Photobombsicle

Friday January 6 2017

One of the many delights of winter is the way Mother Nature decorates the horses with snow and ice.

You already saw Manesicles, then Beardsicles.

Now here it is: the first ever Photobombsicle. Although I'm not sure who photobombed who, it's definitely Mother Nature having the biggest laugh at me and Stormy (The Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet).

Beardsicles

Sunday January 1 2017

Hoar frost is one of the biggest delights of winter. Mother Nature creates delicate icy designs with fog and cold and a slight breeze.

On this day, the hoar frost collected on Finneas' mane and under his chin for a nice beardsicle.

It also grew on legs

and tails.

Winter art!

The Candelabra

Friday January 31 2014

We pass through the Candelabra Gate when we ride up onto the northwest flats. I've never even asked why there is a candelabra perched on that gate. It must have been perched there by the guy who owns the property (and never has lived here). I like to think he had a sense of humor.

Mother Nature in winter not only has a sense of humor, but an exquisite artistic flare. While hoar frost in itself is a fascinating minor miracle, the 2-inch long hoar frost shards that Mother Nature sculpted on the Candelabra (particularly on the western sides) during the weeks of freezing fog was absolutely spectacular.

Merry Christmas Hoar Frost

Sunday December 22 2013

Wikipedia says the ice crystals form on cold clear nights, but I've always seen hoar frost after a moist fog blankets an area well under freezing temperatures. "Air hoar" is frost crystals on the surface of things - baling twine, horse hair, even horse coats, eyelashes, manes and tails. "Surface hoar" is fernlike ice crystals deposited directly on frozen surfaces (like, say, the ice already in your water troughs).

The word Hoar, says Wikipedia, "comes from an Old English adjective for showing signs of old age, and is used in this context in reference to the frost which makes trees and bushes look like white hair."

We'll call it Santa's beard here.

Merry Christmas all!