On Top of Old Asher...

[altivo]

On Top of Old Asher
Originally uploaded by Altivo

...all covered with snow. He had only been out of the barn for about 15 minutes, so you can see how fast it was accumulating. The boys like to play in the snow, and there was no wind with a temperature of about 25F so out they went.

Looking like a white Christmas for a large portion of the US this year, and checking back, I see we had the first heavy snowfall last year at almost the same date. This does seem to be a changing weather pattern, as there was no significant snow prior to Christmas for many years back. Here we are more or less used to dealing with it, just not in December. Schools have closed, and we decided ultimately to close the library though only after considering a late opening time first. The snow is still falling as I write. Farther south there has been ice, which is much nastier.

It's tricky snapping photos when snow is falling at an inch per hour. The lens gets wet, you get wet, and everything is obscured as if by fog. There are a few more shots posted though. Start here and work forward in the photostream to see them.

Comments

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing your winter wonderland with us! We'll get ours eventually, but not in the foreseeable future and certainly not in that quantity.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I assume that a half inch of snow down there generates a greater panic than eight inches does here. Still, better you should get snow than freezing rain.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

LOL! Even just the threat of ice or snow is enough to panic people here. A couple of years ago we were predicted a half inch of snow, so all the counties canceled school the next morning even though not a single flake had fallen. The temperature never even got below freezing. They were closed the day after that as well "just in case".

On the extremely rare occasion that we actually do get snow, there's an event I've come to describe as the White Sale. As soon as the first snowflake is spotted, everyone mobs the grocery stores and buys everything white. Eggs, bread, milk and toilet paper are sold out almost immediately. I'm not quite certain what all these people are planning to do if they should actually get snowed in, but I suspect it involves scrambled egg sandwiches and going to the bathroom a lot.

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

Eggs, bread, milk

French toast! Storms always make people want french toast.

and toilet paper

Which I guess doesn't agree with them.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

Mystery solved! But I'll have to see if the powdered sugar also sells out at the store.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've always put butter and syrup on mine. Or maybe applesauce and yogurt.

We don't get the "White Sale" here exactly. What we do get is a run on snowshovels, melting salt, kerosene, and flashlight batteries. Same cause, different symptoms I guess.

[brokkentwolf.livejournal.com]

Frosted Ponies. Mmm. Good with milk. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not ketchup? Or maybe horseradish sauce?

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I'll just have mine with cream please.

But I tend to have the habit of just licking the frosting and the cream off horsies... :P

[iceleopard.livejournal.com]

Mmm Asher's preeeetty- It's like a Christmas card come to life...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yup, he's a handsome guy, when he hasn't been rolling in the mud anyway.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing the photos Tivo.

I miss seeing snow like this, makes me want to move north somewhere that gets a decent amount of the white stuff. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

But then you'd feel compelled to drive on it, not having the proper northern gene that tells us to stay home when this happens. ;p

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* You seem to forget that while I have not lived in the north I have lived and worked in a more northern climate. I only drive in the snow if I have a proper vehicle to do so and I haven't had one of those in years. If it is snowy/icy. I stay home. Trust me, the people in my office pick on me for not trying to come in when it is bad here.

You are right in a way though, I would want to get out and drive in it. I had lots of fun in my 4X4 Blazer. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

4x4 isn't necessary, though. I do just fine with front wheel drive. The real issue is not getting going, it's stopping and keeping control. That's where so many drivers fail because they go too fast and don't allow enough stopping distance. That includes far too many of the 4x4 people, who don't seem to realize that four wheel drive and even ABS still don't let you stop on a dime when the road is snow or ice.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* You're preaching to the choir Tivo. Kevin and his family are from New York state so I have heard all the lectures as well as do's and don'ts of winter driving. :)

I never depended on my ABS when I was driving my 4x4. Of course, the truth of the matter was that when I engaged the 4x4, the ABS disengaged automatically so I had no choice there eh?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I'm sure the ABS in my Jeep Cherokee worked even with the 4WD turned on.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

It is quite possible that it was just a Chevy thing from that era of vehicles. I want to say it was something like a 1999 to 2001 Blazer and if I remember correctly, ABS was just starting to show up in SUVs and PUs.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

My Jeep was a 1997. It was the first vehicle I'd ever owned with ABS, and I had more trouble with the brakes both ABS and non-ABS related than I've ever had with any other vehicle. While I always liked driving the Jeep, I'll probably never buy another. I really learned to hate Chrysler dealers and service facilities in the nine years that I had it.

The ABS would sometimes activate on a perfectly dry road where it was just impossible that a wheel was skidding.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, upon further review it seems my Blazer was a '94. That may explain the wonky deal with ABS and 4x4. Absolutley loved that truck and would still be driving it if the transmission had not gone belly up on me.

I was always a fan of the Jeep line though to be honest I was never that fond of the Cherokees. Perhaps I was put off from them in part due to all the problems my co-worker at the time had with his.

However, I still love my Dodge/Chrysler products. *knocks on wood* I have had very few issues with the two Dodges and one Chrysler I have owned over the years.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Mine was a "Sport" rather than a "Grand." The two Cherokee lines were really different. Other than brakes, the only problems I had were fuel pump (replaced twice, at Chrysler's expense both times, apparently they had a serious quality control or design issue there) and windshield washer pumps (rear replaced at Chrysler's expense early on, front replaced at my expense when the truck was seven years old.) If the gas mileage had been slightly better, I might still be driving it, but after gas prices hit $3 the first time, I knew I had to get something else. Even the Escape has been a squeeze at $4 and up, but now it's no problem.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

I sort of like the look of the Escape but I have always been skittish about the Ford Truck/SUV line. I can thank my father for that and all the issues he had out of one of his Ford trucks.

