Ice on the Mighty Mississippi

All the following pictures were taken (at some personal risk, i.e., the risk of freezing slap to death mind you) on 24 December 2008.

The brown stuff at the ice covered water's edge is what's left of some grass--and is the line of demarcation as to how close I got to the river! Just to take the death-defying fotos.

The darker blue ribbon you can see in the upper third of the photo is water free of the ice. The little black speck on the far side of that blue ribbon is a Bald Eagle. (Hard to see for sure from your vantage point, I know.) The eagles were fishing that day. I didn't see any success stories I'm sorry to say, but then what fish wants to swim at the icy top when the bottom has to be warmer--especially when it chances the opportunity of becoming the main course on the dinner menu?

More ice and one lone eagle. You might be able to see just a tiny spot of white indicating either heads or tails, I can't tell from here either!
The bird of the far side of the open water I believe is an adult Bald Eagle. The one on the near side--since it doesn't display the tell-tale white head and tail feathers is most likely a juvenile.

After waiting in the truck's relative warmth (self-preservation being one of those innate characteristics I often display), I finally managed to catch a soaring Bald Eagle! (Now if I'd just had Bush Babe's camera! [Oh, yeah, and skill.] ) It might be a much better photo!!! Sorry! Best I could do!

Now, I think I'll go stir up the fire on the hearth, make a steaming cup of hot chocolate and settle under a thick blanket and pray for my daughter and her family that will experience -20 degree chill factors this week. I think their high temp today is supposed to be 30 degrees F. Their predicted low is -3 F before the wind chill (15-25 mph winds) for that -20 F. That's like -29 C for you Down Under with your 40 blistering C degrees. I don't envy either of you at this point. 60 - 70 degrees F is my comfort zone. I keep tellin' ya, I'm a bit of a wimp.