When I see something so completely unexpected and downright shocking, certain words spring spontaneously into my mind.

Gotta admit they are pretty much always scatological, blasphemous and procreational so I won’t repeat them here but they are as automatic as the surge of adrenaline and the extension of my right arm toward the camera on the passenger seat that accompanies them. And they all happened simultaneously when I saw the cougar.

I had pulled out of the city expecting all that beautiful frost that had built up over the past several days would be equally as lovely out in the foothills. Might have been but it turned out, however, that it hadn’t really extended that far. The moon was big and bright as it settled toward the western horizon over the trees in the Pine Creek valley but there was no frost on them that I could see. And from the looks of the bare grass poking through the thin snow it didn’t look like there had been any there in the first place.

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The tops of the hills in the Cross Conservancy were pretty much bare, too, and though I could see some frost looking down from the summit toward Millarville and Diamond Valley, it was patchy and scattered. The chinook arch overhead meant even that was soon to be gone. I could already see the wind pushing clouds over the mountain peaks to the west.

The basin on the west side of the hills was nice, though.

Frost covered most of the trees and fences and the even, shadowless light gave it a soft glow. Blue sky reigned to the west while the chinook arch continued to build and it wasn’t long before the first little gusts found their way into the frosty trees and shrubs. Cascades of crystals began to fall from the higher branches and I could hear them hiss as they dropped.

The moose........

© Calgary Herald