The days are cooler; the days are shorter. Fall is upon us.
I know there’s not much about this pic of Buckeye that says “fall,” but when I’m wearing three layers while taking the pix and the ponies are starting to add to their hair coats, *I* know it’s fall. 🙂
Sweet baby Bia … not so baby anymore. 🙂 Looking gorgeous in the sunset light as she follows her band.
Don’t hate me for making up spectacular words to match the gorgeousity of the magic scenery, painted by Mother Nature. … Anyone would (and should) do it. 🙂
(And yes, I did get semi-soaked!)
“It won’t rain.”
The rain came from behind-ish me (southish), and though it lasted (at a guess) less than five minutes, it soaked my right pant leg and right shoulder/arm and left water dripping down my leg inside my pants (!). These two pix (above) are looking north as the rain has mostly passed over me and is continuing north.
From the same spot as the first two pix, looking now eastish, I watched the moon rise over Temple Butte (promontory) and McKenna Peak (pyramid).
The moon was still barely visible when the light hit the passing rain and formed the prism, but while trying to decide between my phone and big camera, I think I missed it before it rose into the clouds (argh!).
With more dark clouds rising from the south and mustangs mostly far and scattered across the northern part of the basin, I decided to return another day. … (Note: It’s not a good idea to go into the basin if it’s going to rain. The road can get spectacularly bad when really, really, super wet.)
Wellllllll (a friend and a new friend will understand that heavily accented word 🙂 ) … when your gut tells you to turn around and make for the place where the rainbow will align with the pot of gold you know to be there (if you know, you know), be like Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and pay attention to your gut!
I stood in the sunshine along Disappointment Road while the second wave of rain passed from south to north across Spring Creek Basin (the rimrocks are Spring Creek Basin’s western boundary; the basin stretches away to the east in the northeasternish part of Disappointment Valley).
And the spectacularity JUST. GOT. BETTER.
End to end under the powerlines.
Temple Butte is visible again as the storm moves north.
This is NOT part of the original/above rainbows; it was a newly formed prism as the rain continued to pass and clear and the sun found space beneath the clouds above the western horizon. This stretch of Disappointment Road goes straight east.
After dark, we got yet another little wave of the good rain stuff. *Sigh of contentment*.
Maybe more overnight and in the morning. (Fingers and toes all crossed!)
I mean … RIGHT?! 🙂 Magic, folks. Pure magic. No artificial ingredients added. 🙂
Buckeye was nibbling on galleta near the base of this piñon or juniper tree … and keeping an eye on me at the same time. Never UNaware, those mustangs.
Mustangs, Spring Creek Basin, water and aspen – all in the same view. Many of my favorite things. 🙂
The mustangs don’t *always* cooperate when spectacular things are happening on the horizon. Posing really isn’t their jam (though they sometimes do it very well, indeed). However, although there are no mustangs in these pix, I decided they showed off the gorgeousity of Spring Creek Basin to such a degree that they stand on their own (and there *were* mustangs nearby; you just have to take my word for it!).
The rainbow Sunday evening was faint … and then it was BRIGHT. Never more than that little section, but wowza. Every strand of color was bright and clear and distinct:
That extreme brightness didn’t last very long. All I did when processing was to add a touch of sharpening. (I mean, really, how can you improve on that with a mere computer?!)
Then, last night, as I was leaving the basin, this interesting light-prism phenomenon, in nearly the same area of sky:
Mother Nature is booming in the high country with her annual aspen show, but she apparently didn’t want us in dry, brown Disappointment Valley to feel left out. 🙂
We are grateful!
Soooooooooooooooo magical!
Weird distortion courtesy of the crack across my phone camera lens (boo!). Otherwise … beautiful!
Do you see the lingering rainbow? Subtle as sunset light. 🙂
Not-so-subtle sunset colors looking west!
And ending the day with a view back to the east/southeast.
Blessed. No other word for it.
Corazon and his trusty lieutenant, Maiku, rarely are this close together, let alone posing so nicely.
Stout, handsome pinto boys. 🙂
Gorgeous Winona. Again, are more words needed?
My folks have been visiting this week, and we’ve been taking care of lots of projects, so that’s why I’ve been a little quiet on the blog lately and not very wordy with the posts. 🙂
Handsome Flash …
Sometimes, that seems to be just about all I need to say. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 