Still growing.Tomorrow is supposed to have temperatures above zero for most of the day. Check back tomorrow night for continuing updates on the possibility of a thaw at Cold Lake.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Icicle Update
Still growing.Tomorrow is supposed to have temperatures above zero for most of the day. Check back tomorrow night for continuing updates on the possibility of a thaw at Cold Lake.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Dangerous "Thawing"
Even if the air temperature never gets above -10C, snow melts from the roof of our main building. The reason is that our building is heated and the roof is metal just like the sides so viola, melted snow.However, if the air temperature is this low, the dripping runoff from the roof re-freezes into icicles like the 4 footer, above. Danger, Will Robinson. If they freeze over doorways that we use we will have to knock them off before they can fall and hurt somebody. If this keeps growing (and doesn't fall from its own weight) I will update in the future.
Click on the Cold Lake forecast on the right and you'll see that we might even have some positive temps in the near future.
Another Road Sign Post
Another yellow and black checkerboard road sign. This is on a main road, just east of an intersection with another main road. It is not on any other corner, that road is the same size and quality, i.e. paved, as the other 3 at the intersection.What does it mean!
Weather
Is supposed to warm up and my be in the positive numbers tomorrow and
saturday. This is not necessarily as desireable as one might think. More
tonight.
saturday. This is not necessarily as desireable as one might think. More
tonight.
Parts of this post removed by request.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Snow Flurry
Here's the best picture I've been able to get so far of the sparkly snow falling. This is just outside our control shelter this morning. It snowed pretty much all day, never less than in this picture and sometimes a lot more.
Road Sign?
Can anyone tell me what this road sign means?There are lots of them around. This one is on the east side of the paved part of the road that goes to the range. It is on the Northeast corner of a intersection of a minor road that goes west and a driveway to a farm.
The yellow and black checkerboard is a recurring motif, and there are signs with just the checkerboard and no <---> in the middle.
Ouch! Update
I thought I would take a picture of the injury, but there is no polite way to photograph it.
What happened is this: I was down at the control shelter getting it ready for the mission today. For these missions we typically have some of the folks who will be the operators and users when we have finished with the installation watch us as we track the tests. So I did a general clean up, booted the stations, etc. I was coming back to bring a thermos of coffee down there as sometimes there is a long wait for the aircraft to get in position. The coffee pot and thermos are upstairs in our main building (tour post to come later) and I basically hustled up the stairs right in from outside, got the thermos (and some sweet n' low, but not for me) and was coming back down the stairs when I slipped on a wet spot either from my boots or ice/snow still on them and sat down hard on my left hip and bounced down about 7 stairs. Hurt like the dickens, but didn't break the thermos.
Now there is an ugly, unphotographable bruise and a long lump at the the top of my leg bone. I am going to soak in a hot bath for a while. Maybe I'll post more tonight. It was an interesting mission.
Original post edited by request.
What happened is this: I was down at the control shelter getting it ready for the mission today. For these missions we typically have some of the folks who will be the operators and users when we have finished with the installation watch us as we track the tests. So I did a general clean up, booted the stations, etc. I was coming back to bring a thermos of coffee down there as sometimes there is a long wait for the aircraft to get in position. The coffee pot and thermos are upstairs in our main building (tour post to come later) and I basically hustled up the stairs right in from outside, got the thermos (and some sweet n' low, but not for me) and was coming back down the stairs when I slipped on a wet spot either from my boots or ice/snow still on them and sat down hard on my left hip and bounced down about 7 stairs. Hurt like the dickens, but didn't break the thermos.
Now there is an ugly, unphotographable bruise and a long lump at the the top of my leg bone. I am going to soak in a hot bath for a while. Maybe I'll post more tonight. It was an interesting mission.
Original post edited by request.
Ouch!
That's going to leave a mark!
First ice/snow related fall. More tonight.
Original post edited by request.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Listen to What I'm Listening To
CJXK, K-Rock, is the station we listen to the most here in Cold Lake. The studios are right across from the Hotel in a little strip mall. You can see in at night and watch the DJ leaning toward the microphone and staring into space.Why it reminds me of when I was 17 and a DJ for WQMV, FM 98.7 in Vicksburg, MS. But I out grew that.
Click on the picture to hear K-Rock streaming in your computer all the way from Cold Lake, Alberta. They have a pretty good playlist. I like it, anyway.
