Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Forecast was for Snow

Look what we woke up to. It was forecasted to snow, and for once, the weather actually did what the forecast said it would. This is the southern end of Peterson Mountain, our view to the west. Typical of the basin and range topography that John McPhee wrote about in his book, "Basin and Range," the north-south mountain ranges appear like "an army of caterpillars marching south to Mexico." Our valley is higher than Long Valley and Hwy 395 to the west of us, but if it's a school day, the County road crew will have plowed and sanded our country road and that makes it a safer bet than the highway.

But today, because it's my day to close the library at 8:00, I decided to go in through California and take the highway. I'm such a big chicken. The best pictures of Peterson were from the west side of the highway, but there have been so many deaths on this stretch, I am very respectful of the road and chose the one dedicated pull-out. You can hardly see Peterson from here. I was very sad. So to make up for the fact that I had stopped to take the picture and would probably be late for work because I did, I turned around and shot the Shoe Tree.

Because of the snow, you can only see one shoe! Last year, California did some major work here, widening the lanes and shoulders. Throughout the work, they put up orange barrier tape to protect this tree. Peterson looks a little more respectable here. I love being a part of Big Sky Country. I can't post about my dye day results - my results aren't dry yet. Can't wait to share!

4 comments:

margene said...

You were right...we're 'it' and the snow is coming down now. It could last most of the day from what 'they' say. The pictures of your area as so beautiful with the blue sky!

woolydaisy said...

what beautiful beautiful pictures of the desert and snow!!!!!!!wish i was there. reminds me of new mexico. i HOPE to get my pics up today from dye day- so little time for fiber!

Beryl Moody said...

I couldn't figure out what you meant by the shoe tree until I did some careful inspection of the picture and saw a dangley bit -- which I assume was one of the shoes. Great pictures of the snowy mountains.

Birdsong said...

What beautiful photos! I was surprised at how far the temps dropped after the balmy weather we had been having.