Gorgeous Gorge

Walked onto the dam which creates the pond at Gorgeous Gorge.  I was checking out what looked like little white spots across one side of the ice.  Yes, it's been cold enough that the pond is frozen over again.  I was debating if the spots were shards of ice dug out by the deer trying to make a hole so they could drink the water -or- if the spots were made by the tips of deer hoofs digging into the ice as they traveled across it.  A loud deep rumble seemed to emanate from across the pond in the direction of my house.   I looked at the dog and the dog looked at me.  Maybe there wouldn't be a house for us to go back to because it got bombed.  (I might be reading too many spy novels.)  Then came another low gasp of a sound much closer to us.  OK, now I know what it is.   It was a cloudless morning and sunlight was hitting the newly formed ice.  That would be more than enough to start the ice expanding/contracting and a low rumble is one of the sounds the ice can make.  I don't often think about the ice making noise because it takes being close to it when it's 'sounding off' to recognize the noise for what it is.   Oh yes, the white spots weren't shards of ice but tiny indentations.