“Blinded by the light,
Woke up like a douche1 in the middle of the night.”
— Blinded by The Light, by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
After days, nay weeks, of being a morbidly obese, mentally drained housebound hermit, I ventured out into the world on Friday morning for a snowshoe at the Forest Hill Nature Area. Hooray for being a functioning adult.
The woods, fields, and ponds of Forest Hill are teeming with birds, deer, snakes, turtles, frogs, bugs, and other critters during the spring and summer months, however on this day, things were quiet, still, and void of life, save for a few birds here and there and a beautiful pheasant that scared the shit out of me, and was too quick for me to capture in a photo.
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One thing that was present was the sun. January was a dark, gray, prick of a month, but February, despite much colder temperatures, has been snowy and sunny. The sun, snow, good beer, and legalized weed almost make it feel like we live in the mountains of Colorado, but with no mountains, no Ess-Dog (Sean if you wish), no Jenny up in Boulder, and no $5,000 a month mortgage payment. I digress; the sun was out.
“The Ess-Dog waits tables
And he sold his guitar
Jenny pledged Kappa, and she started pre-law
And off came those awful toe rings
Off came those awful toe rings”
— Jenny and The Ess-Dog, Stephen Malkmus
Not only was the sun out, but it was also fucking blinding!! I didn’t wear sunglasses because I was taking photos, and I THOUGHT that not wearing shades would be easier, but it ended up being harder to focus with burning retinas and tears streaming out of my eyes. I couldn’t help but hum Snowblind by Black Sabbath as I stomped around the fields and woods of the preserve, just with way less cocaine. Live and learn; wear the shades!!
“Kiss the world with winter flowers
Turn my days to frozen hours
Lying snowblind in the sun
Will my ice age ever come?”
— Snowblind, Black Sabbath
I took a few pics, but nothing spectacular and really failed to show the intense sunshine that was out due to inappropriate exposure settings (see Tufted Titmouse photos below for proper blue sky and sun). However, it was nice to get outside and blow the stink off my brain. I’m looking forward to a time when my mind gives me a nod of approval to go out and do it again. Or at very least lie snowblind in the sun.
Later.
BONUS PICS THAT I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH:
Tufted and Titty in the backyard.
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Pulled over to take this shot on the way home from Forest Hill.