Icy, cold, snowy weather in mountains of Tennessee

Over the Christmas and New Year's holiday, I spent a chunk of time in the mountains of east Tennessee (near the N.C. and Va. borders).

Truly a stunningly winter wonderland up there, but the frigid temperatures made doing just about anything harder and FASTER.

Some mornings I woke up to the outside thermometer registering 6 degrees above zero.

Then add the wind chill (always seems to be breezy in the mountains) and you get a sense of the cold.

It was too cold for dogs or cats.

Too cold for people.

But not for birds or cows or deer.

I saw plenty of them doing their thing outside.

The pictures accompanying this blog post were snapped by my cousin Larry Walsh, a frequent visitor to east Tennessee (specifically the Stony Creek community a few miles outside of my hometown of Elizabethton, Tenn.)

Larry, now living in Panama City, Fla., has plans to ride out the sunset years of his life in Stony Creek (where he shot these spectacular photos.)

Beautiful snow and cold imagery, cousin.

Thanks for the photos!