Signs of the Season #49: Living in Captivity

It's still snowing. In fact, it's snowing like it will never stop. They say it's "only" lake effect snow, but I have never understood the distinction. It's white, it's cold, it's wet, and it's coming down in boatloads, so it looks pretty much like the real deal to me.

Nobody goes out much any more. The thrill has long worn off cross country skiing, snowmobiling, sledding, and so forth. Not that I was into any of that to begin with. Just getting down the driveway is thrill enough for me. It's a sharp S-turn downhill through the trees, and when it's iced up it's like navigating a luge run: Too slow and you bog down, too fast and you fly offtrack to semi-certain death and destruction. I managed to get myself turned completely sideways last week, both sets of wheels firmly embedded in snow banks. (There's another plus for marriage - hubbies will dig you out of a snowbank. They will not let you live it down, but they will dig you out. So maybe that's kind of a wash, now that I think about it.)

Anyway. Let me introduce you to some of my fellow inmates ...



Gatsby, of course. He makes a big show of trying to get out, but we all know he'd want back in the moment he found out that snow is wet.


Did I ever mention that the neighbors down the road raise bison? Well, they do. There are at least a dozen in the herd. We don't often seen them up close because they prefer to stay back away from the road. In the winter, though, they come up to stand in the shelter of the barn. It's amazing to see these moving mountains out there in the snow.



And what is there for a tractor to do when the fields are all asleep? This one must have attempted a slow-rolling escape to Florida, because the farmer has it incarcerated behind an electric fence.

The gorilla statue lives behind bars in a secluded little courtyard between two local businesses. (Why ask why?)

There are lots more Signs of the Season entries and Nature Notes at Michelle's place, Rambling Woods, so be sure to stop by and check them out, OK? This post is a little early, but the others will be along in a day or so.

Just click here to be magically transported.