Last night Judy got an extra birthday gift -- the first snow of the season. It's not a really heavy snow, but it came down slowly without a lot of wind so it sits lightly on every branch in the woods. It's also a nice gift for our son Rob, who has always visited early in the year when we had lots of snow and he was able to go sledding. Maybe we'll get in a run or two before he goes home!
While the westher is beautiful, and while we really enjoyed seeing our daughter Deanne over the holiday weekend, we're glad she went home early yesterday and we're looking forward to seeing her again soon for Christmas.
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Sunday, November 30, 2008
First snow of the season
Monday, March 10, 2008
Melting snow
Until I came to Iowa, my model for melting snow was the Sierra and Cascade mountains. In the mountains, and when it is undisturbed, snow melts gently and smoothly, keeping a nice surface until it's finally gone. But when snow is disturbed (for example, is shoveled or plowed) it has an uneven surface that can catch the rays of the sun to create melt pockets where melting is accelerated by focusing the sun's rays. Sometimes these pockets will actually melt so much that they leave a light lace-like tracing over them. This can create some very beautiful effects. Look at the images below (he said, going into Professor mode):
The left-hand part of the image shows a photograph of one of these snow pockets. If you look at the right-hand part of the image through a pair of red-green, red-blue, or red-cyan glasses, you can see the same snow pocket in stereo. Click on the image to see a full-sized image; the stereo is much better that way. (This uses a tool to create anaglyphs from stereo pairs that Mike Bailey and I talk about in our textbook on computer graphics shaders. If you want more details, drop me a note...)
The left-hand part of the image shows a photograph of one of these snow pockets. If you look at the right-hand part of the image through a pair of red-green, red-blue, or red-cyan glasses, you can see the same snow pocket in stereo. Click on the image to see a full-sized image; the stereo is much better that way. (This uses a tool to create anaglyphs from stereo pairs that Mike Bailey and I talk about in our textbook on computer graphics shaders. If you want more details, drop me a note...)
Monday, February 18, 2008
Fresh snow
We had another snowfall yesterday and got perhaps 6" of fresh snow. This brings the snowfall total so far this winter to over four and a half feet. That may not sound like a lot if you live in Rochester (Hi, Nan and Walt) but it's a lot for Iowa; this is perhaps the fifth largest amount of snow on record here. And there's a lot of winter left...
Some freezing rain preceded the snow, and some very strong winds followed it, so travel was discouraged all day and almost all public activities were canceled. The picture shows the snow falling in the front yard, where it turned our deer screen into a big piece of lace, and in the back yard, where it made the woods quite magical. We were snug as a bug here and had a fire in the fireplace all day. We're again reminded of how very fortunate we are.
Some freezing rain preceded the snow, and some very strong winds followed it, so travel was discouraged all day and almost all public activities were canceled. The picture shows the snow falling in the front yard, where it turned our deer screen into a big piece of lace, and in the back yard, where it made the woods quite magical. We were snug as a bug here and had a fire in the fireplace all day. We're again reminded of how very fortunate we are.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Birds
This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count, and I've been keeping track of the birds at my feeders in my yard. Many birds winter in Iowa, and I've seen several of them at my feeder: cardinals and blue jays; downy, hairy, and yellow-bellied woodpeckers; slate-sided juncos, tree sparrows, and house sparrows; goldfinches and house finches; chickadees and titmice; nuthatches; doves and starlings. Many of these were around over the last day or two.
There are other birds that don't come to the feeders but we see with greater or less frequency. There are lots of Canada Geese who don't have sense enough to fly south, there are wild turkeys who keep mostly to the deeper woods, and there was a pileated woodpecker who came by one day a couple of months ago. For years I'd been trying to see one, and it just flies to a tree in my yard that has some damage up high and digs for bugs for a half hour. Go figure.
And there are eagles, great wonderful bald eagles, who come to the few spots on the Iowa River that are ice-free all winter. These beautiful birds are commonplace to those who grew up near rivers in the upper midwest, but not to me. I always get a rush seeing one flying over our house or along a river. The photo shows a group of eagles along a winter river; it's an NPR shot, not mine, though we sometimes do see groups like this on the Iowa River. The best viewing in Coralville is probably from the Iowa River Power Co. restaurant. Although I can see eagles from the road or from a viewing point, it's nice to be warm, indoors, and having a good lunch while I'm enjoying seeing them.
There are other birds that don't come to the feeders but we see with greater or less frequency. There are lots of Canada Geese who don't have sense enough to fly south, there are wild turkeys who keep mostly to the deeper woods, and there was a pileated woodpecker who came by one day a couple of months ago. For years I'd been trying to see one, and it just flies to a tree in my yard that has some damage up high and digs for bugs for a half hour. Go figure.
