Madison, WI

Started walk at 8:00 a.m.

The morning was overcast and the temperature in the mid 30's. I realized I forgot my Nissan thermos when I was 5 minutes into the walk. I turned back. Properly outfitted, I once again started the walk at 8:10 a.m.

As Chance and I passed the duck pond, a man was feeding bread to the ducks. Hundreds of mallards were amassed on the snow and sidewalk around the man. They were devouring his present of stale crumbs like there was no tomorrow. They were blocking our path and I was afraid that Chance might scare some of the ducks into the road. As we approached, the ducks took wary notice of both Chance's nearing menace and the feast before them. In the end, the ducks only waddled a few feet from the sidewalk and gambled on the bread.

Chance and I ran into a few people walking their dogs. One older lady was walking her dog that wasn't much larger than a loaf of bread. However, because it was well-endowed with long fur, it probably didn't weigh as much as a multi-grain loaf from Breadsmiths. Nonetheless, this did not deter the yapper from telling Chance, "Stay away! I'm ferocious." We chose not to challenge the boast and continued on for coffee.

There has been a lot of melting these last two days and unshoveled parking areas are coated with dense, extremely slippery ice. Likewise, the snow and ice on the boardwalks have melted, broken off, frozen, melted and frozen again. Consequently, they're pockmarked and defiant to walk on.

I heard a few song birds but saw mostly crows flying high in the sky. About 12 ducks were swimming around the island which is almost distinctive in shape because of the open water and melting ice.

It's Groundhog Day tomorrow. According to folklore, if the groundhog sees its shadow on this day, winter will continue for another 6 weeks. That is, if the little rodent wakes to sunshine we'll be subjected to snow, cold and dreariness for 42 more days. Isn't it odd that we'll wish for no sun on Monday -- at least for the morning hours.

Coffee -- Costa Rican -- Excellent. Muffin today -- Cranberry -- Most Excellent.