Despite the fact that we had snow here on October 29th (OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH, PEOPLE) it hasn't really been that cold yet this winter.  December has been mostly mild with some nice days here and there.  I realize now that I've typed that out loud, Mother Nature will hear it and hit us with some kind of crazy weather event, like a whirlpool in front of the Smithsonian metro stop or a volcano erupting in a smoke cloud that looks like an angry Ewok over the Natural History Museum, just to teach me to control my thoughts.  So to counteract that misstep and bring the balance back to zero, here are some photos of cold and dead stuff.