Every morning we escort our pup to the back door and out to a small fenced in area for her daily contribution to the Earth’s surface. She’s not pushy at all about this, in fact if truth be known, it’s quite possible she prefers the warmer interior of our house. Thank goodness she has learned it is not appropriate to deliver anything inside, for which we are grateful. Took some time to get her trained but nice she has figured things out. She actually rings a bell when she wants to go out!

The back “yard” isn’t much, but it has served us well over the years with two previous canine friends. Nice place for them to run, chase birds and bark replies to the coyotes. It’s worked out well as long as we keep an eye open for active ingredients deposited about the space.

This year’s first snow was a bit confusing for our pup. She was a little tentative about the new coating that covered the ground and all the smells which highlight target areas.

She has an incredible nose and seemed to find popular patches despite the camouflage. It was interesting to watch her “tip-toe” around without any visual reference in the space with which she is most familiar.

That’s sort of the interesting part about snow. It covers up a lot of stuff and at the same time.

It reveals. For example, consider the fencing I built 20 or so years ago to prevent the escape of our hounds and the invasion of unwanted predators. Nothing fancy, just assembled from random chunks of boarding board stashed around the property – untreated and unfinished, left to the elements. Over the years, we have not paid much attention as long as it did its job, which it did. However, when the snow came, along with winds swirling about, I noticed what had been hiding in plain sight.

The photograph shared today points out what the years have accomplished. The snow created a sugar coating of fluff which contrasted, and made more obvious, the aging wood, which was far less obvious in the brown season. The fencing blended in with the bare trees and sleeping grass around the yard. Once the snow clung to the pickets, a light was shown through the contrasting textures of the wood and the new coating.

I think this is one of the things I most miss about a snowy winter – and there are fewer things that I miss as I age. But what is hidden and what is revealed fascinates me. Photographically, snow changes the vision and adds emphasis to the less noticed everyday. Just ask a plow guy who hits a concealed slab of granite at the edge of a driveway. Hello!

Easier to find doggie stuff, too!