February in the snowless winter

It has been a mild winter, but today the temperature went back closer to average and it felt a little frigid. The ice had a chance to begin to thicken up again after a couple of days with highs in the 40's. The warnings about thin ice are serious and are usually observed. There were reports of people in Minnesota going through the ice and not being able to rescue themselves. Today, at Upper Lake in Crosby Farm Park, there were no ice walkers and very few dry land walkers. It's Tuesday, for one thing, and it was 20 degrees colder than yesterday.

I had a walk around Upper Lake and along the Mississippi. Upper Lake is thinly iced over, the Mississippi is ice free.

Upper Lake, where the thin ice lies. It's impossible to tell how thin the ice is, so it's best to stay on terra firma.

A beaver lodge sits on the edge of Upper Lake. There are beavers living in this mud domicile, but they don't come out to play in the day light.

A bonus photo of quite a primitive bench to add to the bench collection. This is near the northern end of Upper Lake.

As you can see we're nearly devoid of snow pack. There is unlikely to be a flood on the Mississippi this spring - a mixed blessing.