November 26, 2023

Winter is best to be avoided and grumbled about so it’s no surprise I can count on one hand the number of snowy walks I’ve taken in the last nine years. Which is too bad because today proved I’ve missed out on watching the prairie in winter. Today was a typical Colorado day after a snow storm, free of wind with a resplendent cloudless blue sky. It was just warm enough to enjoy being outside without layers and layers but not so warm the trails and two-trek are muddy and sloshy.

My favorite winter weather.

He had a fiddly job at one of the water tanks which didn’t require my half-assed haphazard assistance so I took myself up to one of the high points, near the tiny buttes. I was easy, trudging through just a few inches of snow, battling the tall weeds was the only challenge. The weeds range from my knees to my shoulder and I am no diminutive woman so god forbid these tall weeds are ever covered with snow. Last year, the weeds weren’t epic and I did get pictures of the prairie completely snow-covered wilderness.

Making my way up one of the hills I was reminded again of the solace ten year-old me found in the mesa just outside our back wall in New Mexico. Today my walk away from the other human and our truck didn’t resemble my walks into the mesa. I wasn’t braving the early winter chill to battle an existential crisis like I did when I was kid. Today, I walked across the prairie just to be there.