December photo project - First day of Winter

A walk around & about Bass Lake on a very foggy first day of Winter

Cloud shrouded island

 Pond upstream from Bass Lake

Small rock wall across the pond

Bridge at the small pond

Raindrops

Heart Ponds

Beaver dam on Bass Lake

Another view of the beaver dam

Wet 

Snow, flooding, and other stuff

The weather provided a bit of drama last month, including this sudden Friday snowstorm. Views are from the top floor of the library looking over campus.

Heavy rains hit the New River Valley which flooded the New River. Water was released from the dam upstream at Claytor Lake and RU didn't warn students in time to move their cars from the riverside parking lot. You can see the flooded river in the photo below and the submerged cars in the photo below that. These photos were also taken from the fifth floor of McConnell Library.

The New River swelling over its banks.

Zooming in shows the tops of submerged cars.

Meanwhile, while the weather raged, I took a few interior shots.

Bottles on the windowsill.

Tops of the same bottles.

Curved things on my work desk.

Repaired section of my backyard fence. A wind-damaged branch fell and took out several boards.  These are the bright and shiny replacement boards. "Good fences make good neighbors"

Blacksburg Snow

 The first big snowstorm of the winter. Here on Sunday, melting by Monday morning.

Asta contemplates far-away birds

Snow out the front window

Deck, snow, bedroom window

Squinting in the heavy snow

Bird feeder and bottle tree

Dawn from the front porch

Early on the morning after the snow.

Bottle tree in the morning sunlight

Asta by the fence, patrolling the perimeter

The Thaw

After several snows and a long bout of frigid air, we finally got several days above freezing! Time for solid water to revert back to liquid, and the snow and ice dutifully complied.  Here's some images from that transition, taken in our backyard.

Rim of snow and ice in the birdbath.

Dog toys emerge from the snow.

Green, natural and unnatural, peeking through the snow.

Berries beside the deck, adding some brightness.

Bent from  being covered with snow and ice, but springing back nicely until the next round.

Snowy pix review

It's been a cold, snowy winter for southwest Virginia. We've had a brief respite that melted most everything, including the big piles of shoveled stuff by the driveway, but more might be on the way this weekend. Here's a photo recap of the two snow so far:

Our hammock awaits summer.

The back deck during the big snow.

Nestling dove during the first snow.

The dogs plowed their own path to the rhodo patch during the big snow. Here Asta confronts Bou on the way back to the house, insisting that Bou stop and play.  Bou is declining Asta's offer in this photo.

Asta frolics during the first snow. Malamute lineage?  Perhaps.

March snowstorm in Blacksburg

An early March snowstorm brought 9 inches of snow to our house, closed work on Monday, and generally made for a beautiful Sunday and Monday. In like a lion, indeed, but an aesthetically pleasing one. Here's a photo essay of the snowstorm:

Early afternoon on Sunday, and we had about 1-2 inches of snow at that time. Barrie had just left for the store, leaving these tracks in the driveway.

By mid-afternoon the snow showed no signs of abating, with bouts of heavy snow. Here's Asta in the backyard in the heavy snow.

Oddly, we didn't light the tiki torches during the afternoon snowstorm.

Much to my surprise, it continued snowing all night, and we woke up to 8-9 inches in the backyard. I had to shovel the back steps a bit so that Bou and Asta could make it down to the yard. Here they are running back in after a brisk play session.

Monday morning, a clear sky, and lots of snow in the front yard.

The white "cloud" in the middle of the photo is snow blowing off the trees.

A handful of robins were sitting in the trees behind our house, all puffed up to keep warm. While taking this photo another robin streaked past these three.

Icicles on the back gutters.

Big Wet Snow: FebPhotos Day 18

Rain turned into sleet this morning about 6:45 or so, and by 7 there was a good coating of slushy sleet on the back deck. It soon developed into a mushy mixture of sleet, rain, and snow, while the temperature hovered right around freezing. By about 8:30 a heavy mess of big, wet snow was coming down with slushy flakes about the size of a nickel. Here's a few photos - the big white streaks are the slushy falling snow. It was all gone by mid-day.

A wee bit of frost: FebPhotos Day 17

It was cold last night - down around 10 degrees when I gazed out the window this morning. By the time Asta and I made it up the hill around 9 a lot of the frost had melted in the sun, but the shady spots still had some crystals lingering. Here's what we found:

A few frosty crystals lingering on a dead holly leaf.

Frost doing that pine needle thing.

What happens when you put the camera on macro and stick it down to the ground. The ever-popular "horizon gone amok" effect. Duck and cover.