After the Blizzard, January 6, 2010

"Blizzard Aesthetics" The aftermath of a blizzard like the one that hit here on January 6, 2010, can have a range of effects -- the more dire blizzards, like the ones that hit Harding County last year, buried sheep and cattle. The blizzard that closed everything around here on January 6th wasn't that bad, as blizzards go. It did create, on the other hand, some opportunities to appreciate what I think of as "blizzard aesthetics" -- like snow-drift patterns and the way the light plays on the wind-sculpted snow.

I'm sure a lot of people look at the stretch of road below and see a boring stretch of prairie to get past as quickly as loose gravel will allow. But of course, looking at it through the camera lens presents a whole range of opportunities. While the overall impression is that it was a light snow, in those dips and dells, the wind piled the snow 15 - 20 feet deep, as you'll see below in the photo of a barn cat on the shed roof.

You also appreciate how resilient life can be out here on the prairie -- from the barn cats that emerged to seek sun and mice where they can find them, to the livestock that endures. We took Leesha and went for a short drive to see what there was to see. In an area where most people zoom through on the gravel as fast they can drive to get into town, we found an assortment of sculpture forms and life emerging after the blizzard's grip that made the trip worth while.

Elk Vale Road North of Rapid City SD Two Days After the Blizzard

A Buried Hillside Fence Line

Drift Against an Entry Gate

Rabbit Tracks Over a Drift Cornice

A Mid-Field Drift

Cat Life Emerges: It has always amazed me that both wild and semi-feral critters like barn cats can survive these minus 20 degree wind chills. No coddled cats, these. As we drove along, we spotted heat-seeking barn cats that had found a number of venues for capturing some glimmer of warmth after the week or more of near-zero temperatures. You also realize that agri-cats are often as much prey as predator -- it takes a long telephoto lens to get a shot of them, and depending on their degree of independence from the rancher, they are spooky as street lizards.

Two Barn Cats Find Warmth on a Car Roof

Black Barn Cat and Spooky Gray Barn Cat Grab Some Hay Heat

Barn Cat On A Warm Tin Shed

Farm Animals Emerge:

Hereford Peers Over Corral Gate Buried in a Drift

A Horse Soaks Heat From Scattered Hay

The Grass is Always Buried on the Other Side of the Fence

Pigeons on a Hot Tin Roof

Finding Sculpture in Blown Snow: There are always these little sculpture-like vignettes after the wind has pushed the snow around for a while. I can spend hours and hundreds of shots out in areas where most people blast by at 50 miles an hour in a spray of gravel. There seems to be absolutely no end to the variety and opportunity.