The Many Faces Of Snow

Snow, for all of its inconveniences—driving challenges, shoveling, and slippery walking—also has a lot going for it.  The obvious of course is the beauty of a snowfall and the wonders of the countryside transformed from the drabness of late fall’s browns and grays to a world of white. Snow also provides an opportunity to ski and snowshoe and go sledding.  And a chance to build a snowman or a snow fort or maybe even experience a friendly snowball fight.

I did a little digging, no pun intended, into the characteristics of snow, and came up with some interesting information, at least interesting to me.

Snow is not always white.  It may also appear blue especially on a cold winter night when the moon is out.

Most of us have experienced how sound changes after a fresh snowfall.  Sound is absorbed by snow, muffling it.  But when the snow becomes hard and crusty, the opposite happens. Sound bounces off the snow’s surface and travels farther.  Of course we all know the sound packed snow makes when we walk on it, especially on cold days when it creaks and crunches, and sounds like it is protesting our presence.

Snow is also a great insulator.  Fresh snow is made up of from ninety to ninety-five percent air.  Many animals know about snow’s insulating qualities as they burrow into snow to keep warm.  Farmers know this as a good snow cover protects crops such as alfalfa from “winter kill.”  A good snow cover also keeps my septic system from freezing—not a good thing as it happened a few years ago when we had a stretch of below zero weather and no snow.

Snow also stores water.  Ten-inches of snow may equal one-inch of water.  Or ten inches of snow could contain as little as one-tenth inch of water.  It depends on whether a snowfall is enhanced by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, or comes from the dry plains of Canada.

This is probably more than you wanted to know about snow, but I find it all interesting as we plow on into the new year with many more snowfalls to come.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Let it snow, let it snow. Nothing much we can about it anyway.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.

January 19, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

Winter Solstice

The official start of winter 2013-2014 was December 21, 12:11 p.m., the date of the winter solstice.  It’s the shortest, darkest day of the year.  From now until June the days grow longer, and as my dad often said, “As the days grow longer the cold grows stronger.”  I always wanted to ask him why June, with its long days, wasn't the coldest month of the year, but I never got around to it.

Winter really arrived back in November, the week before Thanksgiving, when temperatures dropped well below freezing and stayed there into December.  Madison’s Lake Mendota froze up earlier (December 16) than it has for the past three years.  Last season it didn't completely freeze over until January so in 2013 the lake froze over twice in one year—one of those important pieces of trivia that’s worthy of sharing when Holiday conversation lags.

On this first full day of official winter, mother nature decided to wallop us with a snowstorm to remind us that yes indeed winter is here and we’d better get used to it, and enjoy it for it will likely be around until March.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: For all its inconveniences, winter is a beautiful season.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.

January 19, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

Thank You

With Christmas but a few days away, and the New Year approaching, it’s seems appropriate to take time out and thank people who have been so gracious and helpful as I have traveled around the Midwest from Minneapolis to Chicago, from Green Bay to Hudson, from Milwaukee to Park Falls and many places in between.

  First of all, a huge thank you to my wife Ruth, who has traveled with me and who has heard my talks so many times that she could deliver them better than me.  To the fifteen libraries we've visited this past year, the ten bookstores and ten historical societies—thank you.  A special thank you to Kent Barnard and his staff at Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, my home town, for his gracious support of my work and the wonderful way they have organized launches for my books and TV shows. 

 Thanks to all who attended special events where I spoke from a homeless group in Madison, to a DTS Alumni meeting, the Winchester Academy in Waupaca, the Riveredge Nature Center, a German Heritage group in Wausau, the Monroe Art Center, and many more.

 Thanks to the organizers of four book festivals where I spoke: Egg Harbor, Grafton, Mineral Point, and the Heartland Festival in Chicago.

 A special thank you Mike Schneider and his wonderful staff at The Clearing in Door County, where I have taught creative writing for 22 years and continue to teach there.

 To Jim Massey and his staff at The Country Today that runs my bi-monthly column—thank you.

A special thank you to the folks at Wisconsin Public TV, especially Mik Dirks, who takes my often rambling stories and makes something of them, and to Jon Miskowski who, at this late stage in my life, is teaching me once more the power of live TV.

To Larry Meiller, of Wisconsin Public Radio, where I have done radio shows for more than twenty-five years, and to the folks at KBRW, Barrow, Alaska where I do several programs a year.

And finally, to the many, many people who have read my books, listened to my talks, heard me on radio and watched me on TV, thank you so much.  It really means a lot to me.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can never say thank you enough.

UPCOMING EVENTS:     

January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm.  

Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm)

Winter Arrives

                In the morning, the land was a collage of browns, tans, and grays—the last remnants of fall that had most of the color drained from it as the countryside quietly waited for the return of winter.  The sky was heavily overcast, the wind was down—and the feeling was that something was going to happen, something important.

                At noon it began, a few tiny flakes of snow, light and fluffy but persistent.  And then more and still more as the snow accumulated, stuck to the roads and walkways, and turned boring browns and tans to a wonder world of white. 

                On the farm, winter does not arrive according to the calendar.  It arrives with the first serious snowfall.  So winter is now officially here, with all of its beauty and challenges, its inconveniences and its joys.

                “A Farm Winter” the hour-documentary that public TV did with me (based on my new book THE QUIET SEASON) couldn't have been aired at a more appropriate time as the snow fell over much of Wisconsin.  A big thank you to all who viewed the show and told me they appreciated it.  If you've not yet seen the program, you can watch it online by going to http://video.wpt.org/video/2365119687/

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Better to watch the weather than the calendar for the changing seasons.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 14, Fireside Books, West Bend, 10:00 to 2:00 p.m.  Presentation and book signing.

January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.