Our Missouri Neighborhood – February 2023
/There were a few days of snow and ice early in the month; I stayed indoors for the first days but then the sun came out and I decided to bundle up and walk around the neighborhood to document the event. The pumps in the largest pond were keeping some open water.
Two geese ventured out on the ice…but turned around and rejoined their friends on the bank before getting all the way to the unfrozen part of the pond.
The snow that fell on the slides in the playground had gone through some freeze-thaw cycles and was extending past the end of the slides!
The contrast of tree trunks and snow/ice was stark…the snow creating a different pattern than usual when the mulch around the trees is almost the same brown as the tree trunk.
My favorite sights of the morning were the neuron shapes in the pond. My theory is that the center part that looks unfrozen is either a shallow spot or has a lot of water plants near the surface. The ‘dendrites’ coming out from the center are cracks in the ice that are mostly refrozen. I zoomed in on one of the centers; the texture of the ice looks like cut glass!
Or maybe I was just thinking about neurons too much since I’ve been learning about them recently…stay tuned for tomorrow’s post for more about that.
