Touch of fog. . .

This is the viewshed primeval. 

I normally have a view of the hills of Hell’s Canyon. Today I had hoped to go to Walmart, but I called my friend who works there and she assured me that she could not see across the street from her house or across the Walmart parking lot a few rows. My aspiration of new towels was dashed, utterly and for hours, if today at all.

Cats, snow, rain, and forthcoming lilacs

Lilac buds are always a welcome sight before Spring settles in with any confidence.

First large, wet, fluffy snowflakes fell to the ground and instantly melted. Rain followed without a pause. Effie was unimpressed and came back in the house right after I conceded to her vocal affirmations that she wanted to go out into Effieland. A few minutes later, I went out to pick up the cat food dish we put out early in the morning for our feral stray I named Paladin. He had finished his kibbles and was out roaming. Effie was behind her gate, yowling to let me know she wanted to come back inside. I let her in of course, and she is napping in fair luxury.

Paladin has been coming to our place for more than a month. He is a sweet cat with a grateful heart. He permits us to pet him while he is eating. Sometimes he shows up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other times he comes just for one or two mealtimes. Effie seems indifferent to him. Halvor, our shop cat we took in when he showed up freezing and hungry, despised Paladin at first, and even flipped him over, but now realizes Paladin is not a contender for shop territory. Torvald, Halvor’s possible brother, hangs out with Paladin, and was sweet enough to bring him to our place.

Halvor is a mighty hunter. He also loves watching my husband work in his shop, which became Halvor’s home.

Torvald is a friend to all.

Paladin is our friendly feral kitty. We plan to have him neutered, wormed if necessary, and vaccinated so that he might come indoors.

Effie, napping in fair luxury

Avenging clouds follow a brief rain

Sunshine returned in the north sky after a brief light rain, while to the south, clouds darkened as they surrounded the sun.

Prairie frost, and Effie

Before noon the sun and earth had escaped the freezing fog. The sun illuminated the frost and rose the temperature to a pleasantly brisk 28°F. Effie paced Effieland’s perimeter for quite a while, stopping to lick icy droplets from the tall prairie grasses, and simply enjoying her sun-gilt holdings.

Our field and frontage were also bedecked with luminous frost, which I found supernaturally beautiful as I went up to fetch the one egg our six chickens had produced, and down the other side of our property to put the trash can out for collection..

Three faces and scarf

I was wearing this scarf in the cold wind yesterday, to a doctor’s appointment and the pharmacy. I find the scarf pretty, and it’s also warm and doesn’t itch. My Mum-in-law made it for me last Christmas. I sent her a note yesterday that I continue to love the scarf, and that it receives compliments every time I wear it. I took this photo so she would know to which scarf I was referring; she has sent me several.

Our expressions: I am taking the selfie, and it is taking a bit of strategy to get the three of us in the frame. Effie’s expression is adorably coy, but she’s a tad squirmy; and Vic is thinking about something funny.

Autumn hail and colors

A hard rain was falling; it morphed briefly into hail, and ended with the sun returning, evidently indecisive. Minutes before I had picked and stemmed one and a half pounds of Flame grapes.

Hail sparkled for a little while on our deck, and quickly melted under the determined sun.

Autumn’s sunlit colors prevail.

Effie’s warm spot

Even  set to low heat, the top of the dryer is a cozy spot for thin-furred Effie. The temperature outdoors was 37° when she came in from a morning romp around Effieland, and earlier it had hit 32°.

 

Restoration. . .for now

The smoke is entirely gone! The wind dispersed the smoke–the rain never showed up. The sky is blue again, accented with white clouds, and the basalt hills are out of the smokescreen and back to their beautiful rock-brown contours.

The smoke was blown away, but fires in western Montana, central Oregon, and central Washington continue to burn. If the wind quits or blows toward eastern Washington, the smoke will return to our valley. I posit it will not be well received.

The color of When?

Normally we see fields of grain and the basalt walls of Hells Canyon. I titled this photo “The color of prairie” when I took it on a beautiful morning last October.

This is essentially the same view, but with forest fire smoke. According to our local newspaper, the smoke could clear tomorrow–if (a) sufficient rain falls tonight; and (b) wind of sufficient velocity blows in from the right direction.

Such suspense!

It’s 112° in Effieland and Effie finds shade. . .

under a grapevine, where even the paving stones are cool!