An October Winter Wonderland

 So we had a freak "nor'easter" (note the correct spelling with apostrophe) on Saturday.  I'm not really sure what nor'easter means exactly, except that it brings A LOT of snow.  When I was a kid I thought it had something to do with Easter.  That's probably one of those things I should be looking up the meaning to, except that right now I'm more interested in posting my photos of the results of this nor'easter!   


The view from my kitchen window.

  


About a ft. of snow on the deck!

 

I live in what is known as the "East Mountain" section of Scranton, which is literally just on top of the big mountain East of center city Scranton.  Since it's a much higher elevation, we tend to get much more snow than in the city.  When all was said and done, I measured about 1 FT. of snow accumulation on our back deck railings!  I am not a huge fan of snow (except for a white Christmas, which I love), but I must admit, it is incredibly beautiful!  Looking out my big kitchen window into the woods bordering our house, the effect of the snow covered branches sparkling in the light was completely magical.  It definitely gives new meaning to the holiday song, "Winter Wonderland"!   



"Winter Wonderland" in my backyard



The wildlife must have also been enjoying this "winter wonderland", because when we woke up on Sunday, there were animal tracks all across the backyard.  I am obsessed with animals and the wildlife around our house.  I'm thinking these are maybe raccoon tracks since the raccoons have been on our back deck during the night lately.  I know they are supposed to be somewhat ferocious, but they are just sooo darn cute!    




Animal tracks crossing over the backyard.

 


Maybe raccoons?

 The storm also brought the return of one of my favorite birds...the Dark Eyed Junco.  They are plump little black birds with white bellys.  They won't come to the feeder, but they love to eat seeds and insects on the ground.  My husband threw some seeds out on the deck and sure enough, within 5 minutes we had about 10 juncos dining al fresco.  I read somewhere that they spend summer vacation in Canada and come back down to the northern states during the winter, which would explain why we haven't seen them since the spring. 

Dark Eyed Junco

Juncos at the buffet.