Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice! Here are some wintry photos from last Friday after we got about a foot of snow.

In this photo, I'm looking for a place to put the snow that has my car immobilized. The darned plow could have plowed the snow toward the other side of the street where there is no parking, making it easier for people to shovel out, but no, they have to bury all the cars. I'm pretty sure they do it on purpose. It's two days later, residents have moved their cars to other streets that have been plowed clear, and they still haven't plowed away all the mountains of snow on our little street that are the result of having to dig the cars out. I think they're going to wait until people start parking on this street again so they can bury us all once more.
(Photo: Ms. Geranium)

Ms. Geranium using a shovel that isn't her not-so-trusty snow shovel (the stupid piece-of-crap plastic handle broke off of her shovel of choice.)

Sparkly Seacow questioning the legality of child labor, the valiant Molly at her side.
(Photo: Ms. Geranium)

Jen, our neighbor. Why aren't her kids shoveling?

Who can resist drawing in the snow? Certainly not Ms. Geranium.

Nor I.

Happy Solstice!

Spring is nigh

Some miscellaneous winter scenes that I haven't gotten around to posting.

First, from when it was still cold. (When it was this cold, -20˚F or colder, my grandfather used to say, in Finnish, a word that he claimed translated to "piss freezes in an arc.") I liked the way the wind had sculpted the snow into something that reminded me of a lunar landscape in miniature.





We had an ice storm a few weeks back, encasing everything in ice anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4" thick. It really did a number on some of the trees around here, including the birch tree in our front yard. Any guesses regarding the type of tree to which the branches in the foreground are attached?




Then, as it warmed up and the sunlight got stronger, we started getting some good crops of icicles.




Here, someone must have collected them and jammed them into a snowbank.




One evening last weekend, after a few days in the 30s and 40s, it began to rain. During the night, temperatures dropped and the rain turned to snow. The next day, the bark park was an odd combination of fresh, fluffy snow, large expanses of sheer ice and puddles. In the photo below I'm standing in about 4" of ice water. Thank the gods for dorky-looking, inexpensive, water-proof rubber boots. Made in China, unfortunately.




During the recent thaw, our street turned into a lake. Some of the local waterfowl took advantage of the conditions. (photos and concept: Luminiferous Ether)

Snow Day!

We're in the midst of a great winter storm. Schools are closed, government offices are closed, the buses are stopped - even the malls are closed! I took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the snow. You can click on any of the following photos if you wish to enbiggen them. I used a real camera instead of my camera phone, so they actually look pretty clear when they're enbiggenned.




The plow hit our street once today, but we've gotten so much since then that the street is pretty much unnavigable right now. The plow got stuck on one of our neighboring streets, so it left a big pile of snow in the middle of the street and drove off. I dread shoveling the car out after they plow again.




I love the way, when we get enough snow to shut everything down, everyone in the neighborhood is home and it's sort of like a big party; everyone is out shoveling (except me - more on that in a moment), chatting, walking around - it's really quite wonderful.



Here is our neighbor Kenny:




Kenny, who does not have kids of his own, seems rather aloof and one could easily interpret this as unfriendliness, although I think he's just shy, but he spends a lot of time with these two kids who wouldn't move to allow him to shovel out his driveway, so he shoveled around them.




Next-door neighbors Terri and Cricket. You decided who is whom. Terri and her wife Rachel are two of the best neighbors one could ask for.




Ms. Geranium (aka Luminiferous Ether) and Rona (next-door neighbor on our other side) out shoveling. Rona just got back from Hawaii yesterday, which was fortunate for us, since we were the designated shovelers while she was gone. Rather an extreme switch from 70˚ in Hawaii to Wisconsin winter.




Rona and another neighbor, Alicia, chatting about Hawaii in the snow.





And, of course, we have the lovely and talented, aforementioned and aforepictured Ms. Geranium. I injured my back a little over two weeks ago and it's still giving me a pain in the, well, back, so I can't really shovel. Ms. Geranium did all our shoveling today. What a gal! Don't you just love those leopard spots, too? Roowwrr!





Our recently adopted dog, Molly, who doesn't mind snow as long as it's not falling out of the sky.




While walking around the neighborhood, I saw through the bushes what looked like a pickup truck buried in snow.




I decided to check it out from the other side of the bushes. It clearly hadn't moved for quite some time and the person who plows the parking lot in which it is parked had plowed all the snow from the lot over the truck. The front end is completely buried.




In this next one, I climbed on top of the mound to get a look. Once on top, I sank up to my crotch in the snow, so I took this shot and went back down rather than go any further.




This neighbor's sports-car is going nowhere fast .




