When Did I Move to Siberia?

Brutally cold today!  Temps near zero with strong, steady gusts pushed the wind chill to almost 30 below.  No reprieve from this hellish wind until sometime tomorrow afternoon – we hope. After today, just plain zero would feel pretty darn good. 

Poor dog has been cooped up in the house for several days due to the cold.  The old girl can’t take the cold too well anymore, so she stays in the house while I’m at work (with a brief potty break outside at lunch time). When I get home in the evenings she’s pretty wound up and wants to romp around the yard, but her feet get balled up with snow and she hobbles back into the house.  If she could only understand that the silly little boots would help protect her paws, perhaps she would stop resisting them…

Tonight the temps are hovering around -19 (with the gusting wind).  At almost 10:00 the dog had to go out just one more time.  Long underwear, flannel pajama pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, snow pants, wool socks, snow boots, wool hat, ear muffs, two pairs of socks and a scarf.  The only part of me not covered up in multiple layers was my eyes.  Took me ten minutes to bundle up so the dog could go outside for 30 seconds to pee…

There has been no sign of life outside since last week Thursday.  The deer that usually trek through the yard at night have hunkered down elsewhere to ride out this latest blast of arctic weather.  Even the Magpies, who are usually out and about in the most brazen weather, have been absent.

This is typically January weather, although it hasn’t been this cold, even in January, for quite a long time.  I’m going to be optimistic here and say that this is winter’s last hurrah before the old Blue Marble begins leaning toward spring.  

Back on Track Again

Wow, just looking at this blog, and it's been nearly eight months since I've posted anything.  I've been far too busy and it's gotten me away from things that are most important to me - one of them being my photography, another being my writing, and yet another being simply observing the world around me.  I go home from work exhausted and too tired to do anything more than dinner, laundry and sleep.  But I hope to change that this year - and not stray too far from my real passions; those things that give me the greatest pleasure and satisfaction.

Summer past was pretty uneventful, and autumn was gorgeous as usual.  Winter came early with snow in mid October and colder than normal temperatures.

December was brutal, with below zero temperatures and gusty winds, taking wind chills down to the -double digits.  January gave us a short reprieve with unseasonably warm, with temps all the way up into low 40s!  I almost felt like raking leaves and cranking up the lawn mower.

The warmer weather melted some of the ice on the creek, and the Dippers have been taking advantage, bobbing and diving into the icy water for insects and other tasty morsels.  Tracks of mink, otter and raccoon frequent the banks of the creek, and a few fish skeletons reveal the previous day's meals. 

Last week's clear skies glimmered with the encroaching daylight, and a sliver of the moon glowed in the deep azure blue of the morning sky.

But Mother Nature is a temperamental sort, and she boomeranged winter right back at us to remind us that yes, we DO live in a northern latitude...  This week is looking to be a cold one as well, with temperatures dipping once more both in the daytime and at night.  The  furnace is getting a workout this winter!

The Great Horned Owls are back, nesting in an old willow nearby.  Their calls can be heard both in the late evening and early morning hours, and their silent ghostly silhouettes float across both the dusk and dawn skies.

The deer had moved up into the nearby hills during our winter break in the weather, but are back again, as evident of recently chewed branches of the red willows and hawthorns surrounding my yard.  They've also bedded down beneath the blue spruce, leaving tell-tale tracks and scraped needles beneath their evening shelter.


I am never mentally prepared for winter, and every year I hope it delays itself as long as possible.  But when it does arrive, you just have to accept it and do the best you can with it until spring begins to roll back around.   Today being groundhog day, it is the turning point that determines whether we'll have an early spring or a late winter.  While Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow back in Pennsylvania, here in Montana "Blue Mountain Bob" did not.  Ok, so Bob is a marmot, not a groundhog, but he's a distant cousin and he's all we've got.  Good old Bob predicts an early spring, and I am SO ready for it!