Beautiful cold and bacon grease

For the past week or so the weather forecast has said something like this: Bitterly cold, lows 8 to 20 below zero.

So, of course, I went out into as much as I could.

One particularly “bitter” evening we didn’t even get started to Glacier until quarter after four, which left us about 15 minutes of daylight.

Still, we got about a mile and a half in before it became completely dark. I will admit, it was cold. About two below zero.

But just before we got back to the truck there it was: The moon.

Big and fat and gorgeous.

We got around the corner and watched it rise over Lake McDonald, the golden eye ducks feeding on the steaming surface. It was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful evenings I have ever witnessed.

Beautiful cold. Now that sounds nice. Much better than bitter.

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We all have our culinary tastes. Some flavors are universal. Peanut butter and jelly. Ketchup and mustard. Ham and mayo. Nutella and banana. Prunes and bacon grease.

That’s right, prunes and bacon grease.

The other day I watched my kid take a prune and dunk it into some bacon grease in the trough that sits under our George Foreman grille. I thought for sure he had mistaken the grease for something else, like frosting, but then he did it again.

Prunes are not my favorite snack to begin with, but prunes in bacon grease?

Now that’s an acquired taste.

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The other day I watched a sharp shinned hawk come out of the woods at the neighbor’s house and glide across Marantette Park. There was finch in a birch tree that I didn’t see until the last minute. The finch took off and the hawk missed it at first, but then, in mid-air, the hawk made a correction and grabbed the finch in an audible collision of feathers. The hawk then turned and flew away with the dead finch. It was one of the finest aerial performances I have ever seen by a bird of prey and I’ve seen some pretty cool stuff over the years.

Having said that, I felt a little bad for the finch. He was so close to escape.

I know, I know, it’s nature’s way. But it’s hard not to root for the underdog.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.