Sonograms

These pictures are also belated from the 13 week screening. In fact we're due for the next batch of images next week for the 20 week check up. The first image is my favorite. I used the photocopier and the measurement marks on the picture to enlarge it to life size.

Geocaching

A few weekends ago, with bit of snow on the ground but not during our current massive snow dump, I went out with Mark for some GPS assisted exploration. We identified the day's geohash coordinates not far from Moraine Lake State Park. We did a drive-by of the geohash site which was visible from the road but deep in snowy farm field.

We headed back to the state park. We drove out of the trees and out onto a stretch of highway surrounded by a particularly large, flat field. It took me about 15 seconds to realize that this was the lake, frozen!

And out on the lake were a bunch of guys para-skiing, or something like that, I don't remember exactly what they called it.



We found where they had parked and hesitantly made our way out onto the ice. We didn't fall in, although apparently you're not supposed to walk onto ice off of a pier because they get warm in the sun and melt the ice thinner than on a shore. Who knew?

I found some weeds and included my toe in the shot to demonstrate that I wasn't just walking on an icy parking lot.



We departed from the kite-skiers and Mark's device identified a nearby cache site. We went over to the Sunken Garden Trail and tromped off into the snow. The last time I was on this trail with A. we had to cover our heads and run to avoid the swarms of flies. By Sunken Garden they really mean "swamp". But in the ice and snow it was much nicer. It took us a few minutes to spot the geocache, and a lot more minutes to get to it, and even longer to get it back. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but let's just say that I have some concerns over erosion for that location.

Here's a close up of where it was hidden.

Obligatory snow pictures.

We had three significant winter events this year. The first one was an ice storm that Ashley and I drove through. We past 20 cars stuck off the side of the road, but we took it slow and steady and avoided the worst sections. It took us an hour and a half to get fifteen minutes across town. I'm no expert yet, but I'm building up a little experience with winter driving.

The second event was a nice snow storm that left everything very pretty for a couple of days without messing anything up too much.



Actually, I think there was a fourth snow storm that we missed when we went out of town for new years. I was grousing for a little more snow, and boy did we get it.



We didn't lose power, burst any pipes, crash any cars, or get an ice dam building up on our roof, so for us this latest snow emergency has pretty much just been a bunch of fun (and good exercise).

This is what we had the first day.



It kept coming. This is what we had after a couple of days. Dog included for scale.



I made half an igloo using the traditional Inuit tupperware method. Then I got cold and went inside.

Remember the holidays?

To briefly break my internet hibernation I thought I'd go back and say a super belated thanks to Mom for the Saint Nicholas day package.



And a belated happy birthday to Catie. Fun party. There was food too.