Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Winter photos (along with a rant to keep things warm)

The weather has been cold and snowy for the past week and a half. Saturday night through Monday was bitter as the temperature dropped well below zero and the wind howled. Some of the gusts on Sunday in the 30+ mph range. But I ain’t complaining. I’ve had many fires over the past week, drank hot drinks, and best of all, have had plenty of opportunities to ski. I took these photos last Friday, when I was skiing south of town at a local nature center. The first shot is of a meadow where last August I shot a photo of a field of Queen Anne’s lace. Click here to see what this prairie looks like in the summer.
I discovered that the beavers had dammed up another creek. Two weeks earlier when I skied this section, the waters hadn’t not flooded over the banks. I love the reflections of the snow covered sticks in the water in the shot below.
Below is the dam. Notice the ice on the pond behind the dam and that the water is flowing freely under it.
This is the point on Brewster Lake. Last October, I caught a 19.5 inch bass out of this lake. As you can see, it's now well frozen. Click here for photos of the lake in the fall.
A Rant: There is political discussion going on about the Democrats holding another primary or a caucus in Michigan and Florida. I think that’s a terrible idea. I hated that we had that stupid primary that didn’t count back in early January. According to the DNC rulings, no Democratic delegates were going to be seated from Michigan or Florida. No one campaigned here and only Hillary was on the ballot, so I went over to the dark side to vote against Romney. Now, the Clinton camp says she should get the delegates she won (in the non-primary) and the Obama camp thinks there should be a caucus in the states to divide the delegates. I don’t know how they can play into either side. It makes sense to me for the DNC (as well as the Republicans who are punishing the state by not seating ½ of the delegates) to stick to their guns and tell each state they didn’t play by the rules (regardless of how unfair they may have been), but the rules are the rules. If they want to allow the delegates to go to the convention, that's fine, but don't let them vote for the nominees. Of course, I'm pretty sure you don’t read my blog to get serious politic insight (and personally, I prefer satire, but that muse just hasn't been around much lately).

I’m working on my follow-up to the Tap-out story, telling about the ordeal. Hopefully I’ll have it up by Friday. I also have a number of book reviews to write… But right now I am more content to sit by the fire and read or nap than write.

13 comments:

  1. Sounds cold...

    It got down into the 60s today here in Texas and I almost needed a long-sleeved shirt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. great photos, and I agree on the rant . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful photos. Dam politics.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Although those are great photos, they depressed me even more! I have been feeling the winter blues. February should have been pleasant. However, the chill is there. Cold winds don't help. Going to school at 7 am seems like a chore.

    Sorry for the rant.

    And I like your rant too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sitting by the fire to read or nap sounds perfect after a day of snow skiing. That's what I'd do if we had snow (instead of tornadoes) today.

    I loved comparing the summer/winter view of the meadow, but nothing compares to the snowy dam. Dam...I wish we had this in Miami.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree with you that they should stick to their guns. However, I think this will all be a moot point quickly. Obama really stomped on Hillary in the latest around of primaries beating her amount latinos, all women, all religions, and all ages. There isn't a focus group left for her to beat him in.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kevin--60 degrees and I'm still in shorts and flipflops!

    Diane & Paul, thanks.

    Gautami: just what is the winter temperature in Delhi?

    Scarlet: I'll take snow over tornadoes...

    Ed: it does look like Hillary's ship is sinking.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great photos!

    Don't think it will come down to Michigan and Florida's delegates counting after yesterday. Think Barack's on his way and there's no stopping him now!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love looking at your snowy pix, Sage, but I don't want to be there....LOL

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like your snow photos so much better than my own :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sage, sometimes people will bury a pipe while a beaver dam is being built to keep water flowing. I don't know if this was the case, or they didn't build it well. Reminds me of a story about Ft. Chafee Arkansas...And speaking of stories, I was wondering about the ordeal...

    Rantwise, Michigan is not my state, I, as you know, live in a state that becomes a primary foot note. Me, being Libertarian, may or may not be able to vote in the primary in my chosen party. They were yanked from the ballot because Raliegh didn't think there were enough Libertarians in the state (www.lpnc.org for news about that, since you are native). NC's primary is on May 6th. A littlelate in the game.

    It seems to me with Michigan for it to be that way there has to be a disadvantage to the Poitician and not the voter. But then, that's me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. These are some of the best pics yet! Wonderful!

    Happy Valentine's!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those pictures are extraordinary! How exciting to have such beautiful scenery to photograph.

    Of course Clinton wants the delegates she didn't really win. She'd resort to anything to win. I just find them shameless. I love lately how they keep saying "Well we know we aren't going to get the intelligent people's vote." So we want our country's future based on votes by the un-educated and un-informed?

    ReplyDelete