Snow
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Oh, so it's gonna be that kind of year.
Winter Storm Seneca Blows Through
Last night I participated on panel about Women In Secularism for Campus Atheists Humanists and Skeptics at the University of Minnesota. My fellow panelists were Stephanie Zvan, Niki Massey – who did a guest post for Biodork a few months ago – and Chelsea Du Fresne. It was awesome – there were a lot of thoughtful questions from the (mostly male) audience. We had a chance to talk about microaggressions, how to build and support diversity in organizations, and how to recognize when you might be dealing with an MRA.
The snow had started to fall at about 1pm yesterday afternoon. The snowflakes were big and fluffy and full of water – perfect snowman snow! When we left the panel at about 10pm, we had acquired several inches of snow. But this is Minnesota and the plows were on high alert; many of the major roads had been cleared at least once.
Cold, Dark and Slippery
Yeesh! It’s been snowing all day today; a light but steady fall of pretty white powder came down during the work day. I left at 7pm so I missed the rush hour traffic, but even my kick-ass snow tires were put to the test on the drive home. I saw one accident on 35W North near Diamond Lake Road in south Minneapolis. Another car – which had been abandoned by the time I saw it – was at an unlikely angle high up a hill on 212 in Eden Prairie. TwinCitiesTraffic.com is showing FOURTEEN accidents in since 7:42pm (within the past thirty minutes).
Stay safe, all.
I was outside taking photos of the snow when I heard two horns bellow and squealing tires at this intersection. Cold. Dark. Slippery!
Fresh snow in the city.
Cross-Country Connections: Snow
Cross-Country Connections is a Biodork weekly blog entry dedicated to telling stories in pictures of three family members – me, my sister and Mom – living in different locations across the country. Every week we choose a different theme and then take or contribute a personal photo that fits the theme. This week’s theme is Snow.
From Mom, who’s traveling this week:
Outside my sister ‘s window in Woodstock, Illinois 
From me in Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Snow? Or astronaut footprints on the lunar surface? I can’t remember which roll of film this came from.
From Erin in Takoma Park, Maryland:
Or not. It’s a tropical paradise in DC right now. A balmy 72 degrees!
Weekend Photo Fun
I had some fun with my new camera this weekend. I took lots and lots and lots of photos, and then proceeded to erase lots and lots and lots of photos. I learned that my camera currently knows a hell of a lot more than I do, but I reckon to be fixin that right quick.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend:
I’m going to try Flickr out for sharing some of my photos. I’ve set up a Flickr widget in the Biodork blog sidebar to the right. It will take you to my album if you want to see some of the wacky times I’m having. This will also provide an outlet for me to post my photos without driving you all batty.
Hey – Who Prayed for Snow?
Cute.
Seen on twitter via @almightygod.
BTW – We’re currently getting dumped on in Minneapolis. AGAIN.
Lake Harriet Winter Kite Festival 2011
Late Report! This was actually two Saturdays ago, on January 8th, but there’s been so much cool stuff going on…okay, I was just lazy. Oh, naughty Zeus!
*****
Recently the Hubby and I went to the 2011 Lake Harriet Winter Kite Festival. I learned about the event over at 22 Words and at the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation website.
Previously on the blog I’m complained expounded on my general disdain for winter activities because…umm… you have to frickin’ freeze to enjoy them. BUT I am pleased to announce that I had a really great time. There were no clouds in the sky, the sun was shining and we bundled up to stay warm. I bundled up a LOT. I had on gym leggings, jeans, a t-shirt, a long-sleeve t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a coat, hats, gloves and my warmest boots.
We arrived at the festival around noon just as things were starting up. There were already a few people on the ice and maybe 4-5 kites were up. It was a pretty nice set-up. There were several tents and stands and the organizers had arranged a free marshmallow roast, free hot chocolate and cider, they were giving away little plastic kites to kids and they were well-staffed with volunteers. Pssst: Click on any photo to make it crazy big.
The wind wasn’t being all that cooperative, but we managed to get our little kite up for a few minutes.
Okay, I may have been optimistic when I said we got the kite “up” for “a few minutes”.
After the kite flying we headed over to the Minnesota DNR tent where they were holding ice fishing demos.
It was kind of funny to watch; there was a lot of activity inside the tent, probably because it was heated. There was one guy who looked SUPER into the whole ice fishing deal; he would glare at the hole in the ice and look up in frustration every time a kid would squeal or somebody would brush by him. Also, we witnessed the amazing flash transformation of super-excited kids into super-bored kids. They were practically jumping with excitement as they were handed the short ice fishing poles and the line dropped into the water, and after about 30 seconds of not catching anything they’d start to get fidgety, and then the complaining started. I couldn’t blame them – that’s pretty much how I feel about ice fishing.
Ice fishing holes! The first picture is of a hole that was drilled outside of the main tent. The second picture is of an ice fishing hole that was drilled inside a small black tent. It turned out to be accidentally cool and Tron-esque because of how the low light in the tent, the bright sun shining in from the open tent bottom and my confused camera worked together.
The other thing happening at the DNR tent was snowshoeing! The tour guide helped the Hubby and I and another couple with two small boys get our feet into the snowshoes, which was not as easy as it might sound. But eventually, we did it.
And then we were off. We walked across the ice to a bird sanctuary located on the north end of Lake Harriet. The guide lead us off trail so that we could experience snowshoeing through fresh snow. It was a neat feeling; I sunk down further in the snow than I thought I would, but the broad, flat shoe distributed my weight so that I didn’t sink down to my knees as I would have in regular boots. And, I only fell once. Ta-da!
The snowshoeing tour was about 30 minutes long. After we got back to the DNR tent we walked around and did a little kite and people watching.
