Nightly Visitor

So if you're wondering what 11 degrees looks like at this time of the year, look close.  That's me, just finishing a run where I encountered a cold stiff 10-12 mph wind.  Most of the run was cold, but several places I felt the sunshine hitting the back of my legs and immediately I felt the warmth.  It's hard to believe at this time of the year that the sun can have such a radiating warmth, but it does and it felt really good.

So after my exercise this afternoon, I decided to head down to the lake to take pictures.  As I was walking down the stairs, I noticed these animal tracks.  The tracks were actually coming up the stairs, but I followed the tracks all the way down to the lake.

As you can see in the photo, the animal tracks came from across the lake.  What animal would walk such great lengths during the night?  According to my Scat & Tracks of the Great Lakes book, our visitor was a Red Fox.  This fox walked across the lake, came up the bank steps and walked around in our yard and even came very close to our bedroom window, before heading over through the woods next to our house.

This is the best time of the year to learn what animals come visiting during the night hours.  Fresh snow fall makes it perfect to spot those visitors.  Creatures of the night.....you gotta just love um!

Single Digits Felt Good!

Only a Midwesterner would understand  my excitement today when the thermometer read 10 degrees.  That's right, 10 degrees by 1 pm.  So in my head I heard this loud voice......"ok Lis, get your butt out of the house and go run."  I love it when my inner self talks to me!!!  Did a slow, icy 3-mile run.  Thank heavens for ice spikes on my running shoes.  The sunshine felt good, but the breeze was still biting against my face and my eyelashes developed icicles.  I was just happy to get out and get a little exercise after a long week of really cold temperatures and lots of wind.

Yay to Bike man for roasting some coffee beans this afternoon.  Love his snow roasted coffee beans.  Found out yesterday that we can buy green beans from Peace Coffee.  I think we might give it a try.  We love our java!  

BM also made a pan of black bean lasagna this afternoon.  I am I lucky or what?

Quick Trip

A quick trip to the Twin Cities today since Bike man had a couple doctor's appointments at the VA hospital.     We were in and out fairly quickly, so we decided to head over to Birchwood Cafe for a late breakfast.  Never been to the Birchwood, but we know several blogger friends that frequent the cafe often, and we were not disappointed.  My special request omelet, made with egg whites, sausage, wild rice, chunks of sweet potatoes and mascarpone cheese, was really delicious.  Bike man enjoyed his plate of scrambled eggs, fried red potatoes, bacon and multigrain toast with homemade raspberry jam.........perfect and I hope we can go back sometime.

We then headed over to the Peace Coffee head office and picked up some free burlap coffee bean bags....take as many as you want the office guy told us.  I have a project in mind so I needed a few bags, but ended up coming home with about 8 bags!!!  Will save a picture for a future date.  Of course we had to head over to the Peace Coffee store for a cup of coffee and some take-home freshly roasted beans.

Headed home by early afternoon, but then ended up stopping by a friends house for a little chit chat and a nice glass of red wine.  Really enjoyed the day.

Last Day of January

Bike man and I were driving back from an appointment in a nearby town this afternoon and saw this beautiful sunset....only lasted about 2 minutes so I had to be quick.  A point and shoot camera can come in handy when nature calls.  Not the best photo since I took it from the car window, but I really wanted to catch the colors of the cold sunset.  Still windy conditions tonight and wind chills could reach -25 to 35 below zero.  I think we will hunker down for the evening!

She's So Sweet

She knew I complained of cold hands during the winter months, so look what she made me!

A long time library customer made me a pair of crochet hand warmers this week and I love them.  Ever since my younger years,  I've been living with Raynard's phenomenon, where cold temperatures cause my capillaries to constrict the blood  flow to my fingers, and then eventually my toes.  At this time of the year, just walking outside without gloves to take the garbage out can cause extreme pain in my fingers.  I was so excited when she brought them into work today for me to try.  I plan on using them indoors while I work or when reading.  Thanks Lois......such a thoughtful gift.

Winter Creek

With temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, the county and city dump trucks have been out in full-swing coating the roads with salt.  Bike man has been out the last couple days monitoring the creeks for run-off of road salt. Not a surprise, but the city creeks were measuring very high for salt (chlorine).  I'm glad BM  is monitoring for a new state project.

Sweet Treats

I couldn't resist.  The little children made these Valentine cookies and were selling them at church today.  I bought a dozen cookies, but then turned around and gave the cookies away....Bike man and I are trying to stay away from sweets!

After helping out this afternoon at a local church dinner, I was still able to get my three-mile run in with Jill and Joan.  The weather was crazy today with freezing rain and wet snow, which made running a challenge and exhilarating all at the same time.

The freezing rain and snow didn't stop Bike man this afternoon.  He still managed to get some ice fishing time in with his son, Michael.