Icebreaker, Babcock vernal

Maybe we actually will have a meteorological winter in 2016... After the insanely warm start of the Once-Cold Season, things have actually turned at least chilly with temperatures in the 20s, the need for the wood stove, and, imagine this, skim ice on the vernals. Granddaughter Stasia and I were not to be deterred by the weather and bundled up to meet the challenge. Our goal was to trek uphill to the top of Babcock Ridge, a local hill she wanted to climb, but en route, we decided to explore a now-full seasonal pond to check for Marbled Salamander larvae and other reborn critters. Stasia decided that her snowshoe poles would be great assets in hiking, and they turned out to have another valuable use: breaking the ice so I could get my dip net into the water. Using that Santa hat to stay warm was another fine example of multi-tasking.