At my house, it was gray and heavily overcast as I got Bear out the door, gathered my purse, put on my coat and boots…thought about gloves…
I almost didn’t take my camera.
Moon mystery
This morning out with Bear, the full moon was still hours away from setting. There is a day old skiff of new snow making the dark o’clock outings not quite so dark.
This photo…I couldn’t see those colors. I was trying to capture the moon lighting up the mare’s tail clouds above it.
I increased the exposure in post processing and I have no idea if those colors are actual refraction of moonlight in atmosopheric moisture or if they are some sort of chromatic aberration of the camera lens. Per the weather information, it is foggy in Kalispell so there may be enough moisture to allow a kind of “rainbow”…I just don’t know.
Alpenglo clouds
Last thing I do before shutting down my computer for the night is make a schedule for the next day. It is more wishful thinking than concrete plan but I have a number of hours of work to get in, walks/play/training with Bear, time with Bob…
One thing I try to always do is get outside with Bear about 1/2 hour before sunset for a final daylight time outside.
This evening, we were out about 45 minutes before sunset. It was 45F!!! and sunny. I had more work, but not a lot and who knows, it might decide to be Winter any day now.
Aside from enjoying the mild and sunny weather, Bear and I are trying to get the TAGG pet tracker to work to the best of its abililty and/or get appropriate tech support which requires getting as much info as possible…more on that another time.
All that needs to be known this evening is that we were located in a spot with a clear view of the sky, I had the TAGG positioned on the top of Bear’s neck…had him stay while I fussed with the software.
And meanwhile…
The clouds turned pink, the moon was in view…
And it was just beautiful. Alpenglo clouds.
Catching up the week
Wednesday, November 16…it looked like this and as I walked the loop, I thought to myself: “This is the absolute perfect amount of snow for the week before Thanksgiving…just enough to have that holiday feeling and not so much as to make it hard to get around”.
Later that afternoon, an email from a friend alerted me to a storm forecast for the weekend. It wasn’t so much for a lot of snow as it was for very cold temperatures and strong wind with blowing snow.
Huh… I decided in about 5 minutes of dithering to winterize the motorhome. It burns through a $60 tank of propane in 4-5 days when it starts staying below 20. While I grumbled a bit, it does not take long and it removed the tasks of monitoring (worrying) and runs for propane refills. I will de-winterize the first night out or maybe even the night before I leave weather permitting.
And although I had to unload all the freezable stuff, I use those recyclable psuedo fabric grocery bags that I have a plethora of, making it easy to unload and reload. Stowing things away, I can do first night out. With the short days and long nights and me not being a night driver, I will have plenty of evening downtime and will take at least 4 1/2 days for the 1260 mile trip to my folks.
In the process of unloading and checking all compartments, I found a quantity of stuff that doesn’t need to be aboard at all – obsolete electronics, Bob supplies (he’s staying home with his new gal-pal, Hailley)…. SO, a little de-cluttering done as well :)!
That done, it was back to work as there is a Tuesday project deadline.
So…Thursday afternoon it looked like this…
And then it changed to freezing rain…pretty, but I was glad that I didn’t have to go anywhere which is one of the reasons I can enjoy Winter so very much.
The forecast nailed it – not a lot of new snow but it got very cold and very windy and very wintry and I was very glad I was not trying to babysit the motorhome through a frigid cold spell. I promised her that I would fire things up shortly and we would be off for adventure soon.
Bear is absolutely loving the cold. His short stint of laying in the yard has regressed to being constantly in motion. There are perimeters to patrol, squirrels to chase, deer to sniff out…maybe the elk herd have passed through in the night or the local raccoon. Bear is on top of it all.
That was our week…that and getting the house and Bob ready to leave in Hailley’s care. A full week, a bit more jam-packed than is my wont, but all is in good shape. Currently the weather looks good for either a Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning departure – Adventure calls!
All the colors of the rainbow
Yesterday (Thursday) morning…looking down the driveway…beautiful, colorful sky.
I turned around to see the gold larch against a sky turning blue.
It made me think: rainbow! The colors of a rainbow all around me.
From the frost on the ground, to the green and gold of the pines…to the blue and white of the snow covered mountains.
As I wrote last night, the day was quintessential Fall: crisp, cool, clear air, the low light from the southern moving sun that casts a gold light over everything. Everything about the day bespoke Fall.
Last night was the full moon. The moon was to rise just after sunset. Bear and I went out to the loop overlook to wait…to wait for the full moon rise.
There was quite a show of color…
…all the colors of the rainbow spread across the valley between the foothill we live on and the steps of the Swan Range.
Venus showed first, giving a clue to where the moon would rise.
Dusk fell. It got darker.
The moon lit a small cloud just over the mountain top.
It was getting too dark to be where we were. Bear was such company. He usually wants to be on the property more than where I was waiting, but he stayed and watched with me. It made me cry as it brought up a memory of Karl waiting with me in the snow the first Winter in this place. But it also made me smile and laugh in joy with how far Bear and I have come and what a good life I’ve had with my good dogs.
All the colors of the rainbow… shared…in the love and company of my good dog.