The Baboon Congress

Snow Art

66 Comments

Today’s post was imagined by Barbara in Robbinsdale, with contributions from Clyde, PJ, Jim in Clarks Grove, Linda in St. Paul, Anna and Kelly.

The national news is far too disheartening to face today, so with the help of a baboon platoon we’re going to re-wind to last weekend in southern Minnesota when a Sunday snowstorm temporarily softened the landscape.

A deep coating of fresh snow can transform the harsh, grimy world into a fantasyland. The to-do list is momentarily suspended and plans are re-shaped to account for the scene’s new contours. A second (or third) cup of coffee is poured and we watch as the schedule for the day is re-written by nature.

But eventually duty calls and a path back to reality must be cleared. As BiR wrote:

Husband and I headed out around 3:00 for the “first wave” of shoveling and snowblowing. My first task was to free up some pine branches out front which were dangerously low, so I could then get down the steps to the drive.

The hours and days that follow are all about slogging, shoveling, brushing, and if you try to go anywhere in a car, waiting and muttering. A big snow can quickly come to feel like an annoying burden. A week later when the roadside dirt has accumulated and the rain comes, the beauty of fresh snow may feel like a distant memory.

But in the heart of a major storm that arrives on a day when you can simply watch and appreciate it, there are surprises and blessings all around.

The photos here were all taken last Sunday by Trial Baboon readers. The addition of snow can turn pedestrian scenes into works of art, so take a look at our gallery. Click on any one of the pictures to see an enlarged version, and leave your comment in the box below!

Suggest a title, or describe what might have happened here just after the photo was snapped.

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66 thoughts on “Snow Art”

  1. that wa sthe best snow man snow ever. i got up in anticipation of the 4-8 inch dump at about 530 and started shoveling at the top of the driveway. the guy who was t have gotten my snowblower back up and runnign is working on it againa nd will certainly be done by march or april. this snow i love a couple of inches of it is ok to lift and that is a wonderful feeling on a beautiful day of 20 something degrees almost hot enough to peel off a layer as you get going and no wind so the pristine sublime wonderland engulfs the moment. shhht pheew shhht pheew shovel scrapes and plops the little blades worth of snow off to the side. i was done by 8 and of course as i finished my 2 hour shoveling the snow cam e up nbehind me but not too quickly. i got my son loaded into the car and got and early start to the vikings game where parking and driving would certainly be interesting. he had not done a lot of blizzard driving ad i laughed constantly and told him this was the mildest blizzard he would ever be in on. what a gentle day. on the way back form the vikings the freeways looked terrible so we took the back roads winding through the neighborhoods where people with no snow tires got their intros to winter 2012. too an hour to get home but it was much better than the freeway suckers who got to watch each other curse under their breath. when we got home the snow was ready for me again. shoveling for another quick 2 hours and off to bed only to wake up early monday morning and shovel for 2 hours. others may find this inconvienient or bothersome. i love it. bring on the winter i aint no southern wimp gonna whine about a little weather. i love minnesota.
    thanks bir

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  2. OK, as you move the cursor over a photo, a # shows up (on my computer, anyway) – they can be used if you are responding about multiple photos. End of weekend I’ll identify the photographers…

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    1. Actually, BiR, I’ve thrown you a curve here. I’m experimenting with a WordPress photo gallery today, so if you should see the photos in a nicely arranged clump at the bottom of the post. If you don’t see it that way, try refreshing your browser. Then if you click on any one of the photos it will enlarge, and you will see the name of the person who snapped it. You can attach your comment to the specific photo you see, as I have already done with each of them. Try it!

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  3. That “asilegap” commenting on a couple of the pictures is moi. WP didn’t allow me to change the name. (maybe after I post this comment).
    I agree with tim on the beauty of Minnesota and the satisfaction in shoveling. Sometimes I get into the shhht pheew shhht pheew and go on to do other people’s walks. (not this time as I had plenty of my own and I didn’t do any preliminary shoveling – – I waited until it was almost done.)

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  4. Good morning. Nice work BiR, Dale, and others who sent pictures. I’m not too good at taking pictures and sending them in so I didn’t get mine in until Tuesday. There was enough snow here to cover everything, but not much more than that. Snow shoveling was not a big job. I just sweep it off the walks with a broom. There was enough heat left in the walks to melt most of snow as it fell. I can tell that the rest of you had a lot more snow to remove.

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  5. Is anyone else having a hard time seeing the comments click on a picture? I can’t seem to scroll down far enough to see the entire comment.

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    3. I can’t see all the comments on a picture. If I click on the word “comment,” I can then see the first comment but can’t manage to scroll down to see more, even though I can see the name of the person posting the next comment and even though I’ve tried Linda’s suggestions.

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        2. My point is that if you click on Comments you cannot scroll down. Did you try scrolling before clicking on comments?

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        3. Clyde – yes I did try scrolling down first. I only hit “comment” when the scrolling down diidn’t work.

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        1. I click on the picture as Dale said, but can’t see comments (I’m just trying to see the comments at this point). When I try to scroll down (using any or all of the methods Linda mentioned), it moves to the next picture. On some pictures, if I click on “Comment” then I can see the first comment only, but can see the name of the next commentator, but not their comment – and I can’t scroll down to see any more comments. On other pictures, if I click on “Comment,” it does nothing or moves it to the next picture.

          I think this feature just doesn’t like me; I’m taking this very personally. (just kidding.)

