38 Nebraskaland • December 2020
Looking Peculiar
When the conditions are right, I can spend hours happily
hunched over or prostrate on the ice with my camera and
tripod. While I don't see anything strange about that, I'm
sure others disagree. I usually try to find locations far from
roads, but sometimes I have to endure the periodic pickup
or other vehicle slowing down as they pass by. The driver
usually gives me a side-eye stare — you know, the one with
which they pretend to be looking straight ahead while using
every bit of their peripheral vision to record what I'm doing,
as well as my license plate and general description.
I can imagine the subsequent conversations later, with a
spouse or neighbor:
"Did you notice that peculiar stranger out on the wetland
today? He can't be ice fishing in a foot and half of water, can
he? What in tarnation do you suppose he's up to?"
I'm not sure the truth would make them feel any better.
