Dick's Hideaway:

Pictures to come

Dick MacKenzie - www.dickshideaway.com

A Sunday morning moment that makes me go, "Whoa!" and slap my forehead.

I see a pretty sunrise out my window, a purple finch huddled on the seed shelf, fluffed up and slowly pecking sunflower seeds.

In the minus 31 temperature the pillows of fog billowing up from open water at Frog Rapids rise as small storm clouds two miles away across the lake.

By the time I reached my camera and dialed the settings to capture the perfect light conditions, I had scared away the lonely finch. Despite that, I practiced some pictures of the scene through my living room window.

Noticing, then, spots on the windows, I grabbed some paper towels and Windex and started inside cleaning the panes, preparing for some spectacular pictures when the birds return.

Now, the real dirty part - outside. Six squirts of Windex on the clear glass immediately froze solid and created the perfect frosted window.

If someone else had performed such a stupid trick I would have laughed out loud - a big, boisterous belly bomb. Since it was me, though, and I was by myself, I just shook my head and whispered, "Idiot!"

Pictures of the birds to come... some time.