Cold Weather has Arrived at Otter Creek

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With temperatures dropping into the low 20’s the past two days, winter has finally made itself felt in Otter Creek Valley. Ice ribbons greet the sunrise every morning as moisture from recent heavy rains finds it’s way to the surface. The relentless freezing of the clay topsoil will lift twigs and small sticks as much as three inches above ground level. Small rocks are also fair game for the expanding ice. Their complexity astounds me.

Skater ice forms on my rain barrel, rellecting a deep blue morning sky. The pattern lines are so perfectly straight.

Cattails look like delicate porcelin sculptures along the banks of Otter Pond.

Frosty Blackberry briars surround parts of the pond, reminding everyone that there is not supposed to be any fishing here!

Across the pond, Jack Frost has left his mark everywhere you look.

This view is from about 50 yards east of the house, and looks northeast over Otter Pond toward Long Mountain in the distance. Even without snow, the meadows can be very beautiful at sunrise.

As the sun was setting yesterday, the same area took on an entirely different flavor, with a salmon tinged sky warning of another very cold night ahead.

• January 5, 2013
• Mountain Lakes, Rutherford County, Uncategorized, Winter
• 5 Comments