Two for Tuesday: Road-River

Looking across the Charles River toward Boston from Memorial Drive.

More Two for Tuesday here.

Feeling the Love

I love looking at the stars, but I don't really know very much about them. I had a floor-mate, Julie, in college who was an astronomy major, which mostly meant that we didn't see much of her because she spent evenings and nights in the observatory. The other exotic thing about Julie was that she was from Las Vegas. Up until I met her I hadn't ever really thought about the fact that there were families living in Las Vegas. But I digress. During one January Wintersession (a voluntary mini-semester filled with mostly non-academic workshops) she offered a star gazing workshop and a bunch of us who lived near her signed up. If I remember correctly the entire group was people from our floor. It was a lot of fun and I owe everything I know about stars to her. Because it was January the major constellations we could see were Orion, and Cassiopeia. I still think of her when I look up into the winter sky.

My nephew, D, loves learning about space and I'm guessing he knows much more about it than I do. His current plan is a career in astrophysics, though I don't think he would state it that way, yet. When it came time to pick his holiday present this year I wanted to find something that he would love and that would challenge his intellect. It took me till mid-January (D is perfectly okay with receiving gifts whenever they show up) to figure out what to get him, but what I sent was a telescope - what every budding astrophysicist needs.

Yesterday after a very long day at work, I arrived home to find this in my mailbox.

It brought a big smile to my face, and I love that the constellation he drew is Orion, one of the few I can pick out of the night sky.

The Storm

Following the progress of today's storm from my office window. There is about an hour between each shot.

Taken using the black & white setting on my camera.

Cold

I realize this may make you all roll your eyes, but I love the squeeking sound that snow makes when it's really cold. It's cold here, but not as cold as a whole lot of other places. I spoke to a colleague in Minneapolis this morning - it was -20 there which makes the 8 degrees when we left the house a veritable heat wave. Keep warm!

(This picture was taken during one of the December storms.)

Clear Your Car Roof

Yesterday I became a poster child for why you should always clear the snow off your car roof. The weather yesterday was cold, wet and generally yucky. There were about 2 inches of snow on the ground when we got up. By the time we headed out to clear the cars (or more correctly by the time Amy headed out to clear the cars) the snow had turned to sleet. Even though we were driving into work together both cars needed to be cleared because her car doesn't have 4 wheel drive and has to be parked at the top of our steep driveway and we were driving to work in my car which does have 4 wheel drive. I've been nursing a sore knee this week (it's getting better but I'm not very steady on my feet) so she did the bulk of the work.

When I got out I finished clearing my windshield, but skipped clearing the roof because there was only 1/2 inch of icy frozen stuff on it. The drive was basically uneventful, except perhaps dodging the chunks of frozen stuff flying off trucks on the Turnpike, and the constant rain. As is typical the off ramp was clogged with traffic. As we stopped at the first traffic light (there are two before crossing the river) a small amount of icy stuff slid off the roof. It was easily removed by the wipers, which were on because of the rain. However, when we stopped for the second the bottom third of the windshield was suddenly filled. This wouldn't have been too bad except that the wipers tried to clear it and because it was icy about 3 inches of the driver's side wiper got shredded. Once across the river I pulled into a gas station and cleared the accumulated snow and ice from the windshield. The wiper was clearing enough of the windshield for me to see so I continued on to drop Amy off at work.

Then I headed directly to the car dealer. The service guys were nice enough not to turn me away, and I spent just over an hour watching tv and reading old magazines. The only repair was the wiper blade, and because it's a new car and the service guys like me they didn't even charge me for it. It could have been worse - not only could there have been more damage to the car (one of the service guys mentioned that another customer's car had required body work when ice came crashing off his roof) but it could have caused an accident.

And so we add another rule to the Chelle/Shelley's (pronounced the same) rules of driving: no leaving the neighborhood without clearing any accumulated snow or ice off the roof of the car.

Thin Ice

This picture was taken nearly a year ago but it's fairly close to the view outside our windows now, though instead of sun we've got light snow falling. Through those trees, if you know what to look for, you can see the pond. There is only one house between us and it. It's a small pond and with the exception of the access path that runs down the hill on the other side of our next door neighbor is fairly inaccessible. It's set down from the few surrounding houses and ours is the only nearby road.

It's a small pond and doesn't get a lot of use - an occasional fisherman, teenagers looking for a spot to be alone, and in the depths of winter ice skaters. Yesterday our little pond was the focus of a lot of activity. Early in the afternoon Amy noticed fire trucks and police cars parked, lights flashing near the access path.

My first reaction was that someone had fallen through the ice, but the lack of an ambulance and the quick departure of the police car - sirens blaring - had us thinking that maybe we were wrong and they were just checking the barrier on the access path. But the fire truck didn't leave and we heard shouting. The only words I could make out were "talk to us". The fire trucks were there a long time.

