More Photos from Hocking Hills

Snow birds

We had quite a bit of snow this month, and still those brave little birdies kept a'comin. Poor, cold critters. But, their misery made for some interesting photos. If you click on them, you should be able to see the snow falling - and sometimes it was coming down hard .

My favorite Photo from this week... or this month!

No, I didn't use special effects to create this shot. Just my Rebel camera and a lot of patience.

Sipping tea & Shooting birds

Billy BU

Billy sent a few more photos (great to hear that he's safe and well) and I thought I'd post them so everyone can have a little BU (Billy Update). He's near the Syrian border now, and our thoughts and best wishes definitely go out to him. I think about him often and try to send "good vibes" his way. We love you Billy!!! Come back safe & sound!! *MUAH!!!*

Here's his letter: i wish i could have been there on your birthday! hope you guys had fun. well i got some new pictures for you. the "retarder" is the actual name of a truck. i thought it was hilarious. the dog is "mitsie", our bomb sniffing dog. the rest are just some pictures of different signs that are up here on the border that i thought were cool. well i can't stay on here for long. talk to you soon! love you!

My black & white weekend

Cedar Falls - the last stop on my Hocking Hills Tour

The blue photo isn't altered. I was standing near the frozen Cedar Falls waterfall, kind of in a little cave area, and the flash didn't go off. Hence, the blue photo. Most of the ice had a blue cast, in all the Hocking Hills area, but with the sun going down... it really came out at Cedar Falls (the last stop of the day).

Our Winter Hike Continued.... Ash Cave

Ash Cave was fantastic! My favorite ice formation was here (with my second being the Ice Castle). The one at Ash Cave looked like a big sculpture of some funky volcano, and some of the photos actually looked like it was spouting something or other. But it's actually a two part formation. The bottom is where the water from the waterfall has been collecting and freezing, and the top is the waterfall, but it's frozen all around the water... so it looks like a big ice hose or pipe running off the cliff. But it's ALL ICE!














My only hope is that, before winter ends and it starts to thaw, it'll get so close that it'll almost touch and I can photograph it once more.


Below photos:

1. I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but there was this flat blob in one film and I know I'm not spelling this but it was something like Jaba the Hut. (My brother, Scottie, would know. He loved that series.) Anyway, that's what this one looks like. But it's actually the bottom of the ice sculpture. And it's HUGE!












2. This is the back of it. I was standing at the bottom of Ash Cave, somewhat inside it, and shooting out and up

Ash Cave Upclose

It's easier to guage just how big this thing is when you see this photo. At its base are a few folks checking out this majestic masterpiece. Click on the photo so you can see a larger version, and notice how big the cave is, and then just imagine what this thing looked like when you saw it upclose. It was amazing! I can't wait to go back in a few weeks - especially after some more snow/rain and freezing temperatures - to see how it's changed and grown, and what other formations are on and around it.


This photos is really cool. It looks like a volcano or some other weird, natural formation, spouting water into the air.













Here you can see the mouth of the waterfall, and how water froze around the flowing water... creating a long, icy tube that reminded me of a gigantic garden hose. It's falling onto the ever-growing ice formation at the bottom, and its side are beautiful and fascinating.

Wintery Hike in Hocking Hills

OLD MAN'S CAVE and UPPER FALLS

Scott had a tasty treat lined up for my birthday - a winter's hike in Hocking Hills. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Hocking Hills, you're really missing an amazing natural wonder. Hocking Hills is a maze of deep valley's, beautiful creeks, gushing waterfalls, threatening cliffs and deep, breathtakingly gorgeous caves that curl and wind around the area's hills of stone. It's absolutely amazing in the summer, but in the wintertime, it's mind-blowing. Waterfalls are frozen, though some have water still running through its center, like a gigantic, frozen garden hose. Water that once poured from streams, hillsides, and in between rocks that form massive walls are all frozen over... some formations are taller than my house, and a few were tallen than the trees!

I snapped a butt-load of photos (and Scott shot some too) - and this is just a few of them. That's Scott in the blue hoodie. He's at the end of the tunnel too. I loved that shot. And that one where he's walking on frozen water... I'll keep my joke about him walking on water to myself.
Much of the steps and trails were covered in ice... and I mean COVERED! It was like walking on an ice skating rink - without the skates or flat surface... and with lots and lots of uneven steps. Luckily, I didn't fall once.. but I did witness a few falls from others. (Yikes!) And it was mighty chilly down in those hollers. I had 2 pair of pants on and my legs were still feeling a'mite nippy! But I saw a few folks head in with nothing but tennis shoes and light jackets... and I really laughed at the city girls who came dressed in these thin two-piece running outfits with sneakers and big sunglasses. I swear, their lips were blue! And they were shivering something terrible. But they looked good (well, before they turned blue).

