We had a pretty spectacular blizzard yesterday. The total snowfall in 24 hours was something like 10 inches. But that doesn’t do justice to what this storm did. I sent this message to a friend in an email, but decided it might be fun to post it here as well.

Because I like scaring people who don’t see snow regularly, here are some photos taken during and after the blizzard.

The above photo was shot out my bedroom window. The drift there is about 6 feet high, the house next door is about 15 feet away, so the haze between it and us is due to blowing snow.

The above photo was out my Zak’s bedroom window (that’s his silhouette in the window). That drift is over 9 feet tall, about 1 foot short of the roofline. Zak thought this snow drift was “wicked.”

The view out of my garage at about 5pm, about 4 hours after first using the snow blower to get the drifts out of the way. There are drifts 3 feet high there in the driveway. Part of the reason is that we have had a cumulative 3 feet of snow so far this winter and while some melted last week so the snowpack was down to about 2 feet, it was high enough to ‘catch’ the blowing snow into the driveway, causing these drifts.

This afternoon, after a third run of the snow blower this morning to clear out the driveway and sidewalks. The snow at the end of the driveway in the boulevard is well over 5 feet high and presents an obstacle to seeing street traffic as you pull out.

Carolina demonstrating the height of the snowpack right now. She is a short one, only about 36 inches high, but still, impressive.

The south side of the house where the crazy tall snowdrift is.

Just thought you would be amused.

We have had a very cold winter this year. We had one cold snap in December where the nighttime lows dropped to -25 Fahrenheit (that’s -31 Celsius for the rest of the world). However, this new cold snap has been a bit more brutal with daytime highs of about -13 Fahrenheit (-25 Celsius) for the last 4 days. It was so cold yesterday morning (January 15, 2009) here in Moorhead that the temperature at the Moorhead airport dipped to -31 Fahrenheit (-35 Celsius) at 8:14am. At our house in town, the thermometer failed.
Hemos tenido un invierno muy frío este año. Tuvimos una epoca de frío en diciembre cuando la mínima temperatura nocturna bajó a -25 grados Fahrenheit (-31 grados Celsius para el resto del mundo). Sin embargo, esta nueva epoca de frío ha sido un poco más brutal, con temperaturas máximas de alrededor de -13 grados Fahrenheit (-25 grados Celsius) durante los últimos 4 días. Hacía tanto frío ayer (15 de enero de 2009) por la mañana aquí en Moorhead que la temperatura en el aeropuerto Moorhead llego a -31 grados Fahrenheit (-35 grados Celsius) a la 0814 horas. En nuestra casa en la ciudad, el termómetro fallo.

It listed the outdoor temperature as “OFL” which means “Off Low End” (I think)… so it was colder than -25 Fahrenheit (-32 Celsius). For fun, the kids and I went outside and decided to throw hot tap water into the air to create clouds. When you throw hot water into air that is this cold, it instantly vaporizes, forming a cloud. The video of it isn’t the clearest, but I think it is pretty cool.
El termómetro nseño que la temperatura exterior como “OFL”, que creo que significa “fuera de término de baja” … que indica que es más frío que -25 grados Fahrenheit (-32 grados Celsius). Para la diversión, los niños y yo fuimos afuera y tiramos agua caliente en el aire para crear nubes. Al tiras agua caliente al aire tan frío, se vaporiza al instante, formando una nube. El vídeo no es de la más clara, pero creo que está muy bien.

On YouTube I found “Sharon in Minnesota” used extremely hot water from a tea kettle and a spray gun, which makes the droplets much smaller and thus gives you a much clearer cloud.
He encontrado en YouTube un video de “Sharon en Minnesota”, que utilizada aqua muy caliente de una tetera de té y un pulverizador, lo que hace que las gotas so mucho más pequeñas y, por tanto, te da una nube más clara.

Finally, a much clearer video of the phenomenon with a simple glass of hot water comes from this poor soul in Alaska where they are dealing with weather about 20 degrees colder than us.
Por fin, aqui tenies un vídeo mucho más clara de este fenómeno con un simple vaso de agua caliente procede de esta pobre tio en Alaska, donde es a unos 20 grados más frío que nosotros.мебели пловдив

Earlier today, we had to place Ditto, our 17 year old tabby cat, to sleep. She was preceded in death by her littermate, Sokrates, in 2004. Ditto was adopted by Juan in Tucson, Arizona in early 1992 when she was about 8 months old. Juan’s neighbor had had a cat illegally in her apartment and it had a litter of cats. Juan adopted Sokrates and Ditto, the last two cats left to adopt in that litter, and they joined him (also illegally) in his apartment so that the neighbor wouldn’t get kicked out. Ditto would travel with Juan from Arizona to Minneapolis (where she moved twice) to Saint Paul (where she moved three times) to Saint Cloud (moving twice) to Pennsylvania and back to Saint Cloud to Fargo, and finally to Moorhead. Ditto has been part of Juan’s life for the last 16 years, outliving her brother by over 4 years.

For the last year, Ditto has been suffering from a failing immune system. She had a viral cold that just never got better. She had been steadily losing weight and muscle tone. In the past few weeks, she had been having trouble controlling her bowels. She passed away, comforted by Juan, at the Fargo-Moorhead Emergency Veterinary Center, where she was euthanized.

Carolina was pretty shaken up by the death, although she was brave and she helped her father bury Ditto in the backyard (it was after nightfall here, so Dad had to dig a pretty big hole in the dark, Carolina held the light). Carolina cried going to sleep tonight. I (Juan) don’t feel so good either. For the first time in 16 years, for the first time since my first year of graduate school, I am without a cat.

Hoy, hemos tenido que dejar a Ditto, nuestro gato de 17 años, a morir. Ella fue precedida en la muerte por su hermano, Sokrates, en 2004. Ditto fue adoptado por Juan en Tucson, Arizona a principios de 1992 cuando tenía alrededor de 8 meses de edad. Un vecino de Juan tuvo un gato ilegalmente en su apartamento y había una camada de gatos. Juan adopto Sokrates y Ditto, los últimos dos gatos, y se unieron con él (también ilegalmente) en su apartamento. Ditto viajo con Juan desde Arizona a Minneapolis (donde se movío dos veces) a Saint Paul (donde se movío tres veces) a Saint Cloud (movímos dos veces) a Pennsylvania y de vuelta a Saint Cloud a Fargo, y finalmente a Moorhead. Ditto ha sido parte de la vida de Juan durante los últimos 16 años, pasando su hermano por más de 4 años.

Para el último año, Ditto ha sufrido un defecto del sistema inmunológico. Ella tenía un virus que nunca se hacía mejor. Ella había ido perdiendo peso y tono muscular. Durante las últimas semanas, había estado teniendo problemas para controlar sus intestinos. Ella falleció, confortado por Juan, en el Centro de Veterinaria Emergencia de Fargo-Moorhead, donde fue eutanasia.

Carolina fue muy triste por la muerte, aunque ella fue valiente y ella ayudó a su Aita enterrar a Ditto en el patio trasero (que fue después de la noche aquí, así que Aita tuvo que hacer un agujero bastante grande en la oscuridad, Carolina apoyó la luz). Carolina lloro a dormir esta noche. Yo (Juan) no me siento muy bien tampoco. Por primera vez en 16 años, por primera vez desde mi primer año de graduado escolar, estoy sin un gato.

Recently we were going to the Chapel to watch our old friend Leah get married. Here’s Catherine commemoration of our trip to Green Bay for the wedding.