We're enjoying moderate temperatures today. There wasn't a lot of sunshine, but it was comparatively bright and we didn't get any snow! We just came back from a short snowshoe trek into the woods in back of our house. I was surprised at the amount of snow in the woods. This was the first time I've been on snowshoes this year - Fred has used them to bring in some of the seasoned wood piled in the woods in back of our house. That's me trying to locate the top of one of the piles. I was near our grape arbor and the top rail of that was chest high; it is actually over six feet off the ground. I estimate I was standing on well over three feet of snow and there were at least another eight inches of new, fluffy snow on top of that. It was just borderline difficult snowshoeing because of the deep snow. I was very glad to have Fred breaking trail for me, otherwise I'm sure I would have quit after the first five minutes. Going through the woods there was so much snow it was hard to tell if we were going over the tops of trees or across downed trees, and we frequently slipped or the snow caved under our weight. Fortunately, I didn't fall into any holes, but as soon as I could find one, I used a stick to help balance me. I don't usually use poles when I snowshoe, but today I wished I had them. My stick would hit the crusty snow left from our last thaw, a foot or so down, then as soon as I put any weight on it, it would break through and send me off balance, but still it helped some. I was tired by the time we got back, and I don't think we were out more than half an hour or so. I will probably feel it in my muscles tomorrow, too.

The scenery was wonderful, and everything in the woods is so still, it's lovely to be out there. We saw a track where a deer had gone into the cedars near our house - must have been hard going. There were a few other tracks, but hard to tell what they were. Snowshoe rabbits or squirrels, I suppose. There were no new signs of activity, and the tracks we saw were covered with new snow.

You can see that there's quite a slope in back of our house, which means a good climb as we start off, but it's downhill all the way home, and that's always very welcome. The last picture is Fred arriving in our back yard ahead of me. We will try to get out again soon - but I expect the freezing rain and warmer weather for the next few days may delay our going right away. We try to keep paths through the woods, and usually there are several routes that are well packed so it's easier to manage walking on them. Our daughter-in-law, Marie, has been out a few times on trails further up the hill that come from where she and Jamie live, but Fred and I didn't get up there today.
Marie had a few days off last week and took Otto, their new puppy, with her snowshoeing. She said he seemed to love being out in the snow - he has some coon hound in him, so I expect he'll be right at home romping in the woods when he gets a little older.

So that was our adventure today. Now it's time for some beans and hotdogs. I hear you chuckling. It's Saturday night - doesn't everyone have beans and franks on Saturday night?