Monday, February 10, 2014

Mirage in the Snow

Elmira Snow Day
Snowy Pond
Snowy Dog
Fun in the Snow is for Dogs
Snow on the Fence Post
My fingers sting from the blowing snow. Todd said that he encountered a few flurries driving from Elmira to Moses Lake at 3 a.m. It'll pass, he tells me. For now, the blustery conditions linger.

It's another snow day.

Better than a brown day, or a polar vortex day. But I'm longing for open waters on the pond--the day I can announce that the feathered-guests have returned. I'm longing for a merganser day.They'll need the water so for now, I'll endure the snow.

Despite the gusting wind, the snow muffles all sound. If my fingers weren't so cold, I'd stay out longer. I left my gloves so that I could take pictures, but each shot looks the same--filtered in white. Bobo searches for mice and Grendel rolls in the snow. They love a snow day.

Back inside, my fingers fumble to get kindling started. It's so quiet that the only sound is the gravelly crush of the snow plow's blade as it heads north. It'll return, southbound, in about five minutes since we are so close to the county border. The next border beyond is Canada.

Crackling now, my fire consumes birch bark and newspaper until flames engulf split pine logs. I watch the glowing orange and my fingers relax. A strange sound draws my attention to the train tracks. An odd-looking locomotive slowly lumbers northward on the BNSF track. It's yellow, but old and rusty, a design I don't recognize. It's different from the locomotives that pass Elmira.

Then I see flames. Strange cars linked together in a short train of eight or nine, blast the rails beneath with flames. It occurs to me that this contraption is how the railroad clears its tracks, although we've seen plows mounted on engines and heard of air-blowers. This contraption looks old--like rustic-old. It's a steel dragon breathing fire out the belly of each car. Never have I seen such a train. Like the Hellfire Express.

And neither shall you see it! So befuddled, I watch it progress, ending with a tanker car and an old-fashioned yellow caboose. Then it occurs to me that I need a picture. Too late; it vanishes into myth beyond a stand of pines.

Maybe it was simply the mirage of a snow day.

10 comments:

  1. Now that would be a sight for cold eyes... a fire breathing dragon. Love your flaming word picture. Snowed here much of the day (and even as we speak). Please send your dragon my way.

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    1. The dragon is now parked at Elmira on the spur...but of course, it is dark and my dark photos are too grainy to "see" anything. Thinking about going outside to warm my hands...

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  2. Possible snow or ice due here in Georgia again -- must have leaked down from your area. :-) Your 'dragon' sounds interesting. Would have been a sight to see.

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    1. The dragon is here! Kind of creepy. Oh, no...Georgia is getting lots of arctic blasts...my snow is a gift of the Pacific Ocean; I'm not in the clutches of the dreaded polar vortex. Stay warm!

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  3. We haven't had new snow for days, but we have a few feet of it from before. I would have loved seeing a picture of the fire breathing dragon you described.

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    1. It's breathing outside my front door, but too dark now! Figures! Take a break from the snow.

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  4. I am always entertained by your pups! I hope Grendel doesn't decide to go in search of the dragon! lol

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  5. Sounds so peaceful and I've always been a sucker for seeing dogs playing in the snow. Bruce is outside right now talking away to someone and I'm sure the entire neighborhood can hear him, or better yet feel the ground shaking. Man that dog can bark. Maybe he'd like to see that dragon :)

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    1. I love big dogs! I bet your Bruce would challenge the dragon with noise of his own!

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