And there are eagles, great wonderful bald eagles, who come to the few spots on the Iowa River that are ice-free all winter. These beautiful birds are commonplace to those who grew up near rivers in the upper midwest, but not to me. I always get a rush seeing one flying over our house or along a river. The photo shows a group of eagles along a winter river; it's an NPR shot, not mine, though we sometimes do see groups like this on the Iowa River. The best viewing in Coralville is probably from the Iowa River Power Co. restaurant. Although I can see eagles from the road or from a viewing point, it's nice to be warm, indoors, and having a good lunch while I'm enjoying seeing them.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Tracks
We had a fresh snowfall a couple of days ago, and so far the neighborhood kids haven't been out sliding down the hill in our back yard (which they're always welcome to do; what use is a hill in snow unless somebody is sliding down it?) So we've been able to see what the local wildlife is doing when we're not watching. We have both large animal tracks (several deer trails and a set of person tracks):
and small animal tracks (birds and bunnies):
Snow is great for showing you how many other creatures we share our space with!
and small animal tracks (birds and bunnies):
Snow is great for showing you how many other creatures we share our space with!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Back home
We're back home from the Czech Republic after attending the WSCG 08 conference in Plzen (I was programe co-chair, though Vaclav Skala really developed the programme) and having a couple of lovely days in Prague. I'll have more to say on the trip and the travel in the next couple of days, but right now we're getting settled back home.
Winter travel can be challenging, but it was a surprise to be called at 4:30 in the morning we were leaving to be told that our flight out of Cedar Rapids had been canceled and we couldn't get out of that airport in time to make our connections to Europe. Fortunately we were able to be switched to a flight out of Moline, but that meant that we had to drive 60 miles in the snow. It worked and the rest of the trip went well. Returning things went well as far as Chicago, but another snowstorm gave us a delay getting back to Iowa and made us dig out the car at the Moline airport. Still, we're home and our bag is with us.
We did miss a lovely snowstorm while we were gone, apparently. Our back yard has at least a foot of great snow that made it fun to go out and fill the bird feeders this morning. But the streets are quite passable and we're warm, even if it's cold outside, so we're again reminded of just how lucky we are.
Winter travel can be challenging, but it was a surprise to be called at 4:30 in the morning we were leaving to be told that our flight out of Cedar Rapids had been canceled and we couldn't get out of that airport in time to make our connections to Europe. Fortunately we were able to be switched to a flight out of Moline, but that meant that we had to drive 60 miles in the snow. It worked and the rest of the trip went well. Returning things went well as far as Chicago, but another snowstorm gave us a delay getting back to Iowa and made us dig out the car at the Moline airport. Still, we're home and our bag is with us.
We did miss a lovely snowstorm while we were gone, apparently. Our back yard has at least a foot of great snow that made it fun to go out and fill the bird feeders this morning. But the streets are quite passable and we're warm, even if it's cold outside, so we're again reminded of just how lucky we are.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
A January thaw
After 25-ish years in California, it's nice to experience real weather here in Iowa. (Yeah, right, I hear you say -- if you say that three times fast, you'll believe it!) But after having snow on the ground for the whole month of December, we've been having a January thaw. The picture shows the city hiking/cycling path behind our house in late December (left) and today (right), after several days of above-freezing temperatures. We've been looking forward to having enough snow on the ground for some sledding when Rob (our older son on Steve's side) visits next week -- but what do you know, there is some snow forecast for later this week. I do like a real winter, and an Iowa winter is certainly real, but not really too bad. We can run errands or do business whenever we can get out, and with few exceptions we can get out only when we want -- retirement has its advantages!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
The year begins
2008 begins by supporting the stereotype of an Iowa winter. It's cold, about 13 F, there's nearly a foot of snow on the ground, and it's snowing lightly. I can see why the Eskimo are said to have many words for snow because we see several kinds here, but that may be a topic for a future note.
Life is typical for winter at this time of year. The Christmas decorations aren't down yet but will be soon. We're always conscious of the state of the streets and driveway; at the moment they're snow-covered but in good shape. The "old car" -- our 95 Nissan -- has developed the same kind of fuel line problem it seemed to have in January so it needs to go into the shop. We have plenty of bird food for the time being. As I said, just ordinary things.
But winter can be very pretty here. We have snow on top of the Christmas lights so they make a kind of diffused light, and the city park path through the woods at the bottom of the back yard is a winter delight. So I'll leave you for the day with a picture of the Christmas lights and with our very best wishes for a wonderful 2008!
Life is typical for winter at this time of year. The Christmas decorations aren't down yet but will be soon. We're always conscious of the state of the streets and driveway; at the moment they're snow-covered but in good shape. The "old car" -- our 95 Nissan -- has developed the same kind of fuel line problem it seemed to have in January so it needs to go into the shop. We have plenty of bird food for the time being. As I said, just ordinary things.
But winter can be very pretty here. We have snow on top of the Christmas lights so they make a kind of diffused light, and the city park path through the woods at the bottom of the back yard is a winter delight. So I'll leave you for the day with a picture of the Christmas lights and with our very best wishes for a wonderful 2008!
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