It's Only Snow- Can We Live With That?

Mayo Brothers at Mayo Clinic before the storm

I live in Minnesota.
It gets cold in Minnesota.
It snows in Minnesota.

Can we live with that?

Sure, but first we have to freak out and describe the first snow of the season as something we think we have never seen before.

Turn on the news and we see

• the requisite stand-up with the MNDOT supervisor describing the newsworthy event of plowing the snow on the local highways
• the requisite stand-up along that local highway with car lights going behind the reporter (it is evening- and dark.)
• the social media posts that call this a "snowpocalypse" even though it is only forecast to be 6" - 10".

 The hype continues the next day when the snow failed to measure up to the upper end but was still enough to keep the first ten minutes of the newscasts filled with

• the requisite stand-up with along the local highway with car lights moving faster today
• the offbeat story of a milk-hauling truck sliding off a road
• the requisite story of front-end loaders plowing and gathering the snow from the streets of a small town
• the requisite story of the children sledding.

Then, with all this behind us, reminding us of how bad this storm was (but no serious injuries in the police report and only 8" of the white stuff), we get pictures of tornado damage and flooding in other parts of the country where people lost everything. Some even their lives.

Was it really all that bad here? No! I am moved to gratitude for the simple snowstorm we had. It was not any where near a snowpocalypse. I have lived through those on the east coast when winter Nor'easters dump a lot more than 8". But we survived even that!

In the lingo of news this story was NOT a man bites dog story. Let's keep our calm and our sense of perspective.

It was only snow.

What a Difference A (Few) Days Make

May 2, 2013 - Rochester, MN Snow and 33 degrees F

May 2, 2015 - Rochester, MN Sunny and 77 degrees F

A Previous Winter

No, this is not from this year. When we had snow to get out in, it then got way too cold, at least for me. Then the snow has been kind of melting and sublimating (evaporating without melting), leaving little opportunity for outside snow activities. So, in lieu of the real thing, I just went back a year and dug these out from a January snowshoe excursion to my favorite local park- Whitewater State Park.  Stay warm.

Hidden and Waiting in the Snow

Open Water Reflections

Just Because

It snowed twice this week.

So this song, written in the heat of mid-summer is not a Christmas song. It is a snow song. Enjoy.

It's That Time - Again

Great River Bluffs State Park, MN, 10/16/14

The National Weather Service has a Winter Storm Watch posted for us from Monday to Tuesday morning. Maybe 4 - 7 inches. It isn't even the Ides of November yet.

Therefore it is time for my mostly annual posting of a wooly bear caterpillar from this year. Those old farmer's predictions from wooly bears would say that this means the beginning and end of winter will be harsh and the middle not as bad. Well, at least the first part is about to maybe look bad.

But then again,

• one of my  general weather memes is that when they predict the big ones- they often don't happen and
• I seem to remember that almost every year the wooly bear caterpillars look like this one and
• we can't do much about it anyway.

Endnote: For no particular reason of note, this is post # 5,600.
Aren't you impressed?

It's 11:57- Do You See Spring Yet?

Every spring is the only spring, 

a perpetual astonishment.

Ellis Peters

I Look At Trees From Both Sides

First from one side...

Early sign of spring with

a willow along the

Minnesota River

And then the other.

With the right lighting

the golden colors take on

all kinds of hues at the

Fort Snelling State Park in

Minneapolis.

Canyons of Snow

Canyons of snow,
More and more
Falling with uncanny regularity
A winter of records
A winter of broken pipes

But overall a winter of
Canyons of snow

It keeps piling higher
Every storm adds to the pile
Every morning saw the plows
Scraping and
Lifting and
Pushing
Front-end loaders
Making mountains.

Canyons of snow
Hiding rooflines
And pedestrians
Intersections become
Blinded by the white
Oncoming cars upon you
With little warning

Canyons  of snow
May be with us till spring
Canyons reminding us of
Powerlessness in the face
Of Winter

Stopping Nature Deficit Disorder

This past Sunday I spent about 10 minutes standing next to my bed feeling pulled in two directions. The sun was shining in, reflected off the beauty of snow. I knew the temperature was in the low 30s, probably for the last time in at least ten days. I had not had my snow shoes on for three years (January 2011) and felt isolated from the wonder of a wonderful winter landscape.

But that bed kept calling. Nap time! Nap time!

With a burst of energy I got out my insulated underwear and got ready to head out the door.

I was not in the least bit sorry that I had won the battle against the Nap.






Naturally I went to my favorite location- Whitewater State Park. It was actually relatively "busy". I saw about 10 other people out snowshoeing and one cross country skier. It was not crowded, just busy. The portion of the river by the trail I was on was mostly frozen over until I got to a couple of the places with more active water.

I have also heard that robins don't actually migrate for the winter. I now have proof that at least some robins still hang around these northern climes all year round.


(Actually, they do migrate to find food, not to escape the cold. If there is enough food where they are, they don't migrate. Pretty good thinking, if you ask me.)

I chased them away when I first came mushing up, but after I stood still for a few minutes they returned.


I am a firm believer that there is a syndrome which can be called Nature Deficit Disorder (Richard Louv- the human costs of alienation from nature). It can cause great difficulties for us if we do not get out in the real air and honest sunshine with external exercise.


