Snow

Losing Your Load

As a trucker stops at a red light, a blonde catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck, and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says "Hi, my name is Heather and you're losing some of your load." 

The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street. When the truck stops for another red light, the girl catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker lowers the window. As if they've never spoken, the blonde says brightly, "Hi my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!" 

Shaking his head, the trucker ignores her again and continues down the street. At the third red light, the same thing happens again. All out of breath, the blonde gets out of her car, runs up, knocks on the truck door. The trucker lowers the window. Again she says "Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!" 

When the light turns green the trucker revs up and races to the next light. When he stops this time, he hurriedly gets out of the truck, and runs back to the blonde's car. He knocks on her window, and as she lowers it, he says " Hi, my name is Kevin, it's Winter in West Virginia and I'm driving the SALT TRUCK!"

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

SAD

For many people, symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, begin to appear as the dusky season of fall encroaches upon us and then culminates during the dark winter months.

SAD FACTS:

  

About 5% of adults suffer from SAD.

Up to 20% of people experience some 

symptoms of winter blues.

SAD is less common where there is 

snow on the ground.

SAD is four times more common 

in women than in men.

The average age of a person who first 

develops SAD is 23 years old.

Boost Your Immunity

We all know that washing our hands and taking vitamins can keep us from being sick. But here are five other little-known tips on boosting your immunity to prevent the wintertime chills:

MOVE: Aerobic exercise five days a week for 20 minutes reduces colds per year by nearly half, as well as boosts immune cells in the blood. For seniors, try Tai Chi three times a week.

SOCIALIZE (but stay home if you are already sick): Researchers say that having an active social life during the winter months makes it less likely for you to get sick in the first place.

WARM YOUR TOES: Your mom was right, cold and wet conditions on your feet can trigger the onset of cold symptoms. Cooling the feet causes constriction of the blood vessels in upper airways, which may reduce defenses against vexing viruses.

KEEP IT SPICY: Warm soups and spicy foods promote salivations and can lubricate and soothe the throat.

LAUGH: Laughter increases the number of your body cells that fight off infections. The more you have, the more they can help fight off colds and flue, including strains you've never been exposed to.

In the Meantime...

and you don't even have to water them...

Winter Fun

With winter chill comes the tendency to stay inside... and a tendency to be inactive. But, adults are supposed to get thirty consecutive minutes of movement a day, and kids are supposed to get sixty. To keep our families movies during the winter months, here are a few fun ideas for weekend activities...

Have a snowman-building contest. See who can build a three-tiered snowman to a certain height (say 4 feet)—with button eyes, carrot nose, and scarf—the fastest. The team that wins gets to choose the evening’s meal.

Take a trip to the zoo and point out how animals adjust for the winter months. Ask each person in the family to come up with something.

Go sledding! If you live in an area that doesn’t get snow, set up a slip-and-slide on a hill and inner-tube down the slide.

Visit your local indoor pool and have summer in January. Bring a beach ball and, if allowed, a small summer picnic to eat together.

Shovel and salt the driveways of a few neighbors. This will not only work up a sweat, but will also be more fun together and can be a great service project for your family.

Go to a park and let the family run around. (Don’t forget to bring towels if there was rain or snow recently!) Bring hot chocolate in a thermos for a half-time treat.

Take a nature walk or hike and enjoy the cool winter air. If you live in a place where it snows, identify different animal tracks and try to guess which animal made them.

Snowflakes

Even though no two snowflakes are alike, snowflake shapes can be placed into 36 different categories. The temperature and moisture present in the air at the time the snowflake is formed determines it shape. The five most common types of snowflakes are:

thin plates
(25-32° F—these are thin and flat)

needles
(21-25° F—slender, pencil-like structures)

hollow columns
(14-21° F—hexagonal columns)

sector plates
(10-14° F—plates with ridges pointing to prism facets)

dendrites
(3-10° F—plates with branches of the main body)

Winter Solstice

Looking for a book to help your child appreciate today's winter solstice?

Here are four that explore the science and cultural importance of the
"return of the sun" marked by the year's longest night...

The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice explains the science behind the seasons, but focuses on how people have celebrated and understood this change throughout the centuries. Throughout this retelling, it unveils the origins of elements we now associate with Christmas celebrations (the role of wreaths, candles, and caroling, for example) and leaves the dots to be connected through discussions between parents and children. | $12

Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest tells the amazing and bizarre story of Raven, who turns himself into a pine needle in order to be swallowed by the Sky Chief's daughter so she will give birth to him as a bird-baby so he can steal the sun from a box in their lodge and give it to the dark world, so humans would have light. Lovely illustrations, a fascinating tale. | $7

Reading By Day and Night: Explore Your World is truly an act of exploration - offering pages of short, thematic content on astronomy as it relates to the cycles of the sun and moon, with pop-open paper doors, holes to look through, and a few really good paper effects we'll shoot a video of soon. | Hardbound, $16

The Return of the Light is 12 short stories taken from a wealth of cultures - Norse, Inuit, Polynesia, Venezuela. This is a book that will be thoroughly enjoyed by children 6 and up, and younger when read with parents who can help engage with the story (no pictures, after all).
| Softcover, $10

Thousands Protest Global Warming

I had to steal this from Leslie, because it says it all...

Would You Buy This Snowman Kit?

I'm In Serious Need of Some Snow

I wish it would snow!!
It's hard to get into the Christmas Spirit without snow.
Maybe if I watch this and sing along, I'll get my wish...

Harbin Ice Festival

The temperature in Harbin, China reaches forty below zero in both Fahrenheit and Celsius and stays below freezing nearly half the year. The city is actually further north than notoriously cold

Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away. So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course!! Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin celebrate it with an annual festival of snow and ice sculpture competitions.

Info and photos from Tiffany via email...

Real Snow Cones

The next time it snows,
why not make real snow cones...

Buy some snow cone cups. (Usually party stores that rent snow cone machines have them.)

During, or right after a snow storm, go outside and fill a snow cone cup with fresh snow. Remember to brush the very top layer of snow off before scooping up the snow, and don't go down to the ground either. Caution: don't use yellow snow! Pack it down until you have a nice mound on top. Don't pack it too tightly or too tall. Snow that is heavy (more water content) is better than dry.

Once you have the snow in your cup, carefully pour your favorite flavor of concentrated syrup over the snow. You can buy the regular snow cone syrup, or use punch base syrup. Now eat it inside or out, but just know that everyone will want a refill.

I watch for a good sell on snow cone syrup at the end of the summer, and save it until the first snow fall. I also bought a box of 200 snow cone cups so I always have some on hand, because you never know when it's going to snow...