Mentally I groaned as my husband Tommy and I drove through town and I spied the sign in front of the bank… temperature only 15 degrees. I knew cold weather was in the forecast, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to battle the elements just yet. It seemed like only yesterday that I was wishing for cooler temps. Guess I should be more careful what I wish for!
We were on our way to the woods in search of the elusive whitetail deer. Myself, I was in search of a buck since I held only buck tags. Tommy had been lucky enough to be drawn for a doe tag this year, but was holding on to it for later in the season. Right now the bucks were chasing does and Tommy was in no hurry to eliminate one of our “buck lures”.
As we reached the locked gate to our ranch, I climbed from the truck to open the gates and let Tommy drive the truck through. I cringed before I ever touched the metal gates. There was a heavy coating of frost on them and I was not wearing gloves. I knew they were going to be extremely cold and I dreaded having to touch them.
I was cold and anticipating a very miserable time in the woods this morning. I grabbed my coveralls from the truck and proceeded putting them on when I discovered the zipper broken. Dang! There went one layer of my clothing! I wasn’t very happy.
Tommy dropped me off at my blind and I quickly slipped in and prepared for the morning hunt. I was wearing my Carol Davis Body Sock so I wasn’t as cold as I could’ve been. The Body Sock is one item I don’t go to the woods without during the winter months. The second item I can’t do without is my Heater Body Suit and I was busy attempting to bury myself inside of it when I realized the zipper was busted on it also! Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I found myself getting extremely frustrated and just a tad angry. "Why didn’t I just stay in bed!” 
I complained to myself. I was so cold.
As daylight crept upon me, I gazed over the field I was hunting. It was white with frost and had I not known better I would have sworn it had snowed during the night. I didn’t expect to see deer until much after sunrise. With everything frozen, the deer would surely wait to browse later in the morning when the sun had thawed some of the landscape. I snuggled down deeper into my Heater Body Suit wishing I could zip it up to keep the cold out.
Sooner than anticipated though, the deer started appearing in the field. They seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. First, there were three, then four more, for a total of seven. Soon three more appeared, followed by another three. Minutes later, another appeared. I now had fourteen does and little ones feeding in the field, but not a single buck. My Nikon binoculars were glued to my face as I scanned the field, carefully eye-balling each and every deer in search of antlers. The deer remained for a long time, keeping my mind preoccupied and distracted from the bitter cold.
More than two hours later, the last of the deer left the field leaving me to ponder on the morning’s events and time to again remember how cold I was. I found myself peering at the woods around me. The orange and red leaves that came with autumn had too quickly turned to ugly shades of brown. Most were already on the ground. I found myself wishing for Spring again already. Wishing for wildflowers of purple and yellow. What gal doesn’t love flowers?
I was relieved when Tommy arrived to pick me up. "I hope you have the heater on!” I mumbled as I threw my gear in the truck. Cranky. Yep! I was cranky. As usual, Tommy tried to ignore my moodiness and suggested a drive down to the south end of the ranch. "I don’t care, as long as I don’t have to get out of the truck and you keep the heater going. I’m cold!”
We stopped atop one of our numerous hills to spy the hillside for deer and noticed the horses grazing in the distance. I wondered if they were cold too. As Tommy started to turn the truck around, I asked if we could drive down another old road to an area of our farm that we seldom visit. The truck was warming up inside and I was starting to enjoy our drive. 
As we rounded the final curve to our destination though I noticed what appeared to be trash strewn over one particular area of land. "Some fool has dumped trash here!” was my initial thought and I was fixing to voice my opinion loudly when Tommy started talking about FROST! How could he be thinking about FROST when someone has dumped garbage on our land?
"Get out and pick one up,” Tommy stated as he stopped the truck. "What?” I demanded. "Pick WHAT up?” "Frost flowers,” he said with a smile, continuing his discussion on frost. Now he had my attention. Well, sort of. At least my curiosity was stirring. What looked like wadded up pieces of white tissue paper wasn’t paper at all. It was ice! Closer inspection … beautiful flowers of ice crystals covered the ground, fashioned in all sorts of whimsical feathery curls and blossoms. No two were exactly alike.
My sour mood quickly evaporated as I grabbed my camera to capture this very special event. In my fifty years of life, why hadn’t I ever seen Frost Flowers?
According to Wikipedia, frost flowers is the name commonly given to a “…condition in which thin layers of ice are extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter. The thin layers of ice are often formed into exquisite patterns that curl into petals that resemble flowers.”
The flowers form when there are freezing weather conditions, but the ground is not yet frozen. They are also known as "ice flowers", "frost castles", "frost beard", "ice castles", "ice ribbons", or "ice blossoms".
Tommy and I were blessed to be able to share and enjoy this wonderful natural
occurrence, as the flowers do not last long. Because these ice flowers were on a north-facing slope where it was cooler and had not been exposed to any sunlight, they had remained long enough for us to enjoy them. On our drive home, I found myself watching for these awesome natural creations and was shocked to see them in several different areas, including along side the road near town. However, I realize that I may never see them again. Conditions have to be right and there are only maybe a dozen different plant stems where the frost flowers develop. Today we were in the right place at the right time.
Though I complained about the cold conditions and allowed myself to be miserable, I realize now that I would have missed a very special day had I remained in bed as I had wished earlier in the day. Tonight I remind myself that life is what we make of it and occasionally we just need to stop and smell the flowers… even if they are frozen.