Birds and Coyote Update
In the parking lot of Tri-City Mall I caught a couple of Ravens. I've seen these a lot up here and I can't help but wonder what they eat to get so huge.The only other birds I have seen so far are very small things that I think are Chickadees from some half remembered book from my childhood.
A while back we had spotted an animal on our drive back down the hill that I thought was a wolf but the other occupants in the car insisted was a coyote. Seeing no RoadRunners around I assumed that this was not the climate for coyotes and that they were pulling my leg. Apparently not. I researched this and find that the animal with the largest numbers in the dog family in Alberta Province is the Coyote. Meep! Meep!
Update:Blogger Problems
Blogger is not letting me post multiple pictures in a single post tonight. Neither will it let me upload some HTML I was going to use to improve the site a little. So two posts I had hoped to upload tonight, or at least this week will have to wait until blogger is more cooperative.
Instead I will bring you the weakest post I have left in the blog's backlog of photos I wanted to post and blog on aboot.
Here are my glasses, not my sunglasses, my regular glasses. It seems that the cold here is tough on many things, I think I have already posted that my camera doesn't not like the cold one bit. My glasses also complain. They are the type that darken in the sun and then fade when I am back inside. Well this picture is after 5 minutes outside and 20 minutes inside.
When I come into our control room from outside I have to take these off because they are too dark to allow me to do my work for several minutes. This is a real drawback when tracking small distant objects nearly always requires me to keep watching the screen.
Instead I will bring you the weakest post I have left in the blog's backlog of photos I wanted to post and blog on aboot.
Here are my glasses, not my sunglasses, my regular glasses. It seems that the cold here is tough on many things, I think I have already posted that my camera doesn't not like the cold one bit. My glasses also complain. They are the type that darken in the sun and then fade when I am back inside. Well this picture is after 5 minutes outside and 20 minutes inside.When I come into our control room from outside I have to take these off because they are too dark to allow me to do my work for several minutes. This is a real drawback when tracking small distant objects nearly always requires me to keep watching the screen.
Frozen Waves
Here's another phenomena that has proven difficult to capture.
Primrose Lake is frozen solid, I am told reliably that that means a 4 foot thick ice layer covers the lake. The only exception is where the First Nations have drilled holes for ice fishing, which they did Saturday or Sunday. But I didn't have time to get a picture of that.
However, on top of the ice is another layer, also 4 foot thick or so, of snow. Most of it loosely packed and very powdery. I've already posted pictures of the sparkly snow here, so I think you probably have a picture of the loose, powdery snow. If not scroll down a couple of pictures.
Well, when you get a good wind that powder snow piles up in drifts on the land and, as I never suspected, also on the lake. So when you look at the lake you see these piles of snow, which look from the distance like small white-caps and so it looks like waves were frozen into the lake. As I said this is very hard to capture with my camera and photographic skills, but here is my best shot so far.
The brown vegetation marks the original bank of the lake. And you may have to squint, but take my word it is very impressive to see in person. I wonder if TaraEliz sees this on Lake Champlain near her home.
Primrose Lake is frozen solid, I am told reliably that that means a 4 foot thick ice layer covers the lake. The only exception is where the First Nations have drilled holes for ice fishing, which they did Saturday or Sunday. But I didn't have time to get a picture of that.
However, on top of the ice is another layer, also 4 foot thick or so, of snow. Most of it loosely packed and very powdery. I've already posted pictures of the sparkly snow here, so I think you probably have a picture of the loose, powdery snow. If not scroll down a couple of pictures.
Well, when you get a good wind that powder snow piles up in drifts on the land and, as I never suspected, also on the lake. So when you look at the lake you see these piles of snow, which look from the distance like small white-caps and so it looks like waves were frozen into the lake. As I said this is very hard to capture with my camera and photographic skills, but here is my best shot so far.
The brown vegetation marks the original bank of the lake. And you may have to squint, but take my word it is very impressive to see in person. I wonder if TaraEliz sees this on Lake Champlain near her home.
Trouble with Blogger
Having a little trouble with blogger tonight. Will try again on one or two more posts, but if it doesn't clear up soon I'll just add to the backlog.
Sunset
This was the sunset we got tonight, coming down the hill.
I was trying to get the beam coming out of the top of the sun, which was pretty impressive. I tried different zoom levels and exposures with my little frozen digital camera, but this is the best I could do.
