Local water fowl may need fur coats and ... it’s Friday the 13th.

Well, my boss continues to be tucked away in places much warmer and sunnier than Southeast Michigan. He is now on business in Garden Grove, California, then on to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Meanwhile, his trusty sidekick is still holding down the fort virtually and giving him daily weather reports on what he is missing here in the Mitten State.

Today I changed up my recent morning routine, as I took the car for a spin and myself for a walk. Tuesday was snowy, Wednesday we had black ice, and yesterday, I got as far as the garage when the sky suddenly opened up and I got soaked in the space of about five minutes.

So, I’m no quitter and tried it again this morning, but, at least today was somewhat sunny, but much colder than Thursday.

Have you noticed the days are getting longer? I watched the sun put in an early, albeit pale, appearance, then it was good to see the blue sky and a few more rays of sunshine, rather than the gray and gloomy skies we’ve had lately. It put me in a better frame of mind and made me realize that yes, we are inching toward Spring ... very slowly mind you, but creeping along nonetheless.

As it was clear and dry, a walk was in order, requiring only warm clothes and a lucky rabbit’s foot since it was, after all, Friday the 13th. I was constantly eyeballing the concrete for black ice, while being mindful not to step on any cracks or beneath any ladders. No black cats were out and about - whew!

My trip wasn’t quite three miles today. I walked on Emmons Boulevard, and, not to be a wimp, but it got very cold, and, with a wind chill of about ten degrees, I passed over the footbridge, walked a block or so in Wyandotte, then turned around and quickly headed home.

I glanced at the Ecorse Creek as I crossed over the footbridge and the past few days of mild weather has kept the murky water flowing. Thus, the mallards were flocking there to nibble on the reeds near the creek banks, dive for grub and dunk their heads into the chilly water. I watched several ducks as they preened and distributed the oil through their feathers to waterproof them, adding another layer of insulation from the cold. I know my down coat is warm thanks to fowl feathers, but I can’t imagine how feathers keep those same fowl warm in these brutal temps. There were some areas where a light skim of ice was present on the water’s surface, but not enough to deter the ducks from paddling around right beneath where I stood on the footbridge.

Today is Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious? There seemed to be less of the usual media chatter surrounding one of the unluckiest days of the years. Perhaps the auto show charity preview tonight, and all its glitz and glamor, has taken precedence over scary occurrences ... the next Friday the 13th will be in October, which is fitting, as it falls within the month we celebrate Halloween.

[Image by J-Lloa at Pixabay]

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/