In my basement window casement...

In my basement window casement...

When the sun came up this morning...

When the sun came up this morning ... I could see that it looks like winter outside!  All this will be gone in a few hours, though – the forecast for today has temperatures well above freezing, and the sun shining.  The photos below are all from our front yard, where I dared walk in the snow for a little way :)

Actually it was quite comfortable – it's already over freezing, and I have a pair of Muck arctic sport boots, and those things keep my feet toasty even at 5°F.

Check out the icicles!  I haven't seen icicles since the last time I was in Estonia in the winter, probably 15 years ago...

Inclusion...

Inclusion...  Found in a rock that was cleaved in the process of building our fireplace.  The cleaved surface has hundreds of crystalline inclusions like this, with lots of different colors.  Wandering over the surface with a microscope is like looking at a jewelry store cabinet...

What could this be?

What could this be?  Why, it's a piece of Hershey's chocolate!  But what are all those little specks visible in the photo (60x, click to embiggen)?  I'm guessing the light brown specks are nut fragments, but what's the black?  The light is coming from the right, and the letters are indented into the chocolate...

Winter preparations...

Winter preparations...  The early snowfall motivated me to get ready for winter.  Warm boots and gloves were the first priority, followed quickly by arctic coveralls and thermal underwear.  I finally got delivery of the snow blade for my tractor.  It's a beauty, with a hydraulic “flipper” to switch it from left-sided to right-sided, and a very nice float-and-skid mechanism to follow the pavement without gouging it.  It should make my life much easier this winter...

Barn: progress report...

Barn: progress report...  The siding crew was here again yesterday.  They installed the tarpaper and mesh base for the rock that will be on the lower four feet of our barn's wall.  The roofers were here to repair some underlayment that had blown off, and to install flashing between the second floor walls and first floor roof.  On Monday the siding crew will install the second floor siding, and possibly start on the rock.

I spent a few hours on the tractor, filling the electrical trench in (covering the conduit).  On Monday I'll be getting a load of road base, and I'll be using it to put in the base for the barn's transformer.  If it dries out enough, I'll be trenching for water, gas, and network on Sunday...

Philae is asleep on 67P...

Philae is asleep on 67P...  If we're really lucky, it will wake up again when enough sunlight hits its solar panels.  One piece of good news: all the science data collected during its primary science phase was successfully downloaded.  Given the triple failure of the attachment mechanisms (reverse thrusters, harpoons, augers), it's a miracle that Philae did anything useful at all.  In fact, most of the science instruments performed as designed.  Even the comet sampling drill may have worked (we won't know until the downloaded data is analyzed), despite Philae's off-kilter landing...

The Department of Energy...

The Department of Energy ... claims to be making big money on it's “green tech”  loan program, despite losses from the bankruptcy of Solyndra, Fisker Auto, amongst other spectacular failures.  CoyoteBlog calls BS on this crazy claim.  They're actually losing money, as you would expect.  It's only the bizzaro-world accounting of the political class shows profit where there are actually losses.  Orwell was right about doublespeak; he just had the date 30 years too early...