2/2/22 if you are into the number thing. This month we will also have 2/22/22.
Happy Grundsautag. That would be Happy Ground Hog’s Day to those not from Pennsylvania. Apparently, Punxsutawney Phil, the weather predicting rodent, has seen his shadow and is blessing us with another six weeks of winter. I really don’t have anything against rodents per say, except maybe rats carrying bubonic plague, anti-vaxers, and tRump’s minions. But I’m not happy with this particular rodent right now. I’m looking out the window at an eight-inch snowfall, with lots more to come. We could have 15 inches by tomorrow. I’m ready for winter to be over.
We’ve been dancing around snow for a couple weeks. We went to Delaware to do some birding and hopefully enjoy some slightly warmer weather. We had to delay a day to avoid a major snowstorm. We still hit parts of it but avoided the worst. Only had maybe two hours of snow driving. Leaving to come back here last weekend we first spent a couple days Philly. The same weekend the east coast was nailed by a major Nor’easter. Luckily Philly was on the western edge of the storm. Snow started Friday evening and several inches were on the ground Saturday morning, with several more predicted. It doesn’t take much snow to paralyze a city like Philly. Lots of people packed into a small area with really narrow streets. We left Saturday morning before any food riots started and the snow died out about an hour west of Philly.
Overall, the Delaware weather was less than stellar. January of 2021 we were riding our bicycles in Delaware. Not this year. Cold temperatures and lots of wind. We did a couple hikes around Cape Henlopen, doing a loop from the Delaware Bay side to the Atlantic Ocean side. The word bracing comes to mind. Nothing like being battered by a cold ocean wind for you to realize the raw power of the ocean. Forget about taking pictures or using a spotting scope. Standing and walking were accomplishments.
We got in some birding too. Because of weather, using the spotting scope was almost impossible and photography was impossible. We got some good species, and our 2022 species list is up to 87 for both of us. And we had some spectacular sights like tens of thousands of snow geese at sunset.
All quick cell phone pictures out a car window:
Snow geese in a field.
Sunset snow geese flyover. There were thousands of them. Wave after wave.
We followed Delaware visiting Molly and Mitchell in Philly. Always a fun time.
Chilling in the apartment with Sgt. Pepper.
Tattooed Mother; one of many fun bars close to where Molly and Mitchell live.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 