Raz and I went on a long hike in the woods south of the house yesterday. It is certainly looking a lot like Winter out there. Creeks and streams are still running, but ponds have a thin layer of ice and the muddy puddles are freezing to show the classic "extruded ice columns" which look so much like hard candy ribbons. There wasn't much wildlife out, maybe because it's still hunting season, or maybe because the whirling dervish called "dog" was blazing the trail.