Skip to main content

Lined with Crystal Needles


Freezing fog settled in our valley over the last few days.  Temperatures were around 20 degrees in the day time.  Frost covered everything in sight.  It even took over my clothes line, dangling crystal spears the whole length.  The whole world seemed lined with intricately formed ice needles, winter artwork of the Creator.


 Each icy needle grew to be almost 2 inches long.  I didn't know much about frost, so my son and I did a little research this morning and found out there are three main types of frost: window frost, rime frost and hoar frost.  Window frost forms lacy fern like designs on poorly insulated windows.  I used to see it when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it for years, probably because most houses have double pane windows now.  Rime frost is super cooled water droplets found most frequently on ship riggings out at sea during cold wintry weather.  It is more solid in appearance.  Hoar frost is white ice crystals that form on the ground or other exposed objects on cold nights when objects become colder then the surrounding air.  Hoar frost is the most common kind of frost we see.

I learned that the word hoar comes from an Old English word that refers to signs of old age, including white hair.  Hoar frost can make trees and bushes appear like they are growing old with whitened hair.


Even our bird feeder grew a white mustache this week.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guam 2020: Post 2 - First Full Day on Guam

I'm doing pretty good, jet lag wise for the first day. I was able to sleep until 4:45 this morning. On past visits to the island, I woke up at 2 or 3 AM and was unable to go back to sleep. I've been busy all day. We took a hike with our friends, Roger and Amy Krum, and their children Nathan and Alyssa. There is a mural at the parking area that wasn't there before.  It depicts the traditional sailing boat of the Chamorro people, and the ancient latte stones. We went south on the highway, just a little ways to the viewpoint for Cetti Bay.  Then across the road is the trail to Mt. Lam Lam, the highest point on the island.  It was such a beautiful afternoon with temperatures in the low to mid 80's and a nice breeze off the sea.  The trail goes up through grassland savannas with trees and flowers along the way.  We saw the Bamboo orchid that grows in the grass. There were some little blue pea family flowers and some yellow pea family flo...
3 comments
Read more

Guam 8: Asan Beach

On Friday afternoons, Rob gets out of work at noon.  Since his weeknights are busy with work almost until sundown, we take advantage of this daylight time to get out and see something new.  This week we chose Asan Beach.  Asan Beach has a long history on Guam, the most notable thing is that it was one of the two beaches where the US landed to push back the Japanese in WWII.  Agat, right across the road from where we lived four years ago, is the other place.  Here is a link to the National Park Service's view on the history of Asan Beach.  Here is a link to more about the attack at Agat Beach , and some oral histories of the Chamorro People in the war .  It is hard to believe on a beautiful day like this one, that this was the site of war, with young soldiers dying on both sides.   You can find photos of how it looked in 1944 here.    Waves crash on the reef, not far from the shore.  The pipe on ...
1 comment
Read more

Safeguard your Health

Want to safeguard your health?  Here are the four steps you need.  You can do it today and every day. 1.  Gratitude.  Tell everyone "Thank you."  Write down what you are grateful for.  Keep a gratitude journal.  Read And Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts."  Counteract negative thinking with gratitude.  "And be thankful." Col. 3: 17.   2.  Rejoicing.  Especially rejoicing in the kindness and love of God.  Sing.  Listen to uplifting music.  Read God's word and rejoice while you are reading it for everything that God has done, is doing, and has promised to do for you.  "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."  Proverbs 17:22.  Rejoice out loud, if possible. 3.  Benevolence.  Benevolence means act of charity.  Charity means loving kindness.  Do something good for someone else.  An act of kindness, for someone you know, or someone you don't, goes a long way. ...
2 comments
Read more