The weather was bad.

But not good bad.

Rain was falling lightly on the foothills from Diamond Valley on south through Longview but it was backing off as I approached Pekisko and the Bar U Ranch. A blue mist hung over the hills and filled the valleys.

Normally, I’d be pretty pleased with that. I like rainy, misty days. But today, the rain wasn’t falling hard enough to amount to anything and the mist wasn’t heavy enough to do much but add an unflattering colour cast to the scenery.

I slowed down as I crossed Pekisko Creek to see if the cottonwoods in the valley might look interesting — they didn’t — and over by the Bar U Ranch, it was more of the same. It wasn’t wet enough for the horses down the road from the historic ranch site to have any water drops on their manes and though the cottonwoods here along the creek looked better than the ones downstream, the mist dulled all their subtle colours.

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So I continued on southward hoping things would get better. Or worse, depending on your point of view. The rain quit south of Pekisko and the mist thinned a bit more so I stopped by the side of the road to grab some pictures of cattle on the tan-coloured grass along Stimson Creek. It wasn’t much but it was better than anything I’d seen so far.

And down the road from there I came across a beaver dam that was so perfect I just had to to stop for pictures.

Beaver dams often have a bit of a curve to them to better direct and constrain the flow but this one was arrow-straight. The top edge was flat, no big sticks pointing up, no excess mud. Near the centre, a small notch........

© Calgary Herald