Note: This is the first posting of an ongoing series of photographs I will be posting throughout 2009. All of the “Backyard Wonders” photographs I am publishing will be taken in my own back yard. My challenge is to see how many different kinds of landscape and wildlife photos I can come up with by the end of the year. Enjoy!

There is certainly no shortage of icicles in southern New Hampshire these days. I have more ice than I can deal with making dams on my roof. The extreme cold weather freezes any snow that melts on the roof, and creates an array of icicles in all lengths and shapes.

I had the longest commute of my life this morning - 24 miles in an hour and 40 minutes. As I was driving (I mean sitting in traffic) on the F.E. Everett Turnpike this morning, I noticed this portable alert billboard on the side of the road. Wishful thinking!

The sun, ice and a Canon camera. That’s about all I needed to make this picture last Friday, the day after an ice storm blanketed southern New Hampshire. Everywhere I looked there was a scenic or news picture waiting to be taken.