Just another walk

  January 30-  Went for a six mile walk on the mostly dirt roads near Lander, PA, where the land opens up from mountain to to field some ten miles northwest of Warren. This was a routine walk in the sense that I have walked a thousand others like it, and like many walks the first and last miles were the most demanding both mentally and physically. That is, this walk was neither mentally nor physically demanding compared to some, but the first mile always requires discipline and a few minutes to acclimate to temperature and movement after sitting in the car on the way to the starting point, and the last mile requires some effort because I am growing tired and see the finish line. At any rate, the temperature was about 25F and the sky was a typical western PA winter sky, with minutes of sun being disrupted by black clouds that erupted into heavy snow squalls that in summer would have been heavy downpours lasting 15 or 20 minutes. During the January thaw a few days ago the sky did not change, only the temperature, so there was two weeks of intermittent showers rather than snow, and that is typical of the weather here. Last summer I saw an otter cross this road where it passes over a small stream, so despite the open landscape it is close enough to wild, wooded areas to support some unique animals.
     The dog was able to run unleashed on these roads because of proper training and because traffic was very light-we passed only four cars in the entire walk. She did not and does not react much to snow, although it restricts her running if it is too deep, so she buried her head into the drifts and pounced after voles that she smelled, but never caught anything. As a routine walk the two hours was for exercise as much as inspiration, and the most memorable aspect was when, from a distance of about 1/2 mile from the car, I briefly mistook a guardrail for a human being. My elevated position made the forty foot long rail appear condensed into the vertical form of a person, so it required a few moments of watching to see if the form moved, and then as I walked closer I was able to see the illusion. Probably aliens have been mistaken by people seeing such mundane things.