Green Lake doesn’t usually freeze in the winter, at least not more than a skim coat of ice. The logs that protrude from the shallow parts of the lake are there. But not the turtles, not in winter.

They come out again in spring, climbing up on the logs to enjoy the sun, after apparently having spent the winter on the lake bottom, moving around only when shafts of sunlight signal a temperate day.

Now they are happy, up on their favorite log to catch the increasingly warm rays. Another harbinger of spring….