Beth Jukuri was sharing her skiing trails one morning last week. She said the fresh air, blue skies and the sun shining made the entire morning ski, quite enjoyable. Tiny tracks in the snow, to paw prints, to hooves and back to tiny tracks once more. Interesting to try to figure out who Beth was sharing the trails with. I’m guessing a mouse or a mole perhaps for the tiny little tracks and maybe a raccoon in the second photo. For sure there was a deer on the trail in that third shot, though.

The weeds in the fifth photo remind me of birds and even a fish or two. So many neat things you can find when you’re out and about, but one of my absolute favorites is Beth’s last photo...their barn is a classic with the red and white accenting the gray weathered wood. What a great canvas that would make on the wall.

A different kind of skiing than Beth’s is the subject of today’s video from In The Keweenaw. He’s out there “Rippin’ it UP on Racers Ridge at Mont Ripley Ski Hill. It looks quite exhilarating!

I thought they were birds as well, Mary. Then I realized some of them were hanging upside down, so I rethought my choices.

Speaking of birds in the winter, I saw the strangest thing yesterday. Temperature was double digit negative. The house across the street has brick halfway up to a ledge, then siding the rest of the way. The Sun was shining brightly on the house and at least 30 birds of at least 5 different species, including 10 Robins were sun bathing, all huddled together like long lost friends. Occasionally, 1 or 2 would come over to my house, munch down a few Hawthorne berries, then return to the sunny spot. It reminded me of that Angry Birds cartoon game.

In the video, how does the camera look completely backwards? Both hands are firmly operating ski poles.

I, too, saw birds. I just love
this 5th and 6th photos. They're
both so pretty. And I always love
barn pictures. There's something
about a barn.

We had deer tracks in our yard
again last night. We quit feeding
them so they'd move on to a
feeding station, but they keep
coming. Hope they don't wait too
long. I worry about them as if
they're my pets, lol.

Neat set, but I don’t see any 8-tracks.
Probably because their extinct.
D.A…. I’m guessing that there is a drone
following the skier down the hill.

Yep, I'd say a raccoon, def a deer, most likely a
mouse...moles/voles travel under the snow...you'll
see a line where they traveled.

The leaves look like Milkweed pods to me...huge
food for Monarchs.

And that barn is a gorgeous pic...WITH a blue
sky....

No skiing in this house...that's just fine with me.

And if it’s true we are alone, we are alone
together, the way blades of grass are alone, but
exist as a field.

ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER

According to greenbelly.co, the 'paw prints' in picture 2 appear to be from a 'bounder':

Bounders place their front feet down, and in one motion they leap forward by lifting up their front feet and putting their rear feet in the exact spot where the front feet previously landed. Their tracks appear as two paws that fall side-by-side. Otters, weasels, and other mustelids are bounders.