*chuckles* I got rather spoiled in my two months of driving an econobox rental and getting 30MPG. While I am quite proud to have my truck back, I really don't like having to deal with a vehicle that gets 10-15MPG. Thank goodness that gas is down. ^.^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm getting an average of 28 mpg with the Escape. Just turned 21,000 miles, no big issues or recalls yet.

Snowhorses

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

We also have snow-covered equine type beasts. The boys are hiding in their shelters tho the girls are all out for HAY!

Similar weather here with a very heavyfrosty snowfall that is difficult to drive in and, in fact, at this moment Bear is snow-blowing the driveway because my van is stuck at the bottom and he needs to go to the store.

Snow is beautiful (be glad it is not black or blood red) but also a pain in the ****.

Oh, I am had it up to here with Lycos and so my goldenstallion site and email are history. Need to find a good one but, for now, the_golden_stallion@hotmail.com will have to suffice. I did change it on LJ and working on changing various others such as yahoo groups. So no web page until I can find a good host.

No biggie, I have not done anything with my web pages in years, have never sold anything through them and often wonder why spend money to keep one going other than the artist vanity type thing. I can show pictures from photobucket, etc. and email friends and so no real need I can reasonably forsee.

Hoping you and Gary have a great Christmas of course. I will have to work two 11 hour days and one 10 hour day to qualify for two days off with one paid day off next week but that should work out unless the weather makes it impossible to get to work early (six am is my usual).

Free ride for Christmas on
Imperator

Re: Snowhorses

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You could post art to FurAffinity. Or create a free website at Googlepages.

I'm looking forward to the next two short weeks, though I wish they weren't broken up into little bits like that. Gary's mom will come out for New Year's as usual I think. Christmas Day we should be here alone and if you tell me when to look for you, I'll take you up on that ride offer. Either Jake or Tivo would enjoy it, I promise. I've thought about putting Argos onto FM, but truth be told, I'm almost never able to get on there now except on long holidays.

Keep warm and be careful driving. Real Michigan folk know how to drive in snow if they must, but there are always plenty of immigrants who don't get it.

[jairus-greywolf.livejournal.com]

Nice pics. I do think we are in a different weather pattern. The 1st four years I moved up to WI there was hardly any snow but last winter and this winter are a completely different story.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's higher moisture, evidently produced by a shift in air currents I think.

Temperatures are not as cold, perhaps, but and air moisture is up.

A snowy day question

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Here's a query that your photo inspired: What sort of relationship does Tess have with Archie and Asher? Seems as if you rarely mention them together, as if she doesn't hang out with the boys much.

It stopped snowing here about two hours ago, pretty much. I think we topped out at around 8 inches in my neighborhood. I was able to work at home, so I've been sitting by my office window watching the birds hang out in the lilac bush.

Re: A snowy day question

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we tapered off after about eight inches too.

I've tried twice to let Tess run with the boys. They exhibit nothing more than normal curiosity, but she won't let them near her. Asher doesn't know how to take "no" for an answer and gets kicked mercilessly.

I also put her in an adjacent field with a fence between them about three summers back, hoping they'd get used to each other and could get along. The boys hung around the fence hoping she'd come talk to them, and Tess wasn't having any of it, grazing a wide circle around them wherever they were.

Tess's daughter, Dawn, when she was still here, wanted to be friends with the boys, but in the common fence fields Tess would always try to call her away from the fence. It was amusing to watch, like a teenage girl who wants to go out and play with the boys but her mother isn't about to allow such a thing.

Re: A snowy day question

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I guess there's no law that says they have to be friends, but you'd think they'd stick together out of solidarity against the sheep or something. :) That would've been funny to watch Dawn flirting with the boys -- well, she probably wasn't really flirting, but Tess must have thought so.

Re: A snowy day question

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually, by the time she was a yearling, it probably was a sort of adolescent flirting. They're boys after all, even if not quite intact. I've been told that some mares who disdain geldings the way Tess does will become friendly to them when it's the right time of the month. I haven't seen signs of that. She sometimes gets real friendly with me instead, and other times she seems to get PMS really bad. ;p

[cetasdolphin.livejournal.com]

I rather like the one picture of the frosted horse there as it looks like a good shot.

As for me I am in the one part of the country that will not be having a White Christmas regardless of the weather pattens. I suppose there was such in South Carolina before but not that recently to the history books. We keep flopping between extremes here given at the moment we in the high 60s/low 70s but after this front passes though over the weekend we will be back to the low 40s for highs and mid 20s for lows only to go back to the high 60s in time for Christmas when another front comes though the area.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*sends you some spare snow*

[soanos.livejournal.com]

He is such a handsome boy, and the snow is just lovely. Compared to our <1cm that is quite nice.

*looks outside in the field at his parents place and tries to picture 20 centimeters of snow and grazing horses, takes a deep breath and sighs, then sits down at his computer*

Oh, well. I hope the view will be better in England next week. I will be flying out tomorrow night.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a really good time in England. :)