On Saturday my husband and I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather that has finally arrived here In Tennessee with a drive. All winter we've had rain and gray skies. It's been very rare to see sun and blue skies. It's crazy how last week the temperatures got as low as 15 degrees and then Saturday we hit the 60s. It's like spring.

On Saturday we took a drive and did some errands in town. We took some back roads through the mountains to get there. Passing by one of my favorite abandoned houses, I made my husband stop for a second to enjoy the scenery. He asked me what I wanted him to stop and look at. I spotted something standing in the field in front of the house that my husband didn't see. I pointed to the field but my husband still didn't see what I saw.

Do you see what I saw?

Let's Zoom In A Little Bit...

Deer!!

The grass and plant-life are dormant and the mountains are full of brown. I saw two does in the field in front of the abandoned house standing very still. My husband didn't see them until I pointed them out to him. Right now with the color of their coats, they are perfectly camouflaged. Where we were at the abandoned house is isolated with no neighboring houses nearby. It's a very quiet road and we rarely ever see people on it. I see wildlife like deer and raccoons from time to time. That's one reason I enjoy driving out there. It's peaceful.

I guess animals out in nature are enjoying a break from the misery of winter to enjoy the nice weather. It's was cool to see the deer. If we hadn't been driving slow and leisurely we might have missed them since they blend in so well with the colors of nature. Of course when we stopped and they saw our car then ran off further away behind the house. That was a shame.

A Frozen Pond

A short distance from the deer was another interesting sight...a frozen pond. It's been so cold that this pond froze over the top. Saturday was our first really warm day and parts of the pond looked like the ice had melted but for the most part there was ice over the top. We drove back the same route around six hours later to get home and the ice was completely gone.

I doubt we've ever had a cold enough winter that this pond has frozen enough you could go ice skating on it but it would be so awesome if that did happen. Around Christmas there is a temporary ice skating rink set up for the holidays at a nearby NASCAR raceway but other than that we don't do ice skating here. The only time I've seen frozen ponds is in movies so it was cool to see a frozen pond in real life. It was super cold last week and we usually only get deep freezes like that once or twice a winter. I'm doubting we'll get a big snow this year. Let's hope spring comes early and we can stay thawed out and dry.

photo credit; all photos are my own.