Saturday 28 February 2015

Colour of (salad) Dress(-ing)

It was on TV here.CA; it was on GMX, it was out west seen by Al of Saskatoon. So everyone of any importance saw THE dress. Here is an explanation of THE DRESS
I thought I would try my version and check my monitors - yes I have 2 - and see if can happen again.
So what colour are these unsexy fruit and vegeables?




Do you see turquoise pink and chartreuse? Fine. Next test:


Red and mauve? You are doing well, I am amazed! (I am easily and readily amazed, try me!)
There really are not many colour combinations when you are colour-blind. I know one fellow who was still able to pick strawberries - maybe by sense of smell? Barry, how did you do it?


Pretty easy when there are only 2 colours and both are ripe.
I was not out today, so no frost-bite. Did a couple of km on the dread mill at incline 10 whatever that means. Did not swim as I did that yesterday. Have to see about tomorrow.   wob

PS In a different vane or even vein: do I see leather boots? The story says "vegan" leather - nobody is confessing to have prepared that dish!

Cracking up - Spring Thaw?

Just saw this and it reminded me that Spring is coming!





Snow is piled up quite high here in Orillia as well! wob

PS Taken from Rosetta on 30 Oct 2014

Thursday 26 February 2015

On a Winter's Day in February

It was sunny today so I thought (?) I would check up on winter. And sure enough Ol' Man Winter was creeping in the back after an all-nighter:

We have witnessed this behavior before - in 2014:

We stopped for tea:

Did a little sunbathing:

And why not? The Air conditioner was working fine:

So a quick visit to Timmy's for 2 iced cappuccinos - usually referred to as ice-caps -
Hope your Feb or fib is as much fun as mine - wob

Tuesday 24 February 2015

snow slush water spawn fish in Spring wells up hope eternal! wow wob you need a cold shower

Snow sucks.
It is not an acceptable excuse for a Canadian who is late for ice fishing. I mean it is not like you were being swept into a black hole and were rescued by aliens - and had to spend the night there rather than in your tent on Couch:
This truck was stuck for more than the 90 minutes I was out. And it would dig deeper before it could continue. It was well off the highway:
I must admit to being curious. So I skied along the Tudhope shoreline. It was easy to see what has happened:
Close to shore - where the truck was - the snow was quite deep and fluffy, while further out it had an icy crust. What was not so easy to see and at first glance completely unexpected was these dark patches:


The dark is water - liquid - when there has not been an hour above ZERO C in 6 weeks.
The water is ankle deep so 10cm.

WHY?

This phenomena occurs close to shore, more than 200m from any building and every year that I have skied here - so from Feb 2011.

There has been a suggestion made that it cracks here in the ice due to pressure of the water underneath expanding prior to freezing.

I have another explanation: artesian springs. And the reason for this suggestion can be seen in May.







And to anchor to shore: May 12 2014 -

And Tue Feb 17:
The idea being that suckers spawn in clear cold water fresh from underground springs. They are not rare here. There was one in Scout Valley that was part of a geocache. wob





Monday 23 February 2015

features in common to comets and snow

It was quite cold this morning when I went out - maybe near -20C with strong winds up to 40kmh. So why go out? Well, it is exhilarating and stimulating.


And it provides a control for erosion in snow aided by sublimation. I see it as an analogue to what is happening on 67P

One sees  layers obviously. However, there is also quite a range in texture over quit short distances:


67P also shows smooth and rough surfaces adjacent.




In the above example "Cheops" was thrown several meters by a snowmobile and showed no evidence for rolling or breaking up. Had however, virtually no tensil strength. wob

Saturday 21 February 2015

Comparisons

I am away behind in getting my ideas onto this page - they will have to wait. However, something simple is to show you how much snow we have. The snow shots are from today, the "green" shots from May 2011 - I do not photograph the terrace all that often. Might later add some cold turkey to the menu if you ask.

looking north west





looking north



east toward Tudhope
And there is more snow (a) in the bush/forest and (b) further north Bracebridge-Huntsville direction. The temperature this afternoon was a hot -11C. I wore too much and there wasn't even a wind chill! wob

PS
 from Dec 15, 2014

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Lake Couchiching

I had to fight my way out - the fire exits and rear door were all frozen closed. And no sooner had I my skiis on when an eagle sailed overhead toward Tudhope. It was gone by the time I had my camera up to shoot. Still, I enjoyed the sight.

Let us make tracks:





toward Leacock/Brewery Bay.


After a 6 weeks of sub-zero temperatures, it was difficult to understand finding liquid water - it freezes quickly but still where did it come from:




(The scale is approx 30cm along the bottom and I am shooting straight down.)
I was looking for features I have seen in images taken by Rosetta:





The sky started to close in:

It was not far and also no long - time-distance - but interesting being out - wob