Forbidden Planet

We got 28cm of snow on Wednesday, bringing the total snowfall total to 355cm in Ottawa this Winter. This makes it the second largest recorded snowfall. The previous record was 441cm back in the Winter of 1970/1971. We are supposed to get another 20cm or more this weekend. So there is still a chance we will beat the old record. I tell Sofia and the kids to enjoy it because they may not see another snowfall like this for another 40-50 years. Picture of a previous snowstorm, but the effect and result is pretty much the same. Following the snowstorm, the trees were nicely covered in snow crystals. Close up of snow crystals on a branch. Snow crystals on pine needles. Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

I took the kids skating this past Sunday and managed to take 389 pictures during that time. It becomes so easy with digital cameras nowadays - especially when they feature a nice, easy to use burst mode. I also managed to capture some shots of dripping icicles. If you click on and enlarge the pictures, you can see the drop of water forming and falling. It was a nice surprise to discover when I looked at the picture (they were shot in burst mode). Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet. Sorry, I was a little too aggressive with the JPEG compression settings. [05-March-2008 @ 11:00: added text about the drop forming and falling.]

A bit of snow fell yesterday in Montreal (Ottawa too). I am still in Montreal. I have to dig out my car first. Then drive 200Km over icy and snow covered roads to get to Ottawa. I may choose not to go. Normally, we don't get this much snow. Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet (and, yeah, that is my car in the driveway)

Last Friday I registered Tania for a day camp at the Ecomuseum . I also took Jason there, but he was too young for the camp, so we just enjoyed a nice walk outside with the animals. Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet

Seeing as it is still officially winter, why not post a few more winter pictures from Canada? All shots are taken in either Montreal, Ottawa, or somewhere in between. Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet

In Canada, in the Winter, from time to time, it snows. Like today. It is more of a snowstorm, actually. The morning began with strong winds and frozen ice pellets looking very much like styrofoam beads (the sort you might find in Floam or a stuffed toy). There are still strong winds and the ice pellets have changed to snowflakes - briskly driven snow flakes. Looking out the window I can faintly see the outlines of the pine trees across the parking lot in the blowing whiteness. It is the sort of image one imagines when thinking about the barren, windswept expanses of Antarctica. It is the sort of day that makes you want to go out and brave the elements. The video is not mine, I grabbed it off YouTube. It is claimed to be Oswego, New York during a snowstorm 05-Feb-2007. [Updated @ 13:31, just recieved an e-mail saying that because of the poor weather, they are shutting the office down early today. Which is good for me, since I get to leave for Montreal earlier. It should be an interestin...

You might think the cold, or ice, or long darkness, or even the snow might be a downside, but they are not. The downside is shoveling snow. More specifically, shoveling the snow from the front of my driveway. It takes me very little time to shovel the driveway - less than half an hour; today it was 20 minutes, the snow was light and powdery (it was also a brisk -20C (-4F) with a windchill of -37C (-35F) - like Renny said, there is no such thing as poor weather, just poorly dressed people). The pain in shoveling snow comes in cleaning the snow the city crews plow into the front of my driveway as they clear the street of snow. Cleaning it usually takes between half and hour to an hour because (1) it is heavy, (2) it is packed tight, (3) it is frozen or has frozen bits. It becomes frozen because salt and slush are usually mixed in with it. Oddly enough, it is illegal for me to push my snow out into the street (at least in Ottawa), but it is perfectly legal for the city crews to push snow...