As the snow flies.

I suited up for a walk after a quick peek out the front door confirmed there was no snow, despite predictions for more of the white stuff. So, I got ready in record time, grabbed the camera and peanuts, then laced up my hiking boots, only to open the door about twenty minutes later and discover delicate snowflakes twinkling down from the sky. “You’ve got to be kidding!” I said to no one in particular. I could have just thrown on half of what I was wearing and slipped into my shoes to run the car a few minutes, then scurry back into the house. So, I grumbled a bit more and decided all the effort in anticipation of a walk would not be for naught.

Going to Council Point Park from my house is a rather convoluted jaunt. There are twists and turns in the road, so that wending my way down through the neighborhoods to the beginning of the walking trail is nearly a mile, according to the pedometer. Maybe it’s shorter as the crow flies, but it’s impossible to make a straight run there, as there are several dead end roads. Google maps will tell you it is a .8 mile-long trip, but that’s just to reach River Drive, and then you have to hike clear across the large parking lot, then past the pavilion area, before you even get to the start of the walking path. It’s worth the trip, but I didn’t want to get there and have to cut my walk short like yesterday.

Along the way, the intensity of the snowflakes picked up with most of them settling neatly into the cracks in the sidewalks, but it wasn’t slippery, so I continued on. Once at the Park, I noticed the snowflakes had similarly drifted and settled into cracks in the asphalt, or formed a white outline along the path itself. I was glad I didn’t turn back – a few snow flurries and no worries.

It was a little blustery and the temperature was 28 degrees. Despite the cold, Parker and his pals were back and I doled out peanuts and sweet-talked them a little, then gently chastised the whole bunch for being lazy and staying up in their respective nests yesterday. Unfortunately, my words fell on deaf ears because as soon as the peanuts were scattered on the ground, the squirrels glommed onto them and I moved on.

I saw a half-dozen Canada geese grazing, and, I would not have even noticed them, since their brownish/gray plumage blends right into the drab and blah landscape at the Park right now. What I did see was those sleek black heads bobbing up and down as they grazed on grass with their brethren. Just like yesterday, those geese were keeping a low profile and they paid me no mind as I strolled by them.

Today, the ducks were making a racket with their quacking, which, since the Park is so peaceful in the early morning, the cacophony of duck chatter and quacks tends to echo throughout the narrow Ecorse Creek passage. Sometimes it even sounds like raucous laughter to me.

Not all mallards were creating a stir, however. Some were placidly paddling along, dipping their beaks or submerging their heads in the icy-cold water.

Occasionally, one duck would go vertical, and all you saw was tail feathers sticking out of the water. Obviously the cold water holds much appeal for them. I felt a shiver rack my body while watching those ducks, despite my having donned nine pieces of clothing to go on this walk.

The mallards are welcome to their icy dip – I know for them, it’s all that it is quacked up to be.

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