Big Foot vs. Bigfoot

An impression made Christmas morning by a Big Foot in the snow on our back deck.  No Bigfoot, however.  It was my son.  Now, if he were wearing an Ape Suit, he could have perpetuated the Bigfoot nonsense, and that might have been fun.  However, we don't want to encourage believers in nonsense.

All Thumbs!!!

Based on observations during my brief walk downtown to check the mail, I think it's time we update this idiom.  As unnerving as it is for me to walk by dozens of young folks who don't make eye contact with passersby, I have to admit that I can see a lot of skill involved.  I think these new skills come at a huge cost, but, nevertheless, the skills are there.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Not Your Ordinary Christmas Photos

 I often feel that I'm caught in a web at this time of year, so, as I looked out the window on my back door, contemplating photos of freshly-fallen snow, these remnants of last summer's spider feasts caught my eye.  The mummified moths have been in these webs since August, and they are constant reminders to me of my favorite photo subjects.

 I never did go outside with my camera while the surface of the snow was still pristine.  Now it's all tire tracks, snowplowed dirt, and evidence of kids' games with sleds and snow forts.  I did find this one undisturbed area near my firewood shed.  It's a pile of old cedar fence posts and rails that I never got around to cutting up for wood stove fuel.  They spent nearly 20 years as a fence, so I suppose one more season beneath the snow won't harm them.  It'll be my first wood cutting activity after the snow melts. 

 A large Douglas-fir where I park my car still has some snow hanging on.  We've had around 4" so far, and there's now a lull.  I wonder if we'll get the promised 7".  I read that Tahoe got over a foot, and that the lake has risen a little over an inch.  That translates to billions of gallons of water, but barely makes a dent in our drought.  Actually, it's hard to picture a dent in a drought.

Merry Christmas.

In my rear-view mirror

 I'm a little slow getting into the month of December photography-wise.  No new photos for a week.  However, as I look in my archives and delete bad photos, surplus photos, and photos that no longer interest me, I get a nostalgic feeling for the flying dragons of early fall at Dellinger's Pond. 

 Four different species in these photos, and I'm pretty sure all were posted on this blog this past fall.  For much of the fall, the pond was dry, but just a sprinkle of rain brought out lots of insects and birds.

 This was a particularly good day for Dragonflies.  I had been watching the stick in the photo below for at least 15 minutes when two different species of Dragonfly landed simultaneously.

This event triggered my memory of one of my favorite passages in Thoreau's Walden in Chapter Nine, "The Ponds," centered around the idea of Two Fish on One Hook.  And that happens to be the title of a book on Thoreau written by my late cousin Ray Tripp, Jr. So, that's a sample of what's in the rear view mirror of my mind.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to try to look forward again and find some new subjects.