Cold and dark...did I mention COLD?

We have had our first of what appears to be a series of cold fronts coming through this weekend. The next few days will be exciting.

Yesterday there was ice - on railings and steps, but only a little on our roadways. DH and I both took the day off from work to assist with a move. We took the bridges and overpasses slowly. We had no trouble, but we saw that others did.

It was (and still is) in the 20s when we woke. The pups were inside for the night and would need a good walk. [Perhaps that is why we have pets - they encourage us to get our exercise, even on days when we want to stay under the covers.] DH and I agreed we needed to stretch our muscles and loosen our joints after walking up and down stairs uncountable times yesterday. We dressed in our warmest gear (or almost warmest gear. DH has some fur-lined parkas that are unbelievably warm AND unwieldy.) and headed to the park.

Nanook (Or Army Santa with dogs instead of reindeer).

We celebrated finding the streets and sidewalks dry. The dogs have taken me on an unexpected sledding adventure on ice (and through mud) before. It isn't fun and it isn't pretty. It is hard enough to manage the big animals. I fear I am getting too old for large dogs.

The Christmas lights were bright along our walk. Our neighbors have been busy. (We, as usual, are late.) We noticed the decorated wire deer in one yard. I took their photo - perhaps the only deer we would see today. [Don't deer "go to ground" and stay in some protected cover when its dark and the cold winter wind blows? ]

Decorations. I thought the white spots came from dust on the sense...figured it out later.

The sky was overcast and the clouds delayed the dawn. But we were also a little earlier than recent walks on lazy weekends. Then I thought I heard tiny "tick, tick, ticks" on my hood. I turned to face the wind and felt the small snowflakes against my cheeks.

"It's snowing!" was my comment to DH. "Huh?" was his reply, but he turned on his flashlight* and the flurries were illuminated in its beam.

This is what snow flurries look like in the flash of my old camera - (I should have saved this and said it was a meteor shower).

We laughed and decided that we might be some of the few to see these flurries...most sensible people were still in bed, or at least inside and warm. And, good man that he is, DH began to suggest we turn around. "This could get messy," said he. "So, go home and get the car," I responded. "You can come pick us up in the park."

And we walked on in silence for a bit. We watched the wind blow the snow across the side streets before depositing it in the cracks along the curbs and sidewalks.

As we approached the bottom of the last hill Scruffy perked up and spun around - gaining our attention in time for us to see the herd of deer running up from the creek, across the street, and into the park. Paddy too caught on and I suddenly had two hunting dogs on the leash.

We walked (or should I say I was dragged) into the park to see the deer (four good sized does) under the pecans. They were not happy to see us and continued their race across the front part of the park across the park road and, finally, into the woods beyond. The dogs were insistent that we follow. So we walked to the dirt track and headed towards the first meadow.

The dogs chased every scent. They tried to head down the deer paths that run off here and there all along the road. And it grew light. The wind blew the the grasses in the meadow. And all was quiet save the wind and a few birds with their morning songs. Paddy leaned against me and I felt her warmth - reminding me just how cold I was starting to be, in spite of the layers of clothing.

Time to turn for home.

"Darn," I said (laughing) to DH. "Didn't I tell you that you could go get the car and pick us up in the park?"

He laughed too and reminded me that I had wanted a good stretch this morning.

We walked home noticing that the flurries had stopped. But the bitter winter wind continued to blow.

Scruff with our mini "snowdrift" in the cracks of the park bridge

 

Only the camera could see the flurries in the park. The deer are in the shadows.

Let's go home for breakfast!

*No, it is not the yellow flashlight I offered the neighbor who was searching for his dog a week or so ago. We are still waiting for its return (flashlight, not dog). DH reminded me of this a number of times before admitting that he too had agreed to the loan. Perhaps there will be one in his stocking in a few weeks.