At long last January has dragged to a close! It’s my least favorite month, during which The Salt Lake Valley is often cloaked in a smog layer deemed “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” In other words, oxygen-breathing mammalians. But now it’s February, and an approaching weather system promises to usher in fresher air from the Pacific.
I don’t mind February, even though it’s the month when members of the Menzies clan tend to die. That alone would tend to cast a shadow over the month, were it not for the fact the days are growing longer and the nights shorter.
This is the time of year when I begin to plan a photographic excursion into the wilds, perhaps to be joined by a like-minded shutterbug but more likely by myself. Whatever, I intend to drive slowly and keep an eye out for mountain sheep in Canyonlands and migratory geese and bald eagles in the West Desert. In the meantime, I’ve been training my new telephoto lens on squirrels and also a visiting house cat who has appointed herself chief squirrel watcher. To my knowledge, Stripey hasn’t yet caught one, and I’m hoping she never does, as those invasive fox squirrels are big and evidently not afraid of cats.
Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and I fully intend to venture out in search of my shadow. In the meantime, here’s the view from my office window.