The 600+ calories I worked off in an hour or so on a two mile snowshoe expedition felt far more satisfying than the average indoor stationary bike riding I have been doing. (Note: Thanks to that indoor riding,though, I was able to easily do the two miles on the snowshoes! Felt great, in fact.)


I was elated by what I was seeing. I was uplifted by the drive over to Whitewater through miles of fields white for winter. I had not realized how much I had missed this until I was actually doing it.

I no longer feel as boxed in, out of touch with the world I am surrounded by. There is a freedom of soul that comes from being "out there" putting an end, for this week at least, to my winter Nature Deficit.

Changing Seasons in Six Months

Same Tree- Different Days

November 2, 2013

May 2, 2013

May 5, 2013

May 19, 2013

Continuing in the Right Direction

Same place on different days- all within 3 weeks. Amazing Minnesota.

May 2, 2013

May 5, 2013

May 19, 2013

An April Winter's Day

Back in the midst of January, when all was cold, I looked forward to a short vacation time-off in April. Spring would be starting, I was sure. Warmth and the first signs of green would be popping up around Minnesota.

Ah, but a winter night's dream.

Yesterday was a day of sunshine. Yes, that is true. Something we have not seen a whole lot of in the past weeks of April. So we headed to St. Paul for a visit to the Como Park Conservatory.

Here then were our initial sights from April 20, 2013 

in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A wishful sign on the left here that tells us that summer is always to be found at the Conservatory.

Or below, a bit of false advertising 

for a season that is yet to be seen.

And this is the Conservatory. A day and a half after another April snowstorm in the Twin Cities.

The Japanese Garden officially re-opened on Friday.

(We're going back in July!)

These are the outside Bonsai trees with

the Conservatory dome in the background.

Fortunately these are all-weather trees.

And below, one of the real beauties-

a Ponderosa Pine

looking like it is somewhere in the Rockies

in mid-winter.

Yes, inside were a lot of tropical and seasonal flora. But why ruin this tongue-in-cheek look at a Minnesota April? I will save those for another day. :)

A Different Opening Day

Most of the time we simply refer to the first day of baseball season as Opening Day. Well, my friends at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy have a new opening day.

Sounds like a great idea. It's only two weeks from today... March 30, 2013. My hope is to get to the Douglas Trail near home and one way or another celebrate the Opening Day for Trails.  Wishful thinking would say that a great bike ride would be wonderful.  But the way this season is going it may be on snowshoes.

Yes, I said snowshoes.

Before our vacation to Alabama the snow was little and not much for snowshoes. Since we have returned, March has become the 9th snowiest on record. Close to 20" so far.

Am I whining? Well, yes. A year ago today it was 78 F. and St. Patrick's Day was 81 F. The next week is to be 5 - 10 degrees below our average high of 38 - 40 F.

Anyway, one way or another I plan to get out- if only briefly- for the kick-off of the Trail Season in two weeks. Join me on your own trails and let the people at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy know.

Not This Year Around Here

All the storms and snow seem to miss us.

Rochester, MN

December 12, 2010

Snow White Tree

Winter at Mt. Morris Moravian Camp, WI

December 31, 2004

One Last Christmas Shot

Rochester, MN

December 9, 2012

A Bonus- Just for Fun

Same trees, different time

Before and After

A lot like Day and Night

A Way to Stillness

Are you bowed down in heart?
Do you but hear the clashing discords and the din of life?
Then come away, come to the peaceful wood,
Here bathe your soul in silence. Listen! Now,
From out the palpitating solitude
Do you not catch, yet faint, elusive strains?
They are above, around, within you, everywhere.
Silently listen! Clear, and still more clear, they come.
They bubble up in rippling notes, and swell in singing tones.
Not let your soul run the whole gamut of the wondrous scale
Until, responsive to the tonic chord,
It touches the diapason of God's grand cathedral organ,
Filling earth for you with heavenly peace
And holy harmonies.
--James Weldon Johnson

Look Alikes...

Snow (Whitewater State Park)

Not Snow (Gulf Shores, AL)

....But that's as far as it goes

I Never Thought I Would Say This, BUT...

I have been enjoying this winter. (Quick, check his temp. He must be sick.)

 


No, in reality I am looking forward each week to the weekend trek in the snow on my good, ol', made in the USA Redfeather snowshoes.

I missed a week being sick, but last Sunday I was out there again.

I am developing a real sense of awe for what is out there in the woods of Whitewater State Park. It is not dull and boring under some layers of white. There are still lines and shapes. Shadows become shades of gray. Picnic tables become snow platforms. Brown in the trees comes alive.





Then there's the ice. This is the now frozen surface of a waterfall from a dam that two weeks ago was still flowing. A quick look misses the artistry of ice and snow, air bubbles and developing icicles. A walk along the bank gets one close enough to stop and admire it, like a Van Gogh.


All in all, though, the water does not stop. It still riffles and flows; it still gets louder when crossing rocks and silent in the calm and quiet stretches.


In water is life, of course. It is the fluid of movement and change; of refreshment and renewal; of power and destruction. It is, they say, the universal solvent. Though not a perfect one- it moves slowly, eating away in geologic time- it is the solvent that makes life possible.

Even in the frozen state of winter.