Walking In A Winter Windy Land

Yesterday evening the wind picked up considerably. The rain turned into a warm oozing jello then hard sizable pellets of sleet. A bit of snow fell. Then a thick flurry of flakes commenced. Then it stopped. The stars came out. No snow for you I thought. It has passed.

This morning it was snowing hard when I woke up. The wind was howling its usual, "Here Comes the Cold" howl. The little bit on the ground meant it had only recently started. There will be snow for you after all, I thought. Yes there was plenty snow all day.

Around 2pm the clouds began to lift and separate, a little blue sky peaked through. Finally, it is time to go for a stroll.



It was a warm snow. Even the wicked wind didn't feel quite so vicious. Maybe I am getting acclimated. Nope, the rhododendron leaves aren't even the least bit curled. It is a warm snow, just barely below freezing.



The catalyst of a tall tale beckons. The layers of snow on an old foundation in a naked forest give weight to a time gone by. Typing the first word is always the hardest even if it is the third chapter. Focus has never been my strong point.



The vegetable garden rests. The frozen corpses of beets, turnips, lettuce, spinach and asian greens lie beneath the blanket of snow. The held on amazingly well until the 10 degrees right before I fled south. Upon my return it was all mush. Maybe they will surprise me and sprout back up in the early spring. I didn't look closely at the beets and turnips. I replaced Uncle Ernie's dangling baubles that had been ripped off in the howling winds and moved on.



The cozy cabin is close by. That is what I was more interested in. Is it still there and in one piece? Is there any snow inside? The plumbing vent isn't hooked to any plumbing and a small portion of the ridge cap on the roof is still not permanently sealed and fastened.



The cabin is fine and my dry stack stone walls are still there. Nothing has budged in all this wind and rain and sleet and snow and wind and rain and freezing and thawing and heaving and wind and snow and rain. It is a sturdy little cabin and those are mighty fine dry stack stone walls.



It waits patiently for the weather to improve, for a new layer of clothing, the window trim and siding to grace its exterior. Oh, sunny days where are you?

The Conversion Of Water

A morning promise



Has turned into a winter storm warning predicting 3 to 5 inches of snow. About one so far.

Cry Me a River

Weather! Weather and more weather! I would hope the drought in WNC has been officially cancelled by now. Nope. Despite the last two months being a bit wetter than normal and slowing cabin construction to a crawl, the official word is still a D2 severe drought.

It has been raining all day and the big rain is still set for tonight. Flash flood rain.



I noticed another small rock slide along the highway in my coming home and subsequent run to the store to fill the larder with food. I also saw another tree that had fallen across the road to be chain sawed up and tossed off the edge. Then I discovered there is basically no phone service, an intermittent horrible buzzing that only allows a connection every so often. All this rain has made it worse. I think the buried cable running a foot off the side of the road has been damaged.



And the dishwasher don't work no more even after I cleaned all the water filters. I don't think that is weather related, just an annoying addition to a cooped up mentality.

The diagnosis for tomorrow is snow. At least I can go outside in the snow.

Already

After twenty years in a tropical desert where the weather was essentially the same three hundred days of the year, I am still getting used to the impact real weather has on day to day living. There is big rain a commin' to be followed by cold and snow on Wednesday. I was a little surprised to find the Snowdrops, Galanthus species already coming up on the 5th of January.

I knew the Snowdrops were early, but so soon? Blogs are great record keeping devices so I went back and looked. Last year I noticed the first sign of Daffodils on January 10th and spotted the Snowdrops on January 23rd. This warmer December just past must be encouraging them.

It seems strange, but I can expect to start seeing the beginning of 10,000 Daffodils waking up this month.



One thing I don't want to see pop up this spring are any more Spotlets. I called the Haywood Animal Welfare Alliance, HAWA today to get the info on having things fixed. I need to go in to the office, pay and make an appointment for the Spot family to be transported to Asheville for the overnight operations. I'll need to buy another animal carrier because they prefer one animal to a box, but will let the kittens go in one. Plus I want to check into kitty downers just for the ride from this mountain top to the drop off in Waynesville. I'm not good with wailing cats in moving cars.

A young Spot family plays in innocent ignorance of their upcoming fate. All I have to do is get them in carriers and dropped off by 8:30 in the morning the day of the appointment. I hope that doesn't prove to difficult.



The Spots have done fine in their outdoor, insulated cat carrier house placed out of the wind and rain and snow. (Subliminal training.) They have had longer forays inside the house smelling and exploring things, but still are not quite ready it seems to stay inside. I bet that will change with time and a good fixing.

This year I won't worry that alternating cycles of snowy cold and wet cool that poses as warmth is going to hurt the Snowdrops and Daffodils.



They know what they are doing. I am figuring it out.

Regular Programming

Will resume from the, for now deliciously warm, low spot on a North Carolina mountain top at some point.

Pine

Palmetto



And Prairie



In Florida

An Ancient Landscape

Struggles to come to the net while Blogger has another bout of photo uploading issues or is it this horrible AOL on a strange computer? Whatever.

Massive Live Oaks line the perimeter of a wet prairie in the heart of Florida. Paynes Prairie was once a large lake. A sinkhole opened in the north east corner and drained the waters away leaving the lake bed low and wet or often dry.



Old cave paintings line a tunnel beneath railroad tracks for trains that used to pass overhead.



Is it a donkey or a deer?



The wildlife was abundant on an overcast, breezy and cool winter day. A Heron close by patiently posed for pictures.



Most of the rest of the inhabitants kept their distance from the trail. It required the zoom lens. Without a tripod, I should be happy with the results even if they aren't exactly National Geographic quality.



This is what we came for, the Sandhill Cranes. Perfect water conditions have increased the usual 2 to 3 thousand winter population to 5 thousands cranes. A special bonus was seeing two of the five endangered Whooping Cranes, the white crane, that winter on Paynes Prairie.



There are 380 Whooping Cranes left at this point. A young female approaching breeding age returned to the prairie this winter with a mate. They didn't cooperate close enough to me for a wedding photo.



Sandhill Cranes off in the distance.





Sandhill Cranes fly by.



A prairie resident very close by with a lineage far older than this dry lake bed watches dozens of small hominids watching thousands of cranes. Will one of them get close enough?



For an afternoon snack?



They wait patiently.



Having survived the turning tides for thousands of millennia.

Tree Trunk Series

Another ring of life can be counted.



Another layer of crusty bark rises to the surface.



A few warts erupt.



A little wound of the flesh prepares to heal.



The signs of strain from an expanding girth attempt to blend in.



Hitch hikers clamber on board.



Some of them looking for a free lunch.



Ephemeral beauty surrounds when looking close enough.



Flaky things happen.



Is a smooth and colorful surface the preferred choice?



The varieties of life.

Happy New Year from a forest in North Florida, the San Felasco Hammock.