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Winter 3/10    Country Road - January 2006

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Coming out of suburbia to the Bailey Road. This scene is from about the "d" in the label Bailey Road from the satellite map. I often walk on this road facing traffic because the path across the way is shaded by trees and is often icy. The biggest risk to winter walks, particularly at night, is ice. I have my cell phone along in case I fall and injure myself.
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A few days later and the ice on the roads has melted. Note the air bubbling up from below the surface. The freezing and thawing cycle plays havoc with the surface of the road. The surface is sloppy in several areas, and I end up with mud on the back of my pant legs after walking on the road.
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When there is a cycle of partial melting of the snow during the day and refreezing during the night, there forms an icy crust on the surface of the snow. In the pictures above the sheen one the snow indicates this effect has happened. Note the slippery road. These scenes are from Field #4a looking southwest.
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The sun is going down and the road is illuminated in a rich glow. Bluebird Treeline is up to the right.

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Looking across the gravel pit toward the indoor bubble you can see lots of bare ground now.

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This picture is taken looking east on Dale Road. Mile Drive makes a "T" into Dale road which marks the southern end of Mile Drive.

image22.jpg image24.jpg image26.jpg Go to Field #9 winter
Here is Field #5. The corn was harvested very late in this field. The harvesting equipment chopped the cornstalks off near the ground while stripping the corn kernels from the cobs and dropping the cobs on the ground. Here are shots of the picked field along with a shot showing how the melting and refreezing cycle has left an ice lip around a chopped cornstalk.
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Barn, silo, house, and all outbuildings except yellow shed destroyed 2007
The old barn of the West Farm. Field #3 is in the foreground.

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Take a look at the trunk of Two Oaks - I found a teddy bear thrown out in the ditch of Bailey Road and attached it to the tree with some barbed wire that has grown into the bark of the tree.

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Oh my God - it's January 28 and here is a caterpillar crawling across my gravel road. I have never seen a caterpillar in January in Minnesota - the recent relatively warm weather has awakened this creature, or the temperature never got low enough for him to go dormant. We have gone nearly two months without a below zero temperature. I don't think that has every happened in Minnesota. I can't imagine how he will survive the colder weather that will certainly come. Notice how the gravel road has the look of a paved road. Passing cars have pressed the loose gravel down into the roadbed and made it smooth.

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Here is the view walking back up the hill I walked down to reach Bailey Road.

 
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Winter 3/10    Country Road - January 2006

Homepage     Feedback? Enter your comments in the guest book
Previous  Road Homepage     Flowers     Birds     Consumables     Animals Next
January01   January02   January03   February01   February02   February03   March01   March02   March03   March04  
Click on any picture to bring up the picture enlarged in a new window