I'm not quite sure why I took this photo on Tuesday. Mainly just for the curving shadows and a tinge of color in the sky, I guess.

After getting her unstuck, the habitat biologist still wanted to check for the band of sheep that was supposed to be grazing the habitat unit. But clearly, we weren't getting in on the north road.

Had she considered the west road?

I mean, seeing as how the gas field has invaded from that direction...

I was writing down the location of a golden eagle when she came walking up to my window:

"This is a really easy way of getting in here."

Yep. Thanks to the new scoria roads and regular well traffic, we were raising dust up to this highest point.

But no sheep in sight.

It was on the return leg along the crest of the ridge that I spotted those snowbanks.

The rest of this country... three or four warm, windy days and almost all the snow'll be gone. Come April, maybe March, most likely the only white left will be in deep draws, and on these northern sides of low ridges.

These snow banks will be where the pronghorn, deer and elk come for a bite of water. Where the sage grouse will sip a drink out of the seeps at the bottom.

And this summer, when all else is brown or tan, these little ribbons will be the only green left. That and the narrow creek bottoms.

And when all other spring blossoms have shriveled and dried, these are the places where a little color will be left in the desert.