Another snow event

We are in the midst of another round of falling snow. This time it's maybe 5-7 inches, enough for a snow emergency plowing event beginning tonight. It is a pretty snow as it continues to fall.

I promised a trip to the fairgrounds to see the Winter Carnival snow sculptures. I was there this afternoon and it snowed continuously while I was there. Snow messes up snow sculptures. The details that were lovingly carved by the artists get filled in and the sculptures begin to look more like just another pile of snow. This photo depicts an auto being driven to the Winter Carnival. It's representative of the works on the grounds.

A street photo to show what St Paul is looking like today. This was taken on Ben Hill street, one of my routes to Crosby Farm when I'm biking on warmer days. It looks like it may need to be plowed tonight and I guess it will get what it needs.

I saw a guy biking on Lexington Avenue near Como this afternoon while I was driving to the fairgrounds. I wanted to take his photo, because he was moving precariously up a rise on Lexington towards Como Lake, so precariously that he lost traction and got off to walk the bike up the street amongst the traffic. It was not a day that I'd want to be on a bike in that part of the city. He is a brave man.

There will be shoveling and roof raking galore in the next 18-24 hours in the Saintly City.

Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures

Today is the final day for contestants to finish the ice sculptures for St Paul's Winter Carnival contest.  It was about 16 degrees and I had some time and I needed a walk in the outdoors.  I went to watch what was happening at Rice Park, the scene of the carving.  I parked by the Cathedral rather than paying eight bucks to park, and it gave me a nice walk down the hill to the park by the Ordway Theatre.  The carvers were hard at work with their chainsaws and ice picks, chipping away at the things in the ice that didn't look like their chosen subject.  This was the most colorful of the ones that were already finished.

There is also a block long wall of ice along one side of Rice Park partly to advertise the sponsors of the contest. It was a popular place to get one's picture taken, so I tried to get an image of as much of it as I could see,

The sculptors were hard at work with their chainsaws and chippers. It's pretty amazing what detail work they are able to do with these implements. There were plenty of onlookers enjoying the activities and taking in the crisp air. I noticed that the hot dog vendor on site was doing a brisk business selling bratwurst sandwiches at four bucks a piece.  There was another guy selling cold weather gear for the unprepared and at premium prices.

Here's another sculpture that photographed pretty well. It's sort of an Egyptian motif, perhaps a modified sphinx.  It's right next to a park bench as well.

Also going on at the park was an event that I had not known about. It's a robotic snow plow competition. Several colleges entered robots which were programmed to use sensors to detect the location of snow in front of them and to plow the snow off to one side. I watched a plow entered by the University of Michigan at Dearborn attempt a 'U' shaped course. They started out well but soon veered to the left off course, hit the outer barrier, and had to regroup and probably restart. By that time I was getting a little chilled and left to find my transportation home.

Tomorrow, I'm likely to go find the Winter Carnival snow sculptures at the Fairgrounds. That contest ended today, too, but one cold weather activity a day suffices. I'm hoping for a sunnier day, but that may not come to pass. The weather creatures are predicting 3-6 inches of new white snow before tomorrow night.

Wherein I walk on water

After four straight days of the tennis wars, I had the day off. I think I needed it, although I spent a lot of yesterday being a couch potato - watching the Vikings lose the NFC Championship to the Saints, and later watching a lot of Australian Open tennis on ESPN2. I watched a couple of sets of Nickolay Davydenko, the Russian ghost, trading ground strokes with a Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco. Much later, in the wee hours, Davydenko won in five sets to advance to the quarters against Federer.

This afternoon I got a little restless and took a trek down to the big river to see how the storm was coming. The western part of Minnesota is shut down today by blowing snow, but the Capitol City is functioning. I walked along the river, actually on the surface of the ice where the cross country ski tracks were, until I saw an object in the middle of the stream. I walked closer.



It appears to be an easy chair that someone dragged out to the center of the river and allowed to be frozen to the surface. It'll likely be there until spring.



I continued down the river past the end of Pike Island and back, then made a trip inland to Upper Lake. The snow grew some in intensity and the sun was nearly obscured and a little spooky over the lake. I was pretty much alone for most of the walk. The dock on Upper lake is shown below.



Two of the three people that I saw on the walk were carrying shovels, the pointed kind for digging trenches. It's odd to see anyone carrying a shovel down there, so it's kind of a mystery. I suspect it is related to the St Paul Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt, which I think is currently in session. I should look it up, but I know the ice sculpture contest was injured by the January thaw that hit over the weekend, so it is Winter Carnival time. Whoever finds the Winter Carnival medallion wins a nice cash prize

There will be more tennis to play again tomorrow.

Winter Carnival Snow Sculptures

Every January the city fathers have a celebration of ice and cold to distract the citizens from the ice and cold that permeates the environment. There has been a snow sculpture contest the last few years. This year the snow creations were done at the state fair grounds, a few blocks south of Larpenteur Avenue. Because the weather has softened some and the temperature reached into the low double figures above zero (12), I ventured out to see what had been created by the artist geniuses of the great northland. I was rewarded.

A snowy tree. Well formed and woodless. (Second prize winner).


Snowy mushrooms. Large and showy. Not very tasty.


Snowy dragon head. The body must be below ground. (Third prize winner)


Snowy castle. Like its cousin the sand castle, beautiful, but ephemeral.

I spent maybe fifteen minutes at the site. The sun was bright, but the wind was blowing and the windchill was below zero. My camera stopped working because of the cold and I went to find some warmth in my trusty Matrix parked on the street. There were some other hardy souls about, all bundled against the wind, and probably all native Minnesotans.

My tennis tidbit for the day. The Australian Open Tennis Tournament is reaching its final days. I watched Serena Williams win her semi-final match against Russian Elena Dementieva, who won the Olympic Gold Metal last summer. Serena is a beast. She hits the ball very hard and keeps it on the court most of the time, but the best part of her game is that she knows that she's going to win and then makes it happen. She is hugely confident; 6-3, 6-4, to get to play Marat Safin's little (? she's six feet tall) sister, Dinara, in the finals this weekend. I'll be playing some tennis myself, but without as large a crowd or with as much money at stake, at Fort Snelling Tennis Center. I'm hoping for low gravity days.