The smart Canadians are all within about 100 miles of my place in South Texas, Montucky. And even they are cold, we got down to 30 for a few hours last night!
I might have to join them, FF&F! It’s about 8:30 here and the outdoor thermometer is reading -0.2º and heading down. I just put more wood in the stove.
I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the sub-zero temperatures either, but they usually don’t last long here. By Friday our nightly lows should be back above zero again.
Today I was photographing an icy section of the Flathead river (I’ll post some photos tomorrow) and was watching some huge chunks of ice floating down through a channel in the middle of the river. Right in the middle of it all the was a diving duck who would float a ways, dive down, and then come back up right next to a big chunk of ice. He seemed to be right at home there. The air temp was well below zero in that canyon, and I was thinking that about the very last thing I’d want to do would be to get all wet and go out into that cold air!
Not a choice I would want to make, but they don’t seem to mind. It’s incredible how the wild critters can survive the often harsh conditions! When it’s really cold like this I always make sure there are plenty of sunflower seeds out for the local birds, but also realize that they did quite well for thousands of years before I got here.
The good thing about Georgia is that we don’t see stuff like -2. We had some pretty good looking snow the other day and it freaked people out. It didn’t accumulate on the ground much though. The only time I see those geese around here is in the summer. They’re all down at FF&F’s place.
When I was in North Carolina, it snowed a little one winter and it was interesting to see the reaction to it. Up here we know that the snow is actually warm because the clouds keep the temperature up and the snow on the roof acts as a great insulator. I know I couldn’t convince FF&F of that though.
I don’t understand the habits of these geese. There are huge numbers of them that will migrate to warmer climates, but also a population that stays here all winter.
The smart Canadians are all within about 100 miles of my place in South Texas, Montucky. And even they are cold, we got down to 30 for a few hours last night!
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Comment by FF&F — January 21, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
hehe…great shot. I am frozen just reading that temperature! *brrr*
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Comment by Sumedh — January 21, 2008 @ 9:37 pm
I might have to join them, FF&F! It’s about 8:30 here and the outdoor thermometer is reading -0.2º and heading down. I just put more wood in the stove.
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Comment by montucky — January 21, 2008 @ 9:39 pm
Sumedh,
I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the sub-zero temperatures either, but they usually don’t last long here. By Friday our nightly lows should be back above zero again.
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Comment by montucky — January 21, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
uh-uh!!!
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Comment by silken — January 21, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
silken,
Today I was photographing an icy section of the Flathead river (I’ll post some photos tomorrow) and was watching some huge chunks of ice floating down through a channel in the middle of the river. Right in the middle of it all the was a diving duck who would float a ways, dive down, and then come back up right next to a big chunk of ice. He seemed to be right at home there. The air temp was well below zero in that canyon, and I was thinking that about the very last thing I’d want to do would be to get all wet and go out into that cold air!
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Comment by montucky — January 21, 2008 @ 11:05 pm
Stand bare-footed in the snow, or jump in the freezing cold water. Hmmm…what a choice.
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Comment by Pinhole — January 22, 2008 @ 6:13 am
Not a choice I would want to make, but they don’t seem to mind. It’s incredible how the wild critters can survive the often harsh conditions! When it’s really cold like this I always make sure there are plenty of sunflower seeds out for the local birds, but also realize that they did quite well for thousands of years before I got here.
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Comment by montucky — January 22, 2008 @ 9:27 am
The good thing about Georgia is that we don’t see stuff like -2. We had some pretty good looking snow the other day and it freaked people out. It didn’t accumulate on the ground much though. The only time I see those geese around here is in the summer. They’re all down at FF&F’s place.
Malcolm
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Comment by knightofswords — January 22, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
When I was in North Carolina, it snowed a little one winter and it was interesting to see the reaction to it. Up here we know that the snow is actually warm because the clouds keep the temperature up and the snow on the roof acts as a great insulator. I know I couldn’t convince FF&F of that though.
I don’t understand the habits of these geese. There are huge numbers of them that will migrate to warmer climates, but also a population that stays here all winter.
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Comment by montucky — January 22, 2008 @ 9:05 pm