February Cold

In all the years I've spent traipsing around the neighborhood, I've occasionally got out of bed with the expressed purpose of trying to get pictures that will recreate sheer cold. They're useless, of course. Who would want to use a winter picture that makes people shiver? Put something like this up in your family room and guests will reach up to button their sweaters.

How about this one?--the sun coming up over the Big Sioux. Somewhere out there, not quite visible, sits Hawarden, shivering. There's something in the lay of the fog maybe that makes the point. It's very cold outside, and I've got my hunting gloves on, the ones with individual fingers.

By my estimation, this is the best short from the morning of February 15, 2010, although I don't think it sends chills--could have been taken almost any time of year.

It's always nice to have company, especially on forgettable, cold February mornings; but getting this crows well requires a wildlife photographer who's a quicker draw than I am. 

I don't believe that I was, this morning, thinking about trapping February cold in my camera. But it's hard to warm up to the record I came home with.

I don't need to say, it's here. You can like a picture like this one, but who on earth would like to have it up for months at a time. 

 

Today, 16 years later, the temperature will push all the way up into the low 50s. This kind of cold looks almost beautiful from a distance. 

From a distance.