Some other scenes from around the neighborhood:




















Molly needs a lot of excercise, so I take her to the bark park pretty much every day. Since I really enjoy driving in snow, I thought we would go today. I decided I would take a drive around the neighborhood to see how the roads were prior to venturing very far from home. I concluded that it wasn't a good idea. Here's the car before I cleared it off to drive around. The snow makes it look like a mini-van, but it's not.




Back inside, a view out the front window.

Winter. Again. Sorry.

I apologize if I'm sounding like a broken record (does anyone remember what a record, broken or otherwise, sounds like?), but I find winter to be such a wonderful time of year, and we're actually having a real winter this year.


The whole family has been rather under the weather for the past few days, but Molly the Super Dog (that's why she wears the red cape), still needs to get outside. Yesterday, since I was probably suffering the most, Ms. Geranium, the Emergency Backup Bark Park Guy, was kind enough to take Molly out to the bark park for her daily exercise. Today I was a bit better, while Ms. Geranium seemed worse, so I resumed my duties as Bark Park Guy (we suspect that that is how Molly thinks of us.)


Temperatures had risen to above zero, so it felt downright balmy. As a result, the bark park was more crowded than it had been for the last few days.



The bark park to which we usually go (there are several in the area) because it's the easiest one to get to from our house, is part of a park that borders one of Madison's wealthiest neighborhoods. Therefore, in addition to deadbeats like me, it also attracts people "of means" - you know, the kind of people who own dogs as fashion accessories ("what do you think, will my yorkiepoodalemeranian or my bitchnfreeze go best with the new Hummer that I bought to accent my new highlights? Or should I wear a wig and take the Bentley and the toy schnotzu?") Today I chatted for a few moments with one gentleman who was complaining about the cold and bemoaning the fact that, for business reasons, he was only able to spend one month at his house on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Although he seemed like a nice enough guy (for a rich bastard), I just couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for him. But, thanks to those rich folks, it was Free Burritos For All™ day at the bark park! Just kidding, the car pictured above must have belonged to the other deadbeat dog owner.


It was snowing again, so even though I was still feeling a bit pekid, it felt good to be up and about in The Elements. For some reason, you can't see it in these photos (maybe it's the camera - I also found the photos of fog I posted a while back didn't look anywhere near as foggy as it looked in real life - on second thought, maybe it's my eyes), but the snow was falling pretty heavily when I took these.


Did this sign keep me from walking out on the ice? Only my hairdresser knows for sure.








I just liked the way the snow was sticking to the bark in this one.
















Snow covered fungus.














Etc, etc.

Glorious Winter!

Sorry if I'm sounding like a broken record, but it's cold! And I like it! The snow sounds different when you walk on it. It isn't squeaking yet, but it has a cold and crunchy feeling to it. The air is brisk and invigorating. Nothing makes one feel more alive than being outside and properly dressed in real cold weather. We haven't had any extreme sub-zero temperatures yet this winter (I think we've only dipped into the minuses a couple of times), but I'm looking forward to it.

It wasn't that cold out when I took these pictures a couple of days ago, but we did have fresh snow, which always begs to have photos taken. Unfortunately, the batteries on the camera died before I could get very artsy. Oh, well.

The Mighty Pack, again.

Apologies to Crayons for the following post, but it has to be done.

Yesterday I watched the Packers (who remain the only socialist team in major league sports) play the Seattle Seahawks with PoodleDoc and PoodleDoc, Jr. I love to watch football when played in snow or rain (surprise, surprise.) If you ask me, teams that play in domes are a bunch of wimps. When the game began, it was snowing lightly. By the end of the game it was snowing quite heavily, ideal conditions for a January football game.



The game started out badly for the Packers, who, due to two fumbles by Ryan Grant, were behind 14-0 just four minutes into the game. Over the years, I've seen the Packers lose many games they should have won, and it looked like this was going to be one of those games. Lo and behold, the Mighty Pack, including the aforementioned Ryan Grant (who left the game in the fourth quarter with 201 yards and three touchdowns - both of which are Packer post-season records), went on to play practically perfect football in every way for the rest of the game, winning 42-20, which will put them in the NFC Championship game against the winner of today's Dallas/New York game.



It was fun watching the game with PoodleDoc and PoodleDoc, Jr, despite the fact that it had to be viewed on PoodleDoc's rather testosterone-challenged television; I'd say it has about a five-inch screen. We engaged in the time-honored game of "Predict The Next Stupid Comment Made By The Announcers." (Well, Tony, I think if the Packers want to win this game, they're going to have to score more points than the Seahawks.)



While it helped that the end result was a decisive Packer victory, the snow on the field and the good company made for a very enjoyable football viewing experience. The only downside was that watching football, even when I go elsewhere, has the potential of creating conflict between Ms. Geranium and me, which I feel bad about. Sigh. Sorry, Ms. Geranium.