Snow in Palisade and a contortionist dog

The Palisade weather report today is about melting snow.

The view from my garden. I'm getting Spring Fever and am looking forward to turning the dead stalks into flowers again. That means most of them are probably going to have to be re-planted, but I look forward to it!

I liked this picture because the light on the snowy and wet branches glistens around the edges. Also, note the pale outline of the mountains wrapped in clouds. Nice.

Here's an unusual phantom cloud clinging to the Bookcliffs.

Indoors, Leila the Contortionist Dog is doing her thing - taking an upside-down nap.

A beautiful day in Palisade, Colorado

From morning until evening this was a gorgeous day to be out taking photos. I'd driven off the Internstate on some road in Clifton and couldn't help but stop for a few pictures. The air was crisp and cold, and the vista was magnificent. This is Mount Garfield from the Clifton side.

Mount Garfield on the left and Grand Mesa on the right. Palisade is nestled in between, but you can't really see it from here. Maybe some of the trees are in Palisade. I think this area is all Clifton where I'm standing.

Grand Mesa under snow and clouds.

Here's Grand Mesa from smack dab downtown Palisade at 3rd and Main.

Grand Mesa from the sidewalk in front of our house on Milleman Street.

The Bookcliffs from our front yard. The snow was gone by late afternoon, but as always, the play of color and changing light fascinates me.

The Bookcliffs and Milleman Street. This is looking eastward or maybe somewhat northeast toward the Rockies, much too far away to see.

Sunset on Grand Mesa from our back yard.

I love the feel of the sky this evening.

While the sunset isn't spectacular, the sky glows behind the trees making a beautiful way to end a day of changes.

A heavy snow day in Palisade

This is quite a big snow day for Palisade. Old-timers say snow used to reach three and four feet deep here thirty years ago, but the most snow I ever saw accumulate was about four inches. Mount Garfield is to the west behind the tree branches.

I always love the patterns the snow makes on the Bookcliffs. It brings out the geology in a way you don't see as dramatically under any other conditions.

There's Leila wondering what to do with snow. I think she enjoys it.

Beyond our fence you can see the tops of the bare peach trees on 37 3/10 Road (alias Elberta Ave.).

I included this picture to show Grand Mesa beyond the rooftops. The big, round tree is a globe willow in its winter clothing.

This is our front yard, with our re-planted Christmas tree and the globe willow I grew from a sprouting stick. The dark area to the right is the canopy over the front door. It's not that cavernous, but the contrast with the snow makes it look that way.

This is my garden in less snowy seasons. I've had a hard time making anything grow in ground that was saturated with weed-killer, so I started with a smallish plot where a few plants managed to survive and even thrive now and then. It looks pretty covered with snow.

By afternoon, you can see that some of the snow has melted, bringing out the strongly horizontal rim-rock even more.

Here's a view of the easterly direction of Milleman Street.

You can see these photos in my Palisade web album, too.

Mt. Garfield near Palisade

This lighting on Mount Garfield is glorious with the dark clouds behind. Unfortunately the elements of trash day and the power poles are not so glorious, but this is the only photo I have for the day. I took the picture from our front sidewalk on Milleman street. If I'd walked a few yards into the peach orchard at the end of the street, I could have avoided trash cans, streets, wires and signs, but the light changes so fast, I would probably have missed the drama. Other photos will be different, but this is my memory book image for January 12, 2001. No matter how you look at it, this scenery is breathtaking.

Bookcliffs, Palisade, Colorado

There's not much to say. It was always amazing to me to see the changing colors of the bookcliffs and the sky. The three pix on this blog were taken from our front yard. Imagine looking at that every day. I never got tired of it.

This is looking approximately northeast. I-70 cuts around the base of the cliffs.

Here's looking a little more toward the east. the hills on the right are between us and Grand Mesa. If I'd turned a little further, you'd see the mesa. There's a bit of snow on the hills to the right.