And to end the day we roasted a few marshmallows:
There were a ton of people with some very pretty cameras on the ice that day – gigantic lenses and camera bags galore! These websites have some fancy pictures that I suspect were taken with SLR cameras that had…like…zoom…and adjustable apertures…and stuff.
An awesome video that was filmed with an old-timey effect.
Snow Photos
I couldn’t resist taking some more snow photos from Monday morning and today. For such an evil thing, snow sure is pretty.
Twin Cities: First Snowfall 2010
This is a collection of photos and quotes gathered from my Facebook friends and Twitter peeps about Saturday’s roundhouse, no holds barred, smack you upside the head, first snowfall of 2010 for the Twin Cities and greater metro area. Thanks to all of those who gave me permission to share your photos here.
It tis a pretty white wonderland out there! Love the first few snowfalls! So pretty and why am I up so early?
WTF, snow?
Negative: I have to drive to Bloomington within the hour. Positive: I’ve had snow tires on since May.
If you haven’t been outside yet: You don’t want to be outside #Slipocalypse
Snow is a four-letter word.
Heavy, wet snow. We have a couple of inches and it is expected to fall all day; and we have an invite to a patio party this evening. Life in Minnesota!
I want a f*cking award for driving to Bloomington in a #slopocalypse
: SNOW! </giddy>
Good thing I allowed extra time to get to work. Took me 12 minutes! Double the norm. God bless 4-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes.
Aaaand my little corner of Minnesota officially has snow! WI is wet and cold, but the fluffy harbinger Old Man Winter is nowhere to be seen.
Ummmm…….. that’s a lot of freakin’ snow. Good thing I planned to be hibernating today.
Today I get to go to Edmonton. I snow. IN SNOW. I LOVE SNOOOWO+WWWW
Snow must be very heavy. The tree branches are sagging.
IT’S NOT WINTER THE SUN IS SHINING LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU
The kids were so excited to stuff themselves into snow gear and get out there this morning!
Plan for the day? Stay inside while I love the hell out of the man outside shoveling. Then curling up inside while we test this Netflix online thing. Mmm, hibernation!
Five cars in ditch and one awesome dude if front of us who went into the median, FLOORED the gas and pulled a U-ie, drove into the opposite lane. Lucky for him there was no oncoming traffic. I cheered. Might as well have been a Viking touchdown.
Nothing goes better with snow than a hot bowl of pho and happy hour drink specials until 5pm. Cheers, Hai – Ngon Bistro
Holed up in my hermit cave with pizza fixins I picked up yesterday. I sense baking madness shall overtake me today. On this day of snow.
I really wish I could hibernate.
Alright! Shoveling snow. I think my arms are pretty much disabled for the rest of the day.
I. LOVE. SNOW. And if you don’t, suck it up!
Snow is wonderful if you don’t have to go out in it. I love snow, but after having to drive through the worst of it, work all day, dig my car out, and then shovel the driveway, I’m temporarily over it. Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.
Need something to keep out the cold. Is scotch and hot chocolate a bad idea?
This snow is very very wet and very very sh*tty to shovel.
It’s absolutely wild out there…streets here aren’t plowed yet and the snow just keeps coming. We did make it to the store for necessities and are staying in today with a fire, games and soup.
Power just went out @ the mall. Awesome!
Have one boy outside in the snow and one boy on the couch under a blanket watching Spiderman 3. Got a whole bunch of wet jackets and mittens drying in the bathtub on a rack for the next go round. I’m a little worried about my mom, her power is out from the snow. I braved it and went grocery shopping and now it’s all about staying tucked in.
What a crappy day.
D. is literally trapped in her house because there are two trees blocking the exit from her street.
If it wasn’t so wet, if it wasn’t for the snow plow (twice), if it wasn’t for the depth….this shoveling thing might not be so bad.
Our awesome crew of Delivery Men and Women will passionately and speedily bring you piping hot Pizza Luce Pizza all the while making it look easy. We RULE at delivery, especially when it snows.
Okay, freaking out a bit. My gutters are now bending from the weight. I’m hideously afraid of heights and can’t get up on the roof to clear out the gutters. I’m worried they are going to bust. DAMN IT!!!!!
Perfect day to be watching a marathon of “In Living Color”
This weather’s been messing with my sinuses all day.
i hate snow.
It’s a damn good thing F. got the lawn raked last night – cuz today he has to shovel up to 10 inches of snow. God I love having a man around.
Worried about how heavy the snow is. Anyone else having pounding on their roof from it dropping from tree branches? Praying the power doesn’t go out!
It’s still 60 degrees in Chicago. I will try to convince the weather to come with me when I return tomorrow.
Snow… blech!
Ok, I’ve already done my first round of shoveling for the day. That’s the only way I can keep up with it, it’s so wet and slushy! Sure is pretty though.
I think this definitely qualifies as a “storm”. I’ve gotten so used to meteorologists trying to create drama with severe forecasts that I just kind of assumed there would just be a few flakes.
Seeing a vivid-red cardinal in a snow-flocked tree reminds me of the beauty of the seasons. I’ll be trying to remember that while shoveling!
It’s officially winter: Minneapolis declares the first Snow Emergency of the season.
F*ck you, snow. Just f*ck you.
Mmmm…wine and a snowy evening snuggled in with my two favorite men. Nothing could be better.
PLOW THE F*CKING ROADS – RT@MnDPS_MSP Of the 401 crashes today, 45 were with injuries
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Being cold sucks, shoveling snow sucks, driving and walking in the snow sucks.. but it’s so beautiful!
meh….fraking snow.
Happy snow, everyone! *le SQUEEEEEEEE!*
It’s only 4:45. Dark descending. Surrounded by snow. Lassie, go get Timmy!