More weather shenanigans

Yesterday the weather continued its mild streak and Frederick and I pottered around in For-Mar and at Stepping Stone Falls:

Then we woke up to this this morning:

The only thing that stops the ducks from despairing is that I left the tap on all night while topping up their little tub and now the back half of the yard is flooded.

Panoramas

A walk at Seven Lakes led me to try out my panorama feature on my new cellphone camera.

 The one below didn't work too well.  As I think I remember Eric Morecambe saying, you can see the join.

 And yes, these are actually colo(u)r photographs.  Like Calvin's dad said about the past, it's the world that's black and white at the moment.

Not a panorama, just a good shot of the still-frozen lake.  It's been warmer the past couple of days (i.e. above freezing) but people are still out on the ice.  I wouldn't risk it...

The nest gets emptier again

 At 7:30 this morning we put Thomas on the train for Chicago.  It seems like our Winter semester has been going for weeks, but his doesn't start until Monday.  Here is all that remains:

 This is a backpack he's had since the beginning of high school.  It finally died and here it lies.

I'll miss the little turkey, so help me.  (Thomas, that is, not the backpack.  Thomas makes backpacks last, I'll say that for him.  I think he had the previous backpack right from the first day at Doyle Ryder Elementary.)

Wacky Weather

Thursday:

 Happy ducks:

 Friday (sad ducks)

Frozen Lake

Last Winter it wasn't cold enough to feel safe walking across any big lake - no such worries this year.

 Holes left by the mysterious, rarely-seen ice moles.

 Or perhaps it was just ice-fishers, like those who left these tents out on the ice.

So very cold

It was so cold today, they closed the university even though there was no snow.  It was so cold that the shower in our basement stopped working.  (Fortunately it doesn't seem to have burst the pipes, though.)  It was so cold that this is what happened to the exhaust from our heating (that the ducks huddle under all day) that we left on overnight:

Gone Granny Gone

Seems like she just got her!  We kept her working hard right up to the end:

But then it was time for her to go:

 (This lady had views about Call The Midwife and a hilarious anecdote about how she once worked in the airport in Manchester, NH and somebody arrived expecting to be in Manchester, England.)

 Several delays while alarms went off, apparently for no reason.

It looks bitterly cold NOW, but in fact Granny is getting out just before it gets SERIOUSLY cold.
Come back soon, Granny!  The leftovers will all be eaten up in a matter of days!