I am not sure what causes that, but I bet it has something to do with the ice crystals in the air.
I was trying to get the beam coming out of the top of the sun, which was pretty impressive. I tried different zoom levels and exposures with my little frozen digital camera, but this is the best I could do.I am not sure what causes that, but I bet it has something to do with the ice crystals in the air.
I bet this never happened to you
I got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator upstairs and went to walk to
the control shelter about 50 yards from our main building. The water was
cold in my hand inside the building, but warmer than the air temperature
when walking between the buildings. It was weird. Then, inside the control
room, it tasted as cool as you might expect. Often we just use the Cold
Lake Refrigeration system, but more on that later.
the control shelter about 50 yards from our main building. The water was
cold in my hand inside the building, but warmer than the air temperature
when walking between the buildings. It was weird. Then, inside the control
room, it tasted as cool as you might expect. Often we just use the Cold
Lake Refrigeration system, but more on that later.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Miracle
I have been served Grits at a Diner in Western Canada. I will try to get some pictures.
Dave, awesome MOAC. 'preciate it. I told your story about overflight of Arkansas to everybody here.
RKW, Chuckles discussed the Waffle House grits and runny eggs with Shirly and Pat.
Late night on Range, big mission tomorrow, be patient with your Blog Master.
Dave, awesome MOAC. 'preciate it. I told your story about overflight of Arkansas to everybody here.
RKW, Chuckles discussed the Waffle House grits and runny eggs with Shirly and Pat.
Late night on Range, big mission tomorrow, be patient with your Blog Master.
Monday Morning Catch-Update
*whew* yesterday's MOAU really took it out of me.
Grits plan phase 3 worked to perfection. There is now a diner on the Western
Canadian Prairie that serves grits for breakfast.
Dave, thanks for the MOAC. I'll add them to the blog tonight. It won't let
me add in the comments remotely. Get some zzzz's.
-10C and lite snow
7-11, then up the hill
Original post edited by request.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Grits
Phase 2 of my master plan to bring Grits to the western Canadian Prairie has been accomplished.
Stand by for Phase 3.
Stand by for Phase 3.
Alert
Tylenol PM is not sold in Canada.I talked to a pharmacist today and no drugstores in Canada, according to him, sell Tylenol PM. I asked why and he told me that he really did not know, but that Benadryl, the part that makes you drowsy is really a decongestant that the Tylenol people were just marketing a side effect.
Funny thing is, that is exactly what my Doctor, Dr. Russel, back in Fort Walton (I'm from there I think) told me once when I discussed with him that I was having problems sleeping.
Sunday in the Coffee Shop
Small Joys
Today's soup was "Cream of Vegetable" and it tasted like the wonderful "Golden Vegetable" that I used to have in England that was the real life saver of Lent. I cannot express how great it was to find that soup today. Unfortunately, Pat tells me they don't sell it in the grocery store. Still, I'll check for myself, later.
Language
Another thing that is unique to Canada is that everything is labeled in both English and French. You get used to it after a while and you stop noticing that butter in French is buere, garlic in French is ail, cholesterol in French is cholesterol, except that the e has a ' on top of it. But I noticed today that the French word for Cracker is "Biscuit". The same thing crackers were called in England, I wonder if the English are aware of that.
Mullets
I saw an awesome Canadian Passport today. Apparently the Canadian Passport requires a ball cap as an accessory. I wish I had gotten a picture, but left camera in room.
Vicki told me to go for a walk today and the room still isn't made up, so off I go.
Today's soup was "Cream of Vegetable" and it tasted like the wonderful "Golden Vegetable" that I used to have in England that was the real life saver of Lent. I cannot express how great it was to find that soup today. Unfortunately, Pat tells me they don't sell it in the grocery store. Still, I'll check for myself, later.
Language
Another thing that is unique to Canada is that everything is labeled in both English and French. You get used to it after a while and you stop noticing that butter in French is buere, garlic in French is ail, cholesterol in French is cholesterol, except that the e has a ' on top of it. But I noticed today that the French word for Cracker is "Biscuit". The same thing crackers were called in England, I wonder if the English are aware of that.
Mullets
I saw an awesome Canadian Passport today. Apparently the Canadian Passport requires a ball cap as an accessory. I wish I had gotten a picture, but left camera in room.
Vicki told me to go for a walk today and the room still isn't made up, so off I go.
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