Janet's Garden News

December this year turned out to be a winter wonderland. The fitst snow came early in tthe month with 4 " followed by a couple more 4" to 5" snow falls and several days of light snow and flurries. The temps have been below 30 degrees almost all moth so we still have most of it- but compacted down to about 10 in. Jim snow -blowed by back yard where Lily uses and made paths to the bird feeders for me. Finally a good year for snowmobiles , ice fishers etc. Evergreens have had snow on their branches most every day. We have been on walks to all our favorite trails and the scenery beautiful-snowcapped trees, grass and seedheads peaking through the snow, animal tracks, ice/ qpen water on the river. Today it's 18 degrees and went on the Qx cart traill. The trail was nicely grouned woth semi packed snow which crunched and squeeked when walking. Lily loves the snow and gets so excited and goes off trail and plows thru the snow woth her snout and when she comes up her face and eyebrow have snow clingling. Her back problem (ruptued disc last year) doesn't hinder her very much. A couple of snowmobiles wew cruising on the snow coverd Rum River, no open water to be seen on this river. The Mississippi is open in the middle with ice chunks on the rest.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Alexandria. One of the most unusual and beautiful days I've ever seen. Woke uo to fog and frost covered world. Luckily visibility was such that we could drive carefully and as the day progressed the visibily distance increased but the frost stayed. We took 94 but also backroads and the landscape was breathtaking and we were constanly ohhing and awing and pointing out exceptional elements alto the entie landscape was unbelievable. Looked like calendar pictures or Christmas cards. The sun only peaked out a couple of times which also added its own beauty with the gowing globe surrounded by frostt and now there were shadows of the frosty trees, fences, grasses. After these brief moments the sun disappeared again. The farms , occasional cows or horses added to the suprises of the day. With the back road routes we didn't get to Alexandria until late afternoon. We left after dark and were treaked to a different suprise. There were several farms lit with Xmas lights. One exceptional one had the roofs of the barn, sheds and other out buildings outlined with colored lights and the fence surrounding the farm was hung with lights, and of the course the house was all lit up. What a site. It will be a day I will never forget.

Really glad for the cool weather. Horrible hot summer with record number of 90 degree days, even some in Sept. Moderate drought in summer with lots of pricey sprinkling . Seems spent a lot of time moving sprinklers and trying to keep cool. Early fall brought us a couple of weeks of rain every day for 2 weeks- wish we had gotten it spread out more. Lawn mower wheels actually sank into front lawn when mowing. Next door he put in drainage tiles from down spout around to down side of hill. Neighbor rototiled entire length of front yard along the hedge for 60 feet-I'm worried about erosion the the hill. Been going on some interesting walks to state parks. One to Minneopa near Mankato with a wonderful waterfall and trail, another to Lake Marian "big woods" trails. Both were fun walks with beautiful scenery. Yesterday we went on the Ox Cart trail and saw a golden tamarak which I hadn't noticed before and another diiferent evergreen with an unusal pine core that I didn't recognize. Have been collecting various specimens (acorns, bark, berries, leaves etc ) for an interesting visual potpourri. Yesterday Jim spied several Cedar Waxwings on some crabapple trees by the HS arboreum. We watched them for several monutes gobbling up the tint apples. These are beautiful birds that I don't think I ever saw until a couple of months ago when I found a dead one in the backyard. It was so beautiful- like a cardinasl with the feather tuft on top of its head, yellow belly, yellow wing tips, and red 'wax" splotch on each wing. Burried it in my pet cemetery. Also have a red headed woodpecker hanging around a lot this year.