But the walk was excellent. I don't ever want to miss another winter at the Hocking Hills. I think this might just become a yearly birthday tradition!

Old Man's Cave Winter Tour (1)

BURRRRR!!!!!!!

Old Man's Cave Winter Tour (2)

The Frozen Falls in the first photo is actually HUGE! It's the waterfall at Old Man's Cave... and it's about 3 or 4 stories tall.

Frozen things at Old Man's Cave

I'm quite fond of these two photos...

Old Man's Cave Tour (3)

Look at the frozen falls in comparison to nearby trees.

The King of the Ice Castle

The first photo is of an ice formation that I was fascinated with because, to me, it looked like an old, bearded mean-looking man sitting on a thrown. I call him Old Man Winter, King of Old Man's Cave. Clever, eh?

The other photos were all taken inside The Ice Castle, another ice formation that I named. But what is it? It's a frozen waterfall and because there's a small "cave" behind it, the ice froze over the outside causing "walls" to form. Two photos are inside the Ice Castle (Scott took the last one... impressive!! And see how it looks like the water is still flowing?) and the first is from behind the ice sickled castle, looking out over the frozen creek.

The King is one lucky fella. Too bad it'll all vanish once spring gets here.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday and my girls threw yours truly a good 'ol fashioned girlie slumber party. Gifts of lottery tickets were brought, and PJ's & pigtails were required. I won $79! Yee haw! It was a lotta fun. (Thanks girls !! )

Guess who's birthday is February 9th?

You guessed it... ME! I'm 30-something and still somewhat unsure if I like this whole 'growing older' crap. But hey... I might as well go with it. Eh?

And a February 9th birthday makes me an Aquarius, and Aquarians are supposed to be the mystics, idealists, reformers, independent, and humanitarians of the Zodiac. "It is a sign that is forward thinking and non conformist. Aquarians balk at tradition and celebrate originality and individuality. Aquarians will rebel against repression of the human spirit or repression of the individual. They're free-thinking, curious, restless, and information junkies." - I don't know how much of that is true, but man does it sound good! And I'm in excellent company. Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Charles Lindbergh, and Virginia Woolf all share the Aquarius sign.

Today I went for a short adventure, one that starts at a crossroads in which you usually turn right and this time, you turn left. That's what I did today. Out of nowhere, I turned left, onto a road I've never traveled before. I had to see where it ended. I HAD to do something outside my normal routine, and turning left seemed like the easiest way to accomplish that. The left-turn road ended at a familiar place, which was both comforting and disappointing, because then I knew that my short-lived mini adventure was over. But along the way I saw some beautiful farms and landscapes. Here's a sampling of what I saw:

Body Sleddin'

Snowday with Roo!

Silas and I went for a wintery walk today down by the creek. It was cold, but fun. In some spots, snow nearly hit little Si's knees, so I carried him for most of it. He loved it, said he was a kangaroo - so I've been calling him Roo all day. He likes that. The house way on top of that snowy hill is ours. No wonder I park on the bottom.

Some of my fav photos from today's walk

Yummy Hot Chocolate

Silas loves his hot chocolate, especially in his favorite green mug and on a chilly night like this. And his face in the second photo is totally halarious.

The other photo is of the snow coming down tonight. Supposed to get up to 3 inches. It's really coming down. I love snow, but I hate driving in it - or knowing people I love are out driving on it (though, Shannan and Chrissy both enjoy a snow covered road).

Snow bobbin

I read this morning that the wind chill factor outside was between 10 and 20 below 0. It is freakin' cold outside! The pipes froze and we had ice on 2 windows, so while Scott was thawing the pipes, I was putting plastic over the bedroom windows. Scott got the worse job, but I was standing in the sunshine and one of the ice sickles was dripped onto my glove, where it would freeze within a matter of a minute. Eventually, it got into my glove. Burrr! And I noticed that fewer birds came to visit today... even though I put out extra food cause I figured, if they made the trip on this extra frosty day, they deserved a little extra. And those who did come hung around and ate more than ever before. But what I didnt understand was this fella. There was lots of food on the deck railing and in the feeders, but he choose to go seed bobbing in the snow.

I guess every animal group has their weirdo's. I've met my share of weirdo humans.

Scotts Superbowl Party

Scott has a superbowl shin-dig every year... and though I have no interest in the game, I do love the commercials. This year Scott had several attendees for the game, but no one was interested in the game.... they were also here for the commercials! But what do you expect when you throw a party and only females show up? Ha!


But we had fun. Chili dogs, chips & dip and girl talk. Scott throws the best super bowl parties.

Fire and Ice

The other night I made a bowl-shaped candle holder made of ice., took it outside and lit a few candles. I loved the way it turned out...

Random shots

Silas was having a blast! Look at that face!