I noticed clouds building up along the mountain ridges late yesterday afternoon. A good sign that the weatherman would be right this time on their forecast. I also noticed their forecast of not getting above freezing. Well, I awoke this morning to cold and snow. I think we have 5-6 inches of the blowing fine powder and sitting around 24 degrees. Roads are slick, schools are closed, and I used the dogs and sled to get to the coffeehouse. The snow is suppose to stop in a couple hours and then get colder. Stay warm!
There is a favorite cottonwood tree along Stuart street where the beginning of the Fisher Nature Area trail starts. I have been trying to take images of the tree and trail in as many weather situations as possible. Actually that would need to be every day. The sun is out this morning and looks like a beautiful day ahead.
It has been raining for the past several days. Thankfully it has been a gentle and refreshing rain and much needed moisture. We have seen severe weather conditions over the past few days. There have been tornado warnings, hail warnings, flash flood warnings, and winter weather warnings. Temperatures started to drop down to freezing yesterday afternoon. As it dropped the rain changed to snow, heavy wet snow. My understanding is some areas of Colorado had as much as 6 inches of snow.
Fort Collins is reporting over 2.5 inches of moisture the past 3 days. The 1 to 3 inches of snow they predicted for last night fizzled out. We only received a dusting of snow as you can see in the above image taken this morning of a favorite cottonwood along the Fisher Nature Trail. The image below was taken yesterday afternoon from my bedroom window during some heavier rain.
Have you ever just reached out and touched a tree trunk, stopped to touch a leaf or knelt down to just observe a fallen leaf or a broken branch? Have you spent time just looking as intently and as closely as possible? The more time I spend in nature the more I am fascinated with trees whether it is a grove of aspens, poplars along a river bank or a cottonwood standing alone on the horizon. So, my answer to those questions, yes.
As a young boy visiting relatives in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, my cousins and I would go fishing for catfish down on one the creeks. It always seemed like more fun to explore the creek than sit on the bank and watch a red and white bobber float on the muddy water. I ran through the fields catching grasshoppers. I climbed the trees along the creek banks and when tired laid down in the shade they offered. Fond memories for me.
Trees are one of the almost endless miracles of nature. There are unsupported statements that the cottonwood tree dates back to the Cretaceous Period, about 145 million years ago and possibly to the Jurassic Period – 200 million years ago. Makes our lifetime miniscule. I was taught to respect our elders and as I move more towards being an elder myself I grow in my respect for nature as one of my elders.
These are the two trees I’ve happily photographed this past sumer. The crops surrounding them have been harvested. The leaves have begun to drop exposing bare branches. The Rocky Mountains are hidden in the background by the morning fog. What a glorious morning it was. I’m grateful for this morning experience and look forward to many more.
I paid another visit to the grove of cottonwood trees near Mary’s Lake at the Rocky Mountain National Arsenal. My last visit, two weeks ago, showed the vibrant colors of yellow-gold of the leaves. Since then we have had snow and wind, so I expected to see some barren trees. The leaves of the cottonwood are shiny and triangular with rounded teeth on the margin. The nearly heart-shaped leaves are similar to poplar and aspen, also members of the Poplar family. We are moving on to winter and then I will try and get a photo of them in a blanket of white.
