The weather finally broke yesterday mid-afternoon. The sunshine quickly warmed the office and brought me- along with dogs, people, and flocks of goats- out of hiding and onto the street. Actually, the goats didn't really hide during the weather- but they looked a lot happier after it passed. The late afternoon was warm and golden, and after nightfall the stars were so numerous and thick and close that they seemed like cotton batting overhead- a quilt of comfort rather than an infinite void. I slept long and deep- as is usually the case when I come to altitude. They say that many people have quite a bit of trouble sleeping and suffer from disturbing dreams when at high elevations, but over the past 5 years I think I've slept the best here on the high plateau, and my dreams are the usual time spent with family and friends.
Another weather system must have come through during the night, for in the morning there was a fresh covering of snow on the hills. The day, however,was bright and clear and warm and I studied Snow Leopard research methods from a folding chair in the yard, occasionally breaking to shoe goats out of the compound. Early afternoon brought a curtain of rain down the valley from the southwest, and with it some hail as well. The warmth of the morning quickly dissipated, and now it's cool and damp again and the hills are hidden behind thick fog.
We've been worried that the heavier-than-usual rains and snows may be creating difficult conditions in the Snow Leopard area, but since we're stuck at the current location anyway waiting for another person, the weather has not yet been a problem. The caterpillar survey was successful, some others carried out an investigation into some local environmental health problems, and I've gotten to study up a little more on the Snow Leopard work and local water resources. Hopefully tomorrow our last party-member will arrive and we'll set out then or the next day, though the weather report that just came in calls for more rain over the next four days that will likely be snow up and to the west where we're heading.
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The rain has picked up again, and when I went outside to fill the water buckets for cooking dinner, I saw that a furry Tibetan mastiff puppy had taken refuge under our solar panels. Luckily I got a good fire going, so for the first time in days the office is a comfortable temperature despite the lack of sunshine and I am taking my own refuge beside the stove.
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