Fresh snow this week (about 3 inches) on top of a couple last week freshened up the trails nicely. Still not enough snow for snow mobilers and the Beargrease was cancelled, but enough to ski on the lake and Agate Ally road. Been skiing by headlamp at 5:30 am with Carolyn and the pups ( a little nervous with a wolf pack reputed to have 35 wolves, but no sign of them). Lots of animal tracks in the snow, from little mice, to lots of hare, and Kathryn said she saw cougar tracks. A cougar has been sighted in Northwoods road (only 1/4 mile from our house).

Temps were up near 30 earlier in the week, but down to -5 this morning and high of 19, but wind chill below zero.

Lots of birds at the feeders - both variety and quantity: hairy woodpecker, pine and evening grosbeak, pine siskins, red polls, nuthatch and chickadees. Yesterday we went To Patrick's on Lake Muenising, and there were trucks driving on the and lots of ice fishing tents and even some shacks. Also saw 2 bald eagles swoop down and eat fish remains after some fishing people left.

After a worryingly warm and dry couple of weeks we are finally getting a couple of inches of fresh snow and temps predicted to dip down to more seasonable teen and single digit (above zero F) temps. We lost most if the snow cover on our lake, but I have kept up skiing on it. High temps last week broke records all over the state, and in one place by 30 degrees!

This morning I'm back skiing on a logging road in the woods, and it's magical. Soft snow falling all around me, and fresh tracks of animals cross crossing the trail -- including lots of wolf tracks and the remains of a wolf kill (which my dogs loved!).

Home again after a trip out east to visit family for Christmas. So nice to be back where there is snow -- and a fresh coat the night before we came home (not much, but every little helps!). I cleared off the ice rink right away, and Pea and I went for a walk across the lake, stopping to visit some ice fishermen who had just caught this 28" Northern. Then Pea found a very old, dead, jerkified squirrel which she devoured despite my best efforts to get it away from her. Disgusting!

I'm taking care of our friends' dogs (on Briar Lake) while they are away, and discovered that there is enough snow to ski on on the trail in the woods by their house, so this morning Pea and I went for our first woods ski. Lovely! I have been skiing on Barrs Lake for a couple weeks now, but not in the woods.

Our friends cleared a series of interconnecting ice rinks on Briar Lake, plus built a big snow woman on one -- see picture here. It looks so beautiful!

Temps dipped down into teens and firmed up the ice nicely on the lake, so I'm not worried about the dogs breaking through anymore (probably at least 2" thick). But too soon for me to venture out! Over on Spring Lake, though, I think it's a good 3-4 inches thick. I took some pics showing the ice patterns along the shore. Ice fascinates me! Over at Bagley at UMD the ice made beautiful patterns along the creek.

Yesterday we got about an inch of lovely fresh snow -- so beautiful, especially in the bright early morning sun.

Yesterday morning I went for a run along Spring Lake road and was stunned to see how quickly the logging operation there is proceeding. There are only 2 men working, one running the machine that cuts the trees down and slices them into logs, and another to pick up and stack the logs in huge, neat piles along the road. They were working as I ran by, do I watched them and couldn't believe how fast they go. It took about 30 seconds to cut a massive red pine down and snip it like a toothpick into what looked like 10ft lengths of logs.

The sad thing is the stand of trees they are logging is one of the most beautiful out here-- what used to be a magnificent tree lined road leading to Spring Lake :(

It was settling into a nice, crisp winter last week-- and then spring arrived! The temp yesterday got into upper 40s, melting most of the 2-3 inches of snow that we Hanson the ground, and turning the ice on the lake (which was about 1.5 inches thick) slushy on top. The beaver dam and creek up by Camp 5 is frozen over and looks quite thick (but water level really down). It is lovely being out in the woods just in a sweater!

Saw a porcupine up a tree yesterday, and lots of wolf scat. Big bald eagle flew over our house. Hairy woodpecker at out suet, and nuthatches, chickadees, sparrows (don't know what kind) at feeder. Pileated woodpecker in the tree by the house.

Winter is really here!! The lake is setting up nicely after temps dipped down to 8F (-13C) last night. It's about 4cm thick now, which is good for the cats and probably the pups, but not for us. The chickens' water froze solid a couple nights ago, so we've got the heater going out there now. Dog poop freezing up nicely, too ... Now if only I can remember to keep my mouth closed when I'm chipping the frozen poop out of the snow!!

First real snow on Tuesday -- enough for Kaitlin, Mason and I to have a snowball fight and make a snow person! Then the temp dropped below freezing by Wednesday and has stayed in the 20s since (so not getting about freezing, even for our high temp). The woods look so beautiful now in a fine new white coat!

This entry should be for my Tech Blog and not my phenology blog, but
I'm experimenting with uploading audio files to blogs, so wanted to
see if it works for me to record an audio file on my iPhone using the
Voice Memo app, and then email it from within the app to my Posterous
Blog. If this works, there should be an audio file to accompany this
post!:)

22 F this morning (8F yesterday), so the smaller ponds are starting to freeze over, and the morning frost getting serious. Water levels on the ponds and our lake really low this year. Still warm during the day (upper 40s yesterday), so students still out in t-shirts on their way home from classes. Geese are still around in town -- I saw a flock on the soccer field yesterday.

Went for a lovely run (interrupted repeatedly along the way by stops to take photos!) along the Superior Hiking Trail ( http://www.shta.org/SHT_in_Duluth/index.php) today. I can access the trail close to where we live, just off the Fox Farm Rd by the Sucker River.

The woods were kind of gray today, but that has a special beauty, too. There was a very "watery" sunrise with high cloud veil draped over the sun. All the leaves down now, and past the crisp, crunchy stage, and starting to decompose. I love the musty smell from these leaves and the damp earth. Soon they'll be covered in snow!

Back home I finished up the yard chores, putting away garden furniture for the winter, and pulling up the swimming raft onto the bank. I put Peanut in the car for a while so that the chickens could get out for a while. They had a great time digging around in the woods among the fallen leaves, and also scratching around in the still green grass in the yard.

I've also included here a photo of icicles on the chair on the dock. It got down into 20s again this week, coating everything in beautiful hoar frost again.