Nonetheless, the weather-tough critters of the Applegate clan decided to brave the weather to continue their daily walks. However, the human leader of the pack did limit their time exposed to the frigid temperatures. 

Nonetheless, the Applegate canines appeared to enjoy the snow in spite of the subzero temperatures. 

There were a few times that Clem displayed the "cold foot" pose. However, that didn't stop him from exploring the frozen tundra. 

One area of exploration included the neighbor's pond which had frozen solid in what appeared to be overnight. The smooth white surface provided an interesting backdrop for photos. 

My animals were not the only ones withstanding the freezing cold. The bird feeders were filled with puffed up birds sporting snow encrusted eyes. Visitors included dark-eyed juncos, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches and American goldfinches. The feathered ones struggled to find shelter from the winds in the   garden debris and in the trees. 

Meanwhile, the beginning of this week was a different story.
​The wind died down and the temperatures started to climb.

Our walks became more endurable and enjoyable. One could not draw a breath without nostrils freezing together.
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Remnants of the previous week's freezing rain could be seen on the trees. 
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The forest animals were on the move again. Over the past weekend almost no deer tracks were seen. At the beginning of this week, the deer were everywhere.

They visited my yard, my parents' yard and traipsed around our trails in the woods. 

As the warmup continued, a Facebook post on the National Weather Service's Pittsburgh office's page said things were looking up temperature wise. "Confidence is high that above average temperatures will occur in the Ohio River Valley between Dec. 31, 2022 to Jan. 4, 2023," the post said. 
It also added that there would be an above average chance of precipitation and that would most likely fall as rain. 

As we approach the new year, the birds appeared to lose weight. It was not due to their resolutions. Merely they just smoothed out their feathers a bit. While the Christmas weather was white and wicked, it seems that New Year's will be warmer and wetter.

That's just the nature of things 'round here.  

Several years ago, I decided to torture my pets by dressing them up for the holidays. My main concern then was to create a perfect photo for our Christmas cards. 

There was lots of crying, screaming and gnashing of teeth from all parties involved. I learned a few tricks over the years. Treats and positive reinforcement were much more successful than yelling and scolding. ​

Additionally, adding elastic straps kept hats in place just long enough for a photo. 

For this year's session, I was blessed with a sunny day over the Thanksgiving holiday. My parents' house was often seen in the background of my holiday photos. So, this year I decided to use my porch Christmas decorations as a backdrop and for the most part, the photos turned out well. 

I got what I considered a perfect bunch of photos to use for Christmas cards. However, it was the shots that were imperfect that provided the most delight. 

That's just the nature of things 'round here. 

It was nice to see the sun on Tuesday and even nicer to view a phenomenon called a sundog or sun dog.

A post at foxweather.com repeated the same information. "These 'side suns' are colloquially known as sun dogs, officially known as 'parhelia,' which is Greek for 'next to the sun.' And just like other rainbow-type displays in the sky, sun dogs result from light refracting off precipitation ...," the post continued.  

However, an excerpt on Wikipedia said, "A somewhat common misconception among the general public is to refer to any member of the ice halo family as a 'sun dog' (especially the 22-degree halo, being one of the most common varieties). However, sun dogs represent just one of many different types of halos. For referring to the atmospheric phenomenon in general, the term (ice crystal) halo(s) is more appropriate." 

​Brisk temperatures created some intricate shapes on the surface of the neighbor’s pond. The angular and almost geometrical shapes glittered as the light played off them. 

A post at squarespace.com provided a little more clarity for me on the subject.

 “Lake ice is crystalline and comes in a few crystal arrangements.  Various classification systems have been developed to describe them,” said the post.
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The post first listed a “simple and practical classification" from Tony Gow, a well respected glaciologist.  I’m not so sure I would have used the term simple to describe what followed. 

That list included unseeded ice, seeded ice and snow ice.
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As near as I could decipher, the ice I had been seeing was unseeded ice which Gow explained was” large crystals with a vertical C axis.”

Meanwhile, the simplest explanation I found, was the answer to the question “Why does ice on lakes and ponds sometimes freeze clear and other times not? on Quora.com.

However, it was hard for me to verify the answer by Edward Mahoney of Salt Lake City, UT.

​“Ice forms in elongated crystals. When the ice first forms on a lake or pond, it’s usually clear and you can see through it. Those first ice crystals are lying flat. They grew with their long axes oriented in the direction of least stress, parallel with the water surface,” Mahoney posted. 

​“As the surface of the water body freezes over, the ice crystals become confined. As they grow and expand there are horizontal stresses. The direction of least stress becomes vertical, rather than horizontal. The ice crystals reform themselves into larger crystals, with the long axis vertical, rather than horizontal,” he continued. 

​He also went on to describe bubble formations in ice.
 
Feeling slightly more knowledgeable and only a little less confused, I believe I might have a handle on ice identification. 

However, whether it was P1, P2 or unseeded ice, it was still a sight to see. That’s just the nature of things ‘round here. 

​Darker December days may indeed create more color. Despite gray days, I had captured some stunning sunsets as the area moved toward the winter season. 

​My observations led me to search the internet for why it seems winter sunsets and sunrises appearmore brilliant. 

​Articles pointed to a few factors that aided in the brightening of the winter skies. A combination of low humidity, the angle of the sun and clouds have led to some stunning displays. 

An article by Brian Resnick titled "Sunset color science.." posted at this site said, “Low humidity + cleaner air = more intense sunset colors.”

​In the post, NOAA meteorologist Stephen Corfidi explained how tiny particles in the air called aerosols can attract water vapor in more humid weather and hinder the way we see colors. 

​“They’re essentially acting like a paper napkin in the air, they’re scattering the light,” he said. “They’re reducing the intensity of the light, and they are reducing the spectral purity.”

Corfidi was also quoted in an article titled “Why winter sunsets are best, according to a meteorologist” posted at The Optimist Daily.

​In the piece, Corfidi said peak sunset season for the middle latitudes (… Northeastern United States) is November through February, and it has to do with the confluence of a few meteorological factors.

Meanwhile, Resnick wrote in his article that as “we approach the winter solstice, the time the sun takes to set lengthens, due to the angle the sun takes in setting into the ground. … the sun sets on more of an angle, drawing out the time it takes to set.
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Resnick explained that “sunset colors linger closer to the winter solstice, which allows us to enjoy them for longer.”

​Additionally, Resnick’s article mentioned that clouds could add to the sunset displays.
Corfidi is quoted as saying, “In the wintertime, it’s more likely you’ll get well defined cloud systems.” Corfidi said the systems are the result of a stronger temperature gradient between the north and southern latitudes, and a stronger jet stream.

Nonetheless, the winter solstice is approaching quickly.
The December solstice in Pennsylvania is at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, In terms of daylight, this day is five hours, 52 minutes shorter than the June solstice. In most locations north of the equator, the shortest day of the year is around this date, according to www.timeanddate.com.
The site also mentioned that the earliest sunset is on Dec. 7 or Dec. 8.

​Despite the lack of daylight, I was able to use my crystal ball or lens ball to capture the colors as the sun faded into the darkness.