January 29 through February 12, 2017

We're continuing to have wild weather fluctuating as much as 50 degrees within a week.



It's one of those years where the warm spells in winter are starting to give the wrong signals to trees.



The first group of shot from a late January walk at Shelley Lake were taken before the warming signals started doing much.



There is always some green at my neighborhood lake because of the number of evergreens.



I like the way gulls (above) look like little jewels from a distance.



The Shelley Lake walk was perfect weather two weeks ago.



It was nice to get out and enjoy the pleasant day.



There were also great clouds when running errands that weekend.



I love clouds almost more than anything.



The rest of the shots were taken this weekend.



I kind of wish the trees weren't confused and heading to spring so early.



It's not unusual for this to happen in recent years but it tends to cut down on flowers in the spring since we almost certainly have a lot of winter left.



I have stopped worrying about it too much and enjoy the buds even if they get zapped before they flower.



I was glad I caught the trees below on the way to a walk on the part of the NC Mountain to Sea trail that's near where I live.



We saw some back packers today on the trail.



I think it looks like the stump below was carved



It's still definitely winter in the woods.



The forest tends to hold off on seasonal changes too early.

Photos from earlier in January 2017

The photographs don't reflect the current conditions where I live in NC since the weather turned much warmer over the past week or so.



I wish I had made it to one of the Women's Marches and had taken photographs of that.



It's been great seeing the photographs from DC yesterday as well as sister marches all over the U.S. and the world for that matter.



Some women from work took a bus leaving NC at 2:00 am Saturday morning going to DC for the march.



I wish I had gotten it together to go.



It is very encouraging to see so many people participating not just in the U.S. but in such a diverse group of places.



I love seeing blue sky and snow. 



The bird below is a junco.



Next is a female cardinal.



The mourning dove seemed glad of some fresh water.



I guess I'll end with the blue jay.



Since I didn't label them, the first shot is a sparrow; followed by a red-bellied woodpecker; the third shot is of a titmouse; 4th is a rufous-sided towhee; 5th is a male cardinal and 6th is a Carolina chickadee.

January 7-2017 and late December 2016

I'm going to begin with shots I've taken today.



The sun finally peaked out for the afternoon.



We've had some of the most beautiful conditions.



Since the storm began as rain yesterday there have been icicles.



We had a little bit of everything, rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow.



Since the temperatures were above freezing when the storm started, the accumulation was less since it took awhile for the temperatures to drop, however, there's a layer of ice under the snow on the roads which keeps me from driving.



It's going to be very cold for the rest of the weekend so I'm helping the birds.



The extreme range of temperature this winter has been bizarre even for North Carolina (we frequently have swings but not this big).



If the temperatures that are forecast actually happen there will be a 60 degree difference between the low tomorrow night and the high on Friday.



I've been watching the low on Sunday because it is extreme for here.



At one point the weather channel said 0 Fahrenheit (-17.2 Celsius). 



The forecast has improved a little because now they are saying 6 Fahrenheit (-14.4 Celsius). 



Sometimes I think if I don't talk about the weather there's no other current topic that won't bring my blood pressure up.



That's not strictly true since I can talk about the birds.



Although being a bird this time of the year isn't easy. The cedar waxwings (below) were here at the end of December but they've left for better pickings. 



The shot above and the rest of the shots were taken at the end of 2016. All the others were taken today (January 7, 2017).



We had a lot of great clouds in December.



The flicker and American robins below seem to get along.



This post is several combined ones I've had in mind.



I don't get around to blogging much so when I do they end up being long.



I love mackerel clouds like the one above.



I hope 2017 will be a surprise and turn out to be  a good year.