However, there is one thing about my winter that I dislike intently and that is rain. Our ground is frozen so when rain hits the ground here in winter it freezes and leaves a treacherous layer of ice.
We had such a rain three days ago. We are prepared and equipped to drive on ice. Walking is another issue. We don't have much to take ice off sidewalks so ice stays until snow covers it. If we get enough snow it will pack on the ice and cover the ice.
I've counted birds in one area here for over 40 years. I could not count on Sunday as the ice made footing too risky and I wasn't going to go out and fall on the ice.
The rain we had made the layer of snow we have quite solid in most places. This places stress on many of our native critters that depend on soft snow to survive. For example, mice stay under the snow all winter and make miles of tunnels to get food. Coyotes and foxes dive into the soft snow to catch mice. Deer paw the snow away to reach some plants otherwise they browse on trees and shrubs.
So we are prepared for snow , cold and wind but rain makes our winter more challenging and dangerous.
