A Winter Walk

On Saturday afternoon January 21, after a fresh snow fall the night before, Karen and I decided to got out for a walk. We headed out the lane to walk out on some county roads, when Karen suggested we drive over to Pisgah marsh and walk there. So, we headed back to the house grabbed a camera in case we saw something interesting and drove over to Pisgah. As the Crow flys Pisgah is a little over two miles from our house, but once the State closed the county road that used to go through the marsh and let it flood, we have to travel about five mile to get there. We were glad to find the county road, that went to the parking area, plowed out but the drive up to the parking area was not. Since it was clear that no one had been there in the past 24 hours, no foot prints, we parked on the road and walked in. The snow was light and fluffy about 5" deep and unspoiled. Once we started out on the board walk we realized that the stain that was put on the wood decking was going to be pretty slippery with the powdery snow on it. caution was the word and off we went anyway.

Here are a couple of interesting critters. You can see that the male is more brightly colored than the female.

As we walked in the views were nice with the fresh blanket of snow.

The bright blue sky and white snow really highlighted the bare branches of the trees.

All of the little beaver ponds were frozen so we didn't expect to see any of the ducks, geese or other water fowl that we normally see. We were struck by just how quiet it was. Even though it was quite cold the sun felt warm as we headed back to the car. On the way back we could hear a couple of Blue Jays making a racket. I have always enjoyed walking in the woods in the winter and hearing the sounds of the few birds that stay year around. With the leaves off the trees it's pretty easy to spot them as well.

When we got back to the car I suggested extending our walk by hiking on the road a ways. About half way between the parking area and the highway there is a small pond that is privately owned right beside the road. Just as I got near the pond a great blue heron took off. Since I was not expecting to see any wildlife there it took a minute to dig my camera out of my pocket to try to get a picture.

The pond was frozen solid, so I have no idea why the heron would have been there in the first place.

At any rate it was a nice walk.

Snow

Finally Snow. As I write this we are having this year's first "snow storm" It is cold and windy and there is 3 to 4 " of snow on the ground. We didn't have much snow in December. These photos below were taken in late December when Karen and I went out into the wood to retrieve our ground blinds after the end of deer hunting season. The snow only lasted a couple of days, but it was pretty while it lasted.


We walked in perhaps a quarter mile, which was "fun" in the heavy wet snow.

We walked across quite a bit of open field to get back to the woods.

The wooded areas were really nice. Out of the wind, snow filtering down through the trees.

The monochromatic color is quite a contrast to the last post that I made.

We has a nice walk in the woods and we recovered all three of our ground blinds.

HJH family Christmas 2011

Our Family Christmas gathering was at Blake and Apryl's on December 26. We started gathering there in the late afternoon and Karen started getting some goodies out for snacks.

Those who get there early started with entertaining things like coloring.

Eventually the eating began.

Trae has the distinct pleasure of having a birthday within two days of Christmas.

We try hard to make it a separate thing

But it is inevitable that some of his Birthday presents will come wrapped in Christmas decor.

Everyone was relatively patient waiting for the main event when all those pretty packages could be opened.

The waiting is after all not the most exciting thing in the world.

We did get everyone to agree to a few quick family pictures before we began.

Karen started with passing out stockings which yielded the first samples of great things to come.

Stocking often have little tiny things

and sometimes something really strange.

Ethan calmed himself while all the stocking stuffers were secured.

Trae borrowed Uncle Jon's hat

So Jon found something else to wear.

There was a discussion as to how to without too much ciaos distribute presents.

Everyone found a comfortable spot and prepared for the grand opening.

It was fun to watch the faces of those who discovered something new.

Boys got boy things.

and Girls got girl things.

Athletic team (De Bears) and Purdue shirts seemed to be popular.

It is amazing what joy a teddy bear can bring.

A new interesting game seems to be keeping generations of people busy.

Interesting gifts that have stories behind them like this taco holder seemed to be popular as well.

After the gift giving there was plenty of time to visit and share stories. We all had a really good time this year. It was a real blessing to spend a little time together as a family.