear frothy white. The extruded ribbons of ice are often much more petal-like than the ones pictured here.  Because the stem cracks are irregularly  shaped and the ice pressure inside the stem varies over time, the extruded ice curves and bends.  Like snowflakes, no two frost flowers are ever alike.

Not all plants form frost flowers.  Two of the more common ones that do are yellow ironweed ( Verbesina alternifolia) and white crownbeard (Verbesina virginica). In fact, white crownbeard also is commonly called frostweed.

Another previous post featuring frost flowers, including the shot used to illustrate frost flowers on Wikipedia.

Editors Note (1/13/11):  I'm honored that the frost flowers in this post inspired the following poem by Kris Lindbeck.

You woke up

to frost flowers:

dry weeds

becoming miracles

over one cold night.

Thank you, Kris.

(You can follow Kris on Twitter or visit his blog Haiku etc.)

To participate in Nature Notes and/or see more nature photos, please click the logo above.

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Nature Notes: Frost Flowers