The Night Time Ride of A life Time! Old Man Winter Who?

Total Nirvana is just around the corner, and the proof is in the pudding. Residing at a place that makes me feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to arrive, I feel as though I'm living a dream come true! Just before my feet hit the floor every morning, this early morning excitement builds, as I wrestle around in bed in a semi-conscious state.
Things couldn't get much better, but they did! 😍

Being that my ancestors are from the Nordic region, I guess some chilly weather is no big deal to me.
Okay, flip side, @farm-mom is a beach girl. The sun, the waves, the sand, and most importantly warm weather give her comfort.
Eight months a year, the weather here is just perfect, but when Old Man Winter shows up, you had better like some cool temps.
Farm-mom has been adjusting to the longer winters, and she deserves all of the credit in the world for doing so.
We do get away for several weeks over the winter. Needless to say we head south.

Well, when she asked me if I wanted to take a late night ride on the bikes, I realized how the winters are growing on her.
In all successful relationships, sacrifices are part of the game. Although both of our plans always included moving to the farm, you really never know what you got until you've been there. The extended periods of cold temps are a little longer and colder than she had expected.
Let's fast forward three years, and I've got farm-mom asking me if I want to go outside and play in the late night hours.

What are you kidding me, lets go!
After uncovering her bike and warming it up, I noticed the figure 8 trampled in the ground.
Just by coincidence, my trek to the garage had produced my favorite #
Old Man Winter was telling me something, like get out there before she changes her mind, fool.

Checking the temp before we left, my bet was the under on 15 minutes.

With her bike all warmed up, cleaned off, and lights illuminating her way to the bike, what a gentleman, don't you think👍, we were ready for our frigid night time ride.

With farm-mom at the lead, we hit the path.

We ran into some recent deer activity. You can see their tracks leading to a disturbed area where the deer have pushed aside the snow, in an attempt to expose the vegetation below.

There were traces of deer all along our ride.

By the time farm-mom asked for the camera to take this picture, we had already been out exploring for almost a half hour. I would've lost that bet.

In this picture a piece of crotch wood, our log skidder, and a stump are blanketed by the snow.

Our next stop was a trip to the pond to see if any fresh tracks had been left by the unknown critter.

Now I was getting cold, maybe farm-mom is liking this cool weather a little to much.
We had been out for about an hour and she wanted to ride up to the top plantation of trees.
The last thing I was going to let her know was that my fingers were about to fall off from frost bite.
My guess was that the anti-freeze we had consumed earlier in the night may have been keeping her nice and toasty.

What a great evening, one that said so much. As has been the case for as long as I have known this wonderful lady, sacrifices are just part of her nature.
We enjoyed getting warm by the fire, and together we delighted in our adventure.
After 50 some years of knowing each other, you still have a couple of tricks up your sleeve. 💋

Every moment we hesitate is an opportunity lost.
Things just keep getting better! 💕