Month: March 2017

Rain Day

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On a Rainy March Afternoon I put the Rain Gear on the Camera, suited up and wandered out. Rain Days are the Worst and the Best. Shooting in the Steady Rain is a challenge not only just to Keep the Gear Dry, Lenses free of Water Spots and to see the Viewfinder through Foggy Glasses – but at this Time of Year it can get Cold and Unpleasant fast when Wind picks up, Rain comes Sideways and Clothes get Wet as they eventually always do. Everything just takes a Lot Longer. On this Day I lasted Five Hours.

But on these Magical Days all the Colors are Richer and More Vibrant. When Everything is Wet the Prairie looks Very Different than at Any Other Time. Sometimes One can See it once again with Beginner’s Eyes. And that makes it All Worthwhile. It is my Favorite Time to be Out There…

A Lead Gray Afternoon Gives Way…

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On March 21, 2017 it was now officially Spring, but the Sky that Day was domed over in Lead Gray and the Wind was Bitter Stiff. I walked up to the Second Hillside where there is a Place I call The Brakes. Lots of Plum Bush, Climbing Vines and Scrub Trees all Tangled Up that make a Windbreak Hideout for Deer and other Critters. But as the Afternoon wound down the Sky opened up to High Flying White Clouds and Low Angled Soft Spring Sunshine and I saw that the Plum Bush Branches were tinged with Tiny New Green Buds.

A Light Snow Day

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A little Walk across the Prairie to the Second Draw after a Light Snow. There was Good Water down in the Draw and the Wet Snow coated the Trees. Over in the Big South Draw there is a Blow Down from a few years ago that makes for some Hard Going. And back to the East, the Grandmother Cottonwood is still standing but She’s losing Limbs fast these Days…

A March Afternoon Down in the West Draw

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On a breezy March Afternoon with whispery thin High Clouds making for a Beautiful Soft Light I walked across the Prairie to the Head of the West Draw. There the Seeps and Springs were flowing even though the Winter had not been very wet. Last year’s Grasses lay like a Golden Blanket covering the wet Cleft. I followed the Water downstream North until the Sun started to sink low. Then back up a Game Trail into the Prairie and Wind…

The Chronology of a March Afternoon

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On the Second of March I entered the Prairie under scooting White Puffster Clouds tracking in from the Northwest on a brisk Breeze & punctuating the Sunshine with periods of Gray Soft Light. I crossed the East Field & around to the Mouth of the Little Spike Draw & then Upstream past Clusters of Cottonwoods to the Hidden Seep which was this Day only a bit wet & oozing. From there I climbed up & out onto the Second Field & through Golden Grasses bearing Southwest to the Park-like Copse near the Confluence of the muddy Second Draw & the freely flowing Big South Draw. Here I visited Grandfather Cottonwood & ventured to the Edge of the Wetlands to the South.  Then on the walk back to my truck in Late Afternoon Light I came upon a Tree just shy of Flowering.