This morning when I got up it was 33, still above freezing.
Unfortunately, by dawn it was barely clinging to 32, and shortly after
sunrise it dipped to 31, before it began to rise again. Now it's 9
o'clock and approaching 40. So I'm staring, sort of slack-jawed out
at the pond, marveling at the bits of frost I can detect, when out of
the duckweed arises an otter! It pops up just long enough that there
is no doubt in my mind it is an otter, then it submerged below the
duckweed before I even begin to get a camera. I've seen (wood) ducks
several mornings also, and turtles, too. I'm beginning to think that
most of the critters live in the "pond beyond the pond" and only
venture now and then into the pond that I can see.
..