Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote:Could be interesting in a way...
Ann

Glisser une autre crevette le gril, grand-père.

orin stepanek wrote:I hear they had 14 inches of snow in Oklahoma City! Is that right bystander? Couldn't last very long that far south!

Parts of Southwestern Oklahoma got up to 14 inches of snow. We got mostly sleet and freezing rain in the city. It's all gone here, but they are still thawing out in the Southwest.

5 degrees F. Good thing there's no wind, or it would really be nasty out there.

Beyond wrote:5 degrees F. Good thing there's no wind, or it would really be nasty out there.

Not that cold yet; but it is supposed to get to -2F overnight! It is 16F right now! I wish it were May!

orin stepanek wrote:Not that cold yet; but it is supposed to get to -2F overnight! It is 16F right now! I wish it were May! :D

We had a high of 4°F today, it's around -2°F now, and is supposed to get down to -10°F tonight. Extra hay for the horses and goats (the digestive process of both actually produces a lot of heat as a byproduct). We've had at least 8" of snow in the last 24 hours, but that's supposed to taper off tonight, The extreme cold is going to hang around for another week or more. Very unusual for us here.

Taking care of pine beetles?

geckzilla wrote:Taking care of pine beetles?

Maybe. Probably still not cold enough for long enough to do much damage. It just doesn't get cold enough in Colorado anymore. Happily, we don't have a pine beetle problem in our area.

Sven is upon us! Who is Sven?
Is he my old classmate, Sven? No, not him.












Is he the kind of "sven" that they talk about in old Swedish poems and ballads, a young man who has not yet had intercourse? No, not him.












Is he the none-too-bright-certainly-virginal-and-extremely-heroic young hero Sven Dufva (Sven Dove or Sven Pigeon) in the patriotic 19th century poem with the same name as its hero? No, not him.





















No, it is this Sven, the Sven who has his "name-day" on December 5 here in Sweden. And therefore Sven is also the name that has been given to the storm that has begun to pound us here right now. It is going to get worse!

Ann

The snow has moved through, leaving about 8 inches on the ground and clear skies last night. The cold continues- I was out plowing the driveway and road this morning with around 5°F. Didn't feel cold, though, with the Sun out and everything just sparkling white. I've been keeping my eyes open for interesting halos, but it's so dry, just blue sky with no ice crystals at all.

Had a big herd of elk come across our south pasture. The weather probably drove them down off the higher slopes where they usually are. I circled around through some trees and got some nice photos before they caught on to my presence, and left.
Then I noticed a deer in the trees very close by, just watching me photograph the elk.
Colorado sure is beautiful in the winter.

That deer looks pretty fat. Is she pregnant or is it just the way she's submerged in the snow that makes her look wide? There are certain cutoff points when photographic humans that you never want to make because of that effect. Need to look up the guidelines for deer portraiture...

geckzilla wrote:That deer looks pretty fat. Is she pregnant or is it just the way she's submerged in the snow that makes her look wide? There are certain cutoff points when photographic humans that you never want to make because of that effect. Need to look up the guidelines for deer portraiture... :lol:

Well, at this time of year nearly all female deer are pregnant. But I don't expect it would be visible from the outside. So I guess it's just an unflattering view (actually, her shape looks normal to me- I think you're just seeing an illusion caused by the curve of her body as she lays in the snow).

Chris, looks like all the critters around there are keeping an eye on you. Maybe you shudda said smile, before you took the pictures.

Beyond wrote:Chris, looks like all the critters around there are keeping an eye on you. Maybe you shudda said smile, before you took the pictures. :lol2:

How do you say "smile" in Wapiti?

Ok, Ann, now that you've confused me with all that Svening, just what is the Sven that the storm is named for, known for

Chris Peterson wrote:

Beyond wrote:Chris, looks like all the critters around there are keeping an eye on you. Maybe you shudda said smile, before you took the pictures.

How do you say "smile" in Wapiti?

Well, ya got me on that one.
But in Klingon, you would say "mon", and you would probably say it strong enough to scare away every critter in your area.

Beyond wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:

Beyond wrote:Chris, looks like all the critters around there are keeping an eye on you. Maybe you shudda said smile, before you took the pictures. :lol2:

How do you say "smile" in Wapiti?

Well, ya got me on that one.
But in Klingon, you would say "mon", and you would probably say it strong enough to scare every critter away in your area. :lol2:

But before I'd do that, surely I'd decapitate the largest with my bat'leth and chow down on its raw guts, or brains, or some other particularly delicious bit. Steaming in the cold air, of course.

But of course.

Not the brain, the heart! Preferably of your nemesis and after a glorious battle. Then you may enter Sto'Vo'Kor.

Chris Peterson wrote:But before I'd do that, surely I'd decapitate the largest with my bat'leth and chow down on its raw guts, or brains, or some other particularly delicious bit. Steaming in the cold air, of course.

I just assumed you had already done that, based on the censorious looks they're giving you. But I guess not. Seems like you are just a soft, romantic kinda fella after all!

Beyond wrote:Ok, Ann, now that you've confused me with all that Svening, just what is the Sven that the storm is named for, known for

Sven was quite rude when he visited us yesterday, and as if that wasn't enough, he doesn't even want to leave us just yet.

What a cad!

Ann

Maybe Chris isn't an abominable snow man. Maybe he is related to snow flies.

geckzilla wrote:Maybe Chris isn't an abominable snow man. Maybe he is related to snow flies.

No relative, I think.

I've never seen these wingless flies up here (I'm 3000 feet higher than Colorado Springs). But in early spring (which in most places people would still call winter) I do see small swarms of some kind of fly that is active while it's still cold, and there's still snow on the ground. Sometimes I see these flies on the snow itself. But they are winged. Seeing them is an indicator that winter is ending.

Ann wrote:Sven was quite rude when he visited us yesterday, and as if that wasn't enough, he doesn't even want to leave us just yet.

Isn't this the same as the storm that is called "Xaver" by European weather naming conventions? I know that Norway is a bit contrarian, often adopting its own name for storms that the rest of Europe uses a standard serial-alphabetic nomenclature for. Is Sweden doing the same here?

Edit: Ah. Answered my own question.

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Maybe Chris isn't an abominable snow man. Maybe he is related to snow flies.

No relative, I think.

Really? Compared with what else might be there out there, I'd say I'm quite closely related to a snowfly.

And yet I hate snow.

Ann

Right now, I've got confusion coming down. Some big wet snowflakes, some pieces of ice and some rain. I guess it just can't make up it's mind