The Dead of Winter is Over

Well here we go with round two of this post. Oh well.

OK, the abbreviated version.  The dead of winter is from January 21st to February 10th. From here on in, everyday it's going to get noticeably lighter and marginally warmer. To add to that happy thought, according to weather.com we're in for a February thaw.  The Greenland Block, whatever that is has gone and the Jet Stream has moved and it's going to get better.  DarC, mes amis, I don' t know if you are too far north to feel this, but we south of the Mason Dixon line definitely will.

I can't tell you how much I hate the dead of winter and the thing that I hate the most is the dark. The cold I can deal with, but the dark I find depressing in the extreme. My photography work dries up and this winter instead of having pretty snow scenes to photograph, we have had dirty ice and icy mud.  And dirty ice and icy mud do not a lovely picture make.

It became a real chore to feed the deer. It's one thing to tromp through the snow and quite another to maneuver yourself across the ice rink that my backyard has turned into. I really began to question what I had gotten myself into and why in the world I was doing it. But yesterday something amazing happened.

When I go out to feed the deer I call them and they arrive. They usually stand about ten feet away while I'm spreading their food out. They get six pitchers full. They're really hungry now, so as I start spreading the food for them, they have at it.   But as soon as I approach them to put more food out they run away. It's sort of like a dance.  There is one half grown fawn that I've started calling Braveheart, because he (who knows the sex, she could easily be a female) stays longer and looks right at me.  I always talk to them while I'm dumping out their food. And this winter,  it's been all about how animals who are being fed by people who have other, better things to do, should at least be a little grateful and not hiss, flip their tails and run away. 

Yesterday, I noticed that Braveheart was slightly limping, so when he looked at me, I told him he didn't have to be afraid, I wasn't going to hurt him, and if he had to leave, because it was so icy, he should walk away, and not run.  He stood still while I was talking to him, and then while looking at him, I got a picture in my mind of him walking away and the route he should take.  And damn, if he didn't turn and walk away, taking the route I had just pictured.

"Holy crap," I thought to myself, what on earth has just happened here.

Stay tuned folks. It will get better. There will again be pictures on this blog. And as soon as it's warm enough, I going to start my photo lessons up. We are going to begin with shutter speed and shooting raw, and by that I do not mean naked.

PS: Isn't it wonderful that I can make spelling mistakes in two languages.