Cone on the Cob

A Douglas' squirrel eats a cone in a forest in Leadbetter Point State Park on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington

A Douglas’ squirrel chews through the outer part of the cone to get to the seed underneath, like we would eat corn on the cob except that we are interested in the corn not the cob. A lovely little squirrel, and native too. Taken at Leadbetter Point State Park on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington.

Safety Check

A gnome in the cavity of a tree is surrounded by snow

When the weather outside is frightful, don’t forget to check on your neighbors to make sure they’re OK. I was worried about this old fellow but, while he didn’t say a word, he wore the same thoughtful if bemused expression he always has, no matter the circumstances. I left him to his musings.

Parked

Two motorcyles are parked in front of a house dusted with snow in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon

The ice was starting to melt on the day after Christmas and was even gone from this section of the street, but it would be another day yet, when warmer and wetter weather dispatched the snow and ice for good, that it would be safe for motorcycles.

White Christmas

An ice-covered Siskiyou Street on Christmas morning in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon

Here in Portland we got our first white Christmas since 1937. I was alone on Christmas morning when I went out for a walk as the pup didn’t want to leave the house, not because of the light dusting of snow but rather the thin sheet of ice that covered the sidewalks and streets. We sometimes get ice from either freezing rain or frozen snow melt, or in this case a little of both, but it melted in a couple of days when warmer weather returned. Made a mess of things over the holidays though.