Perceptions

Thursday, March 07, 2019

New snow fell yesterday, making me crazier, bringing unanticipated adventures, and renewing my sense of image richness.

After managing (again) to break my newest snowblower, a phone discussion with the repair guy helped me understand that it has a “broken drive belt”. Today he’ll bring a new belt, and cautioned me to avoid re-freezing my snowblower’s belt by removing all snow before setting aside the unit.

I turned to the “backup (barn) snowblower”, an older unit. I drove it uphill to re-establish a walkable path to my house, and then, on around to “do the driveway”. Finally, back at the barn and without hot water, I couldn’t remove snow sticking to the blower’s blades and its auger shaft. I needed a spot-heater, and so, departed to go shopping.

While driving along the busy highway that borders my neighborhood, I saw ahead a loose German Shepherd. It paused and then crossed the highway. A driver coming from the opposite direction stopped for it, and me, too. I turned and followed the dog down a side street, before parking and inviting the animal into my back seat. The dog accommodated nicely and waited while I asked a man nearby about it. He said the dog “belonges to someone (waving broadly) over there”. I decided who he might mean, drove back across the highway and to my own street, managed to make it up an unplowed, long driveway, got out and pounded, seemingly endlessly, on a door. Thankfully, someone was home, and the dog belonged to her.

After shopping, I brought home a Mr. Buddy Heater with accessories, and a few bags of not-needed-but-wanted-items, like a coffeepot and bird feeders. Today, I’ll experiment with the heater, to melt stubborn ice from both snowblowers.

Yesterday, I learned more while out giving the horses their evening feed. On a whim, I carried my big Canon Camera, heavy and hanging from my neck, instead of a little one easy to carry. After snapping and downloading the random photos, I saw impressive differences from those taken with my little camera and cell phone.

Photos in this morning’s blog are from the Canon. The lead photo shows weeds in the snow; the second captures distant fog and sky colors; and another here looks uphill at snow-laden junipers.

I’ve thought much about photography after transitioning to Word Press and starting to associate images to my writings. Yesterday’s random shots are reminders of how a complex camera reveals subtle colors and beauty.

Alongside snow’s elements of truth and beauty are others of harsh reality.

T’was a good day. The dog got home safely; I have a capable spot heater; the fix-it guy is coming; my Canon is da bomb; and on Saturday night some of us will turn back clocks.

Dear Friends, Soon, this season’s cold and snows will be history. Diana