A Different Winter

I took this photo on January 1 as I was driving to sister’s house to celebrate the New Year. I had more than 1.5 inches of rain the night before, and all the creeks were high. It’s cleared now, and Roundtop made some snow last night, though the temperature only dipped to the upper 20’s. I still can’t get used to a winter where the daytime and nighttime temperatures are about 20 degrees above normal.

Dog and I walked over to the new pond this morning, under the light of the full moon. Although the eastern horizon was still dark, the moon was bright enough that I could pick my way through the woods and only trip once or twice. January’s moon is usually called Cold Moon—not exactly the case this year.

Some animals that usually hibernate, at least for a few weeks, are not hibernating. In the past two days I’ve seen two opossums killed on the road. Usually they disappear during the winter. So far, I haven’t seen any raccoons, live or dead, so I think they are hibernating despite the warm weather.

In some ways, it might be interesting to see the differences in bird, animal and plant life that will take place because of the warm winter—though I wish that this was something I wouldn’t have to see.