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        3. Fun to try this but it seems rather much to keep up with several places for comments, when you can see them all.

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      3. Do you have more than one browser you can try? WordPress can be finicky about some browsers (it likes Internet Explorer less than Firefox, for instance). Don’t know if it will make a difference, but it’s worth a shot.

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  8. I had exactly the same frustrating experience as Edith in Mozilla Firefox, nothing can get me farther down in the comments. But in Internet Explorer, I can see all the comments – there is a scroll bar space that works. Interestingly, though, I don’t have full photos at the bottom of the original post – just vertical bars that, when I click on them reveal the photo and everything else. Now I’m going to read comments. 🙂

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  9. OK, one of Lisa’s posts contains a new word for the Glossary:
    “mingy. (a word my father used to describe dinner when he thought my mother hadn’t created a quite-groaning-enough board. My siblings and I were surprised to find that it’s a real word, not one that our father had made up.)”

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    1. My father would be honored to have “his” word included in the glossary. He had a great vocabulary.

      Off to an annual pot-luck and carol sing. One of my favorite events of the year. On different parts of the spectrum, my three favorite things to sing: a lovely Solstice carol for which I bring the music, a belted-out Hallelujah Chorus (twice so we can get it “right”) and Christmas, Christmas Time is Here in chipmunk voices.

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    2. The word from LEGO robotics today is ‘Coopertition’ Cooperation + Competition. They all help each other out and then battle against each other. (Robot-wise speaking).

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    1. Barney is a good dog – and that truly is his “excited” look. Well, that’s not entirely true, but it’s hard to get a picture of him when he’s galumphing about through snow drifts. He likes playing in the snow, though now that he is an 8-year-old dog, his limit for playing in the snow is shorter than it used to be (an hour on the outside and he sometimes wants in after only a half hour).

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      2. It seems that dogs enjoy bouncing around in snow. It seems to lift their spirits. I’m surprised by this. I would think that they would prefer walking on ground that isn’t covered with snow.

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        1. I know a dog who can “catch” snowballs the way some dogs catch frisbees. It is so much fun to watch!

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        2. My dog tries to do that, BiR – sometimes successfully, sometimes not. She also tries to catch the snow that is tossed in the air from the snow shovel. It’s very funny. Now that she’s 8, however, she can’t do it without some aftereffects – she went crazy jumping and leaping after snow from the snow shovel last weekend, then was limping slightly for a couple days.

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  11. Greetings! Great photos everyone! It certainly was lovely, but alas — short-lived. I’ve been rather productive today I think. I made a huge batch of homemade whole grain waffles that are now stashed in the freezer for weekday breakfasts. This will go with the homemade maple-flavor syrup I made last week. Made a whole chicken in my Crockpot for supper and am now making chicken stock overnight. Enjoyed two loaves of homemade bread this week thanks to my breadmaker. Last week I bought one of those huge Maradol papayas, so now that it’s ripe, I cut it up, freeze the pieces on a cookie sheet and then store them in a Ziploc in the freezer for smoothies.

    I’ve been finding that the best way to save money on food is to do more cooking and baking myself. While that is rather obvious, it’s been a long time coming for me. I may not enjoy baking or cooking, but there’s a certain self-righteous satisfaction in knowing that I can do more things on my own rather than buying pre-packaged, processed foods. Plus, there’s a ton of web sites devoted to frugality, make your own gifts, cooking from scratch, healthy eating, etc. Now if I can get someone to clean my house and do dishes …

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        1. Me either, Renee. Though I do have time scheduled next weekend with my bestest pal for our annual krumkake making (also referred to as the annual “owie owie hot hot hot”).

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        2. Anna, I would love your recipe for Krumkake. Mine seem to be soggy and not as crisp as I would like them to be.

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    2. Dang! Why did I pay my bills? I should have just taken that money and had a big night on the town. By the time the creditors got after me, the world would be over.

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  13. Most of my snow is gone now 😦 It rained all day yesterday and we never got the snow they promised. I love the pictures though! The Lamp in the Hat is great 🙂

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    1. A solar light, it turns out, doesn’t work when it has a hat on.

      Idea for an invention: a solar light that uses a little of its battery power to produce enough heat to melt off snow as it falls.

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    2. Me to, Alanna – I was all prepared for more snow today, and… nothing. Cleared the calendar and everything.

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  14. There doesn’t seem to be much going on here today, so I’m taking the liberty of sharing this sweet little video clip. Hope it works!

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  15. Tonight vs is hosting her annual Solstice Party. We won’t be there this year. Neither of us is really sick, just sluggish and out of sorts. Not fit for company, you might say. I’ll have to save my white elephant gift for next year. Have a great party vs.

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    1. I’m sorry to hear that you’re now feeling very “how” (as Eeyore would say), PJ. Sounds like a Solstice Party would be pretty fun – but not if you’re feeling under the weather.

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  16. We have had lots of fog which has deposited a thick rime on all the bushes trees, grass. It is beautiful. Today was exhausting. We played handbells for two church services in the morning, had an hour of church choir rehearsal ,then daughter and I drove to Bismarck and back for violin lesson, got back to town by 4:30, when I had to be at the Episcopal Church to play with handbellchoir for a Festival of 9 lessons and Carols, and then went to daughter’s vocal recital at 6. I can hardly wait for the work week to start so I can get some rest!

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