Fork Creek Journal

"Carolina Blue" Sky

There are rumors of snow tonight, but unlikely except in the higher elevations above Asheville.  Predicted temperatures for today:  high-40F; low-22F.

Mid-afternoon I asked Bob to take a few pictures for me since Illness has kept me indoors the past couple of days.

As you can see in the picture, today was a bright sunny winter day with a beautiful "Carolina blue" sky.

Rainy Day

It was too rainy all day long to go out and take any pictures, so I'm using this picture of Fork Creek as it enters our property taken a few days ago when the sun was out.

I first heard the rain during the night.  It was heavy enough to wake e up.  The rain continued into the morning and throughout the day.  It was a foggy, dreary winter day, but much warmer than some recent temperatures with predicted high-50F; low-29F.

I'm a sunshine girl, but much of the Western North Carolina mountains have had varying degrees of serious drought conditions for a few years and I have learned to truly appreciate rainy days. 

If you did not live in this area and visited, you would likely not recognize that we were in severe drought conditions. It still looks lush and green in the summer months, but, living here you cannot miss the stress on the trees and other plant life, not to mention that the creek is at least a foot lower than we saw it for any of the years in the first decade we owned this property.

The sun is supposed to shine all day tomorrow.  In the meantime, I have learned to give thanks each and every time it rains.

Heavy Fog

We returned home early afternoon today from an overnight trip to South Carolina.  Since we used to live in South Carolina, it is a trip we make fairly often.  We are always thrilled when we get near the last I-26  exit in South Carolina because by then you can see our mountains in the distance.  Today the view was not so great because of fog.

By the time we got home to Fork Creek, the fog as heavy as I've ever seen it in the daytime.

I could just barely see the pond water from the back of the house.

Predicted temperatures for today were High47F; low-45F, but it was 41 when we drove into the driveway. 

Goldfinch at Fork Creek

When I first looked out at the bird feeders beside the driveway this morning, there was a goldfinch on every feeding post of two feeders and another dozen on the ground underneath the feeders.  Unlike most of the other birds that come regularly to our feeders, the goldfinches like to stay and eat while at the feeder. The Titmice and Chickadees will take a seed and fly to a nearby tree to eat it. But, the goldfinches like to stay at the feeder and eat. 

 

And, Bob took these pictures of the goldfinches on the feeder by the back of the house.

 

Even the male goldfinches lose their color in the winter, but I love that you can still see hints of it.

 

Today was overcast, but I think it got warmer than the predicted high-40F. Predicted low-31F.

Resident Crows

We have a group of crows that hang around our acreage on Fork Creek every day.  Some people do not like crows, but I enjoy watching them.  The only time I mind them is sometimes in the summer when they arrive with dawn to eat breakfast from the plums off our our old plum tree.

Bob's got some great pictures of the crows high up in one of our tulip poplar trees on the mountain side of the house with his new camera.

Looking at the pictures, I was curious about the lone sixth crow that chose a lower branch.

I developed a special fondness for our crows after an incident almost a decade ago with a copperhead snake.  Bob was out of town.  I had to call a plumber for some repair. The plumber was in his truck out front writing up the bill after making the repair.  While I was waiting for that, I lifted up a rock near the edge of the driveway. I was going to move it because there was a small plant it was partially covering. When I lifted it up, there was a coiled copperhead underneath. 

The plumber killed the snake, but left it for me to bury it.  I had to go into town and decided I would put off the unpleasant task until after I got back.  When I got back, the snake was gone and one black crow feather was in its place.

Temperatures were a little higher the past couple of days. Today's predictions:  high-50F; low-29F.  Tomorrow is predicted to not get much above freezing/

Another Sunny Winter Day

Today was a beautiful winter day with predicted temperatures for today were for high-36F, low-20; but, I don't think it ever got above freezing here on Fork Creek.

Bob said he tested the ice on the pond this morning and it held his weight.  I would not have wanted to be him if it had not even though he said he didn't venture far from the edge.

 

Monday night's snow is already fading away.  Weather is predicted to warm up tomorrow; and, sadly, what little snow remains will probably disappear.

 

First Snow of the Year

Colder weather moved in with the snow last night with predicted temperatures today of high-27F; low-16F.  When we went to bed last night, we had about 1/2 to 1 inch of snow.  We had hoped to get more during the night, but it never came.  Nevertheless, nature looked beautiful this morning in her scant coat of white.

The mallard decoy is frozen in place in the ice on the pond.

When Bob went out to take pictures this morning, he found a little goldfinch huddled under the feeder in front of the back window of the house. Maybe it got confused in the snow last night.  It had it's little head tucked in for warmth.  We were happy to see that he/she had regained ability to fly away by mid-morning, hopefully to a sheltered place.

Deep Freeze

We were away from home and computer for most of the past fives days.  The weather has been very cold on Fork Creek, down into single digit temperatures. We returned home and found we had no water because a pipe had burst in the wall of Bee Pond Cottage.  There were small patches of ice in the creek when we returned even though the temperatures had warmed up yesterday afternoon. In a dozen winters here, we have never before seen any ice in the creek.

The ice sculptures along Fork Creek Road are beautiful. 

We were amazed to see this small waterfall near us frozen.

The temperatures predicted for today were High-40F; Low-22F, but tomorrow temperatures are expected to drop again.

We feel like children tonight delighted with joy that it's snowing outside.  We're not expected to get more than an inch.  Some animal has already made tracks around the bird feeders.  I can't what tell in the dark.  Snow pictures tomorrow.

Leatherleaf Mahonia

We planted several leatherleaf mahonias when we moved here because they are a plant that our honeybees like. They also love shade and that makes them a good choice for the mountain side of the house. This one his one beside the old chimney (1936) is doing well.

The berries will eventually turn a deep purple.

Today is colder with predicted temperatures, high-38F; low-22F. Friday is predicted to not get above freezing with a low of 9F.

More Moss

Bob was the only one to take pictures today.  I don't think he has read yesterday's blog post, but I was surprised to see how many pictures he took that showed the moss thriving. 

In this picture, you can see that the moss is even growing on the large boulders in the creek and  the bark of a dogwood tree.

The dogwood pictured is one of my favorite of the old dogwoods on the property arches over Fork Creek near it's entrance on our property.  I wonder how it got started growing in that direction.  It is almost like it grew sideways until it arched over the creek. In the summer, there is a hosta that grows out of the trunk where the moss is now.

The news showed a beautiful snowfall in Asheville tonight, but we haven't seen any on Fork Creek.  Predicted temperatures today: high-43F; low-21F.