​A recent Valentine’s Day gift of a T-shirt heat press had me thinking about the phrase “Never Walk Alone.”

The connection between the press and the phrase may seem a little farfetched, but I used the press to help recreate one of my favorite shirts. 

​The term “Never Walk Alone” was printed on the front of the shirt along with a hound dog and a leash.

I decided to take this phrase and design a bit further by adding a paw print and a hoof print to a hooded sweatshirt. I additionally decorated the sleeve with cutouts of representations of my walking partners. I almost ran out of room.
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The back of the original shirt sported the saying, “It’s not where you walk, it’s who walks with you.”
I did not embellish the new hoodie with that for a couple of reasons. The first being, that it was plagiarism or possibly a copyright violation.
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The second reason was due to the statement, “it’s who walks with you.” 

​Kennedy, the goat, walks with me. I didn’t feel like advertising that obvious lapse in good judgement.

 Kennedy is the one who butts anyone walking beside him. The dogs have learned this. They sometimes get stuck behind Kennedy on the trail. When they attempt to pass him, they get butted.

They wait until he is distracted by food and then go around.

When Kennedy is distracted by food, he regularly falls behind, way behind. He is never in a rush to catch up.
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He also must mess with every trail camera along our path. Last week, I was far ahead when I noticed he was tampering with the trail camera at the pond. “No problem. I will fix it tomorrow, “I thought to myself as we continued on. However, that was one of the windier nights that week and unbeknownst to me, Kennedy had unhinged the camera.
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The next day the camera’s memory card was full and there were more than two thousand photos of a particular tree branch swaying in the wind. 

​Nonetheless, Kennedy continues to walk with us.

​However, for the most part, I will continue to not walk alone in the woods. I always feel kind of selfish for not taking the dogs and the goat with me. They will all stand at the kennel gate and look upon my lonesome steps with sadness, and/or jealously.
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It should be noted that the dogs’ and goat should probably never walk alone for safety and sanity’s sake. 

​Despite the noise and the disruptive companions, we are not often alone in the woods either. The recent warmup in temperatures have the neighborhood deer herd out and about.

However, the raccoons’ winter den in the hollow tree has been abandoned. The masked mammals are roaming around looking for food and mates. The hollow in the tree now really seemed hollow without them.
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Mammals weren’t the only critters on the move.

On Facebook, folks were posting about the spring arrival of certain birds.

Posters were seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds returning to their respective areas.

​I had spotted a blackbird under our feeder, but I failed to get photo. The bird’s arrival was right on time, according to Gary Edwards. In his book “Birds of Venango County” he wrote that they arrive in mid-February.  

​Other Facebook posts showed that I was not alone in hoping that we might be ready for some spring growth.

Folks touted snowdrops and snowflakes popping through the thawing ground. More and more skunk cabbage blooms provided a little color to the woodlands.
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I hoped that with these signs we were marching toward spring. I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering why this February seemed more like March with all the windy days.
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The reasons behind the weather changes were a little hard to pin down.

​After an internet search, I found that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is a song that was part of the part of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show, “Carousel.”

The search additionally turned up many other song versions by various groups and singers.

The lyrics, while different in some versions, communicated that one does not have to face adversity alone.
During my search I also uncovered many, many quotes on the internet about going it alone.

There are times in life when you should walk alone and times when you shouldn’t.
​Nonetheless, there are many times that I have been ready to let Kennedy walk alone.

​That’s just the nature of things ‘round here. 

Last weekend, hundreds braved freezing temps to look at some ice in Franklin. Of course, it wasn’t the river ice or just any old ice. There were beautifully carved sculptures by some very talented folks at DiMartino Ice Company of Jeannette that were placed throughout one of the city’s parks.

She also managed to create some works of her own in the fridged weather.

From icicles to frost, expressions of the cold abounded.
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At 4:56 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, a weather station at the Franklin Airport recorded that the temperature bottomed out at 1 degree.
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The station reported the high for Saturday was 26 degrees with a windchill of 15 degrees.

​The hike in temperature also let to the disappearance of many nature ice creations.

I was well aware that our family canines were capable of the destruction of cat-ice. As I tried to snap some photos, in the background I could hear many of the delicate formations being crushed under their paws.  

Cat-ice is also known as shell ice. A post on squarespace.com said that "shell ice is a layer of ice that forms on top of a puddle.  It is often widespread when it gets cold after a thaw has left puddles on the ice. It comes in two types."

​The post went on to say that “Wet shell ice lasts only until the water freezes all the way through the puddle.  Dry shell ice forms when the water drains away before the skin freezes all the way through.  The dry shell is often held up with a network of thin crystals that form as the water drains.  It often lasts until the next thaw.”

​This year I wasn’t as dedicated in photographing the frost as I had been in years before. 

​Usually, the process required me to take my gloves off in the frigid weather and change a lens.

Facebook memories from last year, showed me that I had went the extra mile to get the closer shots. I probably even had waded into the creek.

 Earlier this year, some of the ground frost gave way and I slipped into the creek. When the canines saw me crawling on all fours out of the stream, they decided that I since I was down to their level that it was time to wrestle. I was not in a wrestling mood at that time. ​

​Back to the icy memories, I was reminded that three years ago in February, there was substantial amount of freezing rain which provided an icy coating on everything.
While the warming weather took its toll on both man-made and nature ice, the plants seemed to welcome it. 

​Skunk cabbage, which is known as one of Pennsylvania’s first wildflowers to bloom in the spring, was popping up along the open creek beds and wetlands.
However, skunk cabbage has a little trick to help it deal with the frozen ground. The plant uses thermogenesis to produce heat. 

“During the winter when temperatures are freezing, the flower buds can warm up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which melts the snow around the plant,” according to a post on nwf.org.
The post went on to say that while the plant loses it leaves annually, the plant itself can live up to 20 years. 

​Skunk cabbage wasn’t the only thing breaking through the frozen ground.
In the yard, snowflake flower leaves were seen among the grass. A few daffodil sprouts brought some green color to the dead leaves.
While the weather warms, there are still some definite chances to view some of nature’s icy art as the night lows continue to dip below freezing.

​That’s just the nature of things ‘round here.