Snow In August

There are warnings about rattlesnakes posted on the trails in town around Beck Lake.

All spring locals shared horror stories about dogs rushed to the vet with rattlesnake bites.

Stories of hikers side stepping rattlers on the trails, and expressions of generalized fear and disgust over the noisy and poisonous little beasts.

As she always does, Kory received her rattlesnake shots in May. 

By spring we were the proud owners of one pair of snake boots and two sets of snake chaps, and both LC and I were watchful every single time we ventured off pavement.

For all the wariness about snakes in this part of the world, this is one of only two snakes that we saw all summer.

Thankfully neither were rattlesnakes................

All of these pictures were taken over the span of one weekend sometime close to the end of August.

The Saturday was cold, foggy and still very smoky from all the wild fires that surrounded us in this and neighboring states.

We - as we did often this summer - ventured down to the lake.

A safe place for Kory to run and wander and explore, and both LC and I were still enamored by the water and the surrounding mountains, and our proximity to both...................

Difficult to see her, but Kory is sprinting towards us in this picture..................

Sunday morning I walked outside to let Kory do her Kory things.

Still half asleep it took me a few minutes to notice the world around me, but when I finally did I was completely stunned.

The sky was blue.

The air was clear.

There was snow in the mountains.

In August..................

Rushing back into the house to grab my camera I walked (still in pajamas) with puppy around the perimeter of the yard, snapping pictures as I went.

The sky hadn't been so blue in weeks.

The weekend before it had been a smoky and stifling 100 degrees but on this day the air was cool and clear and crisp and clean, and the world looked gorgeous.

Looking across the road from the house, with snow covered Carter Mountain in the background..................

Looking towards the North Fork.

After so many prolonged weeks of bad air quality, and smoggy conditions, the world suddenly and unexpectedly felt cleaner and freer.

As I walked around our huge yard with the dog I enjoyed the sight of the mountains again.

And at least some of the fires were now out.

Very good deal...................

LC and I had painted this metal elk and installed him in the yard just a couple of days earlier.

Still entirely embedded in summer, the last thing we had expected was to see snow in August.

A few days after snapping this picture we had to move our metal elk.

Strong wind gusts had bent his legs and when we found him he was completely folded in half.

After straightening his legs we attached him to the safety of a wooden wind break.

He will be safe there.

The snow disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

But it was nice while it lasted...................

Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating, there is no such thing as bad weather only different kinds of weather..............John Ruskin.............