Amy was out shoveling when a neighbor walked by headed back to his house. He'd been more curious than we were about the activity and had gone to see what was happening. As it turned out my first instincts were correct - someone, or rather two someones had fallen through the ice. Apparently two teenage boys, 15ish according to the tv reports, had decided to walk across the pond. They almost made it falling through the ice just before reaching the far side of the pond. The very good news is that the fire department was able to rescue them and they are going to be okay.

It was not been cold here for very long, in fact until the last three days it has mostly been in the mid-30s. There's been frost but we have not had the kind of sustained cold to form reasonable ice on any pond. Given the lack of cold I'm amazed that these boys didn't fall through within feet of the shore on this side.

The boys, despite their really bad decision to walk across the thin ice on the pond, did a couple of things right once they ended up in the water. They removed their shoes and pants - which worsened their hypothermia. They were able to pull themselves out of the water. When the firefighters finally got to them, after what the news reported as a mile long trek through the pathless woods, two of them removed their cold water protection suits and wrestled the boys into them.

The fire trucks and the news vans that arrived in their wake are now gone. The memories of this will stay with me. My heart goes out to the families that came way too close to losing their children. The outcome of this incident could have been much, much worse.

Please remind all those close to you - stay off the ice!

Thematic Photographic: Animals

Plotting ducks (or are they geese?).
Taken last winter.

To see other animals visit Carmi's blog Written Inc.

Thursday Challenge: Shapes

Looking out the barn window at Codman Farm in February.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Playing in the Snow

I'm going to make myself really unpopular here but despite that I'm going to say what's on my mind. I want a blizzard. A good old fashioned feet of snow, no school for a week blizzard. I am tired of the 3 inches of snow that melts 2 hours after it's falen storms we've been having. Okay, I feel better now, and those of you who are cursing at me can just keep muttering about what a nut case I am.

Despite the lack of measurable snow I have managed to spend a little time playing in the snow. My snowshoes, however, are a little lonely.

Last Friday we got a good dumping of snow. Saturday was "fruit unloading day" for Amy's chorus. Every winter they team up with another chorus to sell citrus fruit. Due to the snow still on the ground I was recruited to drive to the farm where the truck was dropping off the fruit. The parking area at the farm is dirt, and Amy was worried that her car would get stuck.

While Amy was unloading, sorting and repacking fruit I wandered the farm. Codman Farm is a working farm that provides agricultural education in Lincoln. They have a variety of critters . On my wander I saw

cows

including this one who gave me the evil eye

donkeys

geese

chickens

and turkeys
amid the barns.

Meanwhile, Amy and the others from the 2 choruses were sorting through dozens of boxes of citrus fruit. When the sorting was done boxes were loaded into cars for delivery and we headed home.

And because this post is about the fruit, here's a shot of one of the oranges that we brought home.

PhotoSunday: X

Seen at Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary February 24

See more PhotoSunday here

PhotoSunday: W

White walls, and snow covered roof.

See more PhotoSunday here.

Weston Ski Track Snowshoe

Our snow pack is pretty small, about 2 inches or so. Despite this I pulled out the snowshoes yesterday and headed to the Weston Ski Track (aka the Leo J. Martin Memorial Golf Course). Because the snow pack is so small the snowshoes were not really critical, although they did help on the icy spots. They do make snow at the Ski Track, but it is on a limited section and that was being used for a children's race. So I headed to the other side of the Charles River which is the 16th, 17th and 18th holes of the course.

The day started out chilly (34 degrees) and grey. Over the course of the hour and a half that I spent walking the sun came out with a force. When I got back to the car the temperature was 47.

For the most part I had the trail to myself. I was joined briefly by a family (2 adults and a pre-teen) and their 2 dogs. One of the dogs in particular was hiving a great time frolicking in the snow. Toward the end of the walk another couple passed by with their dogs. Other than that it was just me, the snow, the ice and the river.

There weren't many critters around but I did see some small birds, including a few red-winged blackbirds, a couple of camera shy swans, and a few geese, oh and several dogs (see above).

This trek was less about the snowshoeing and more about getting outside with my camera. It was a slow walk with lots of stops to shoot pictures. I took about 100 shots (gotta love digital photography). Below is a sample. You can see more here.

Looking through the railing of the bridge over the Charles.

Charles River

Frozen Leaves and Grass
This section of the golf course sits very close to the water level of the river.
Clearly it had flooded during some of the rain we've had recently.

I was fascinated by the patterns in this tree.

All in all it was a lot of fun, although I really would like more snow. So, tell the snow gods to quit dumping on Maria, who is sick of snow, and give us some. Well not Tuesday or next Sunday so we don't have to deal with airport delays.

PhotoSharks: Cold

Ice on my Windshield.

See more PhotoSharks here.

LensDay: Cold

See more LensDay here.