There might be a lot of critters looking for a barn or somewhere to hide today when the freezing rain arrives today. And if a lot of ice falls, some of these limbs may break under the weight of the ice.
Cozy Barn
After some light snow this morning, the sun is out and it is a little warmer since above zero finally but not warm enough that I would head to a frozen lake to do some ice fishing. I didn’t go last weekend either when it was the free ice fishing days. I guess I prefer my fishing when it is 72 with a light west wind and a few puffy clouds in sky and if the fish don’t bite, I can watch the bald eagles, beavers and otters. I don’t like listening to the ice cracking, wondering how thick the ice is or trying to keep warm just to catch a fish so I guess I have to wait a while before I go fishing again.
Frozen Lake
I had a picture request from someone ‘Down Under’ for star constellation pictures from the Northern Hemisphere so I ventured out into the darkness last two nights. During the winter night trips to the lambing barn, Orion was the constellation which stood out on the chilly nights. But since Orion is visible in the Southern Hemisphere, just sort of upside down, I figured the North Star and the Big and Little Dippers would be a more appropriate picture for the request.
The North Star has historically been used for navigation both to find the direction of north and to determine latitude and early pioneers would point the wagon tongue to the North Star at night to determine direction when morning came and then they could set landmarks for the day’s travel.
The North Star
The winter skies can produce sundogs when ice crystals are present in the air in very cold weather and there is a chance that some might be visible in the next few days but sometimes the sun can reflect on the winter clouds to give off different colors like green and in this case a pink color.
It seems rather eerie when the sun is masked by the clouds and makes it appear more like the moon than the sun.
Eerie Sun