Day 19 -- Winter Workout

Today saw the return of snow and shovelling. There hadn't been much wind when the snow fell last evening and overnight, so the trees and bushes were coated with wet, sticky snow. It was quite beautiful. I headed out after lunch once the temperature had moved a few degrees above zero. In the house, I could hear the snow dropping on the roof from the trees. It sounded like little quadrupeds running across the roof as it rolled. By that time of day, the 4-6 inches of snow had compacted a bit. As I was pushing the snow to make a path and clear the driveway, it seemed that making large snowballs might be more productive. The shovel kept getting caught in the mud of the supersaturated soil beneath the snow. An hour later, the snow was moved around and my coat hood was wet and filled with little bits of snow and ice that kept dropping on me as I'd worked.  All in all, a rather pleasant workout.

If the forecasters are to be believed, further snow and mixed precipitation is expected over the next few days. In some places it says up to 10 cm and in other places it is predicted to be less than a cm. Perhaps this is how the meteorologists can claim to be 90-some percent correct with their musings and crystal ball gazing. It would be interesting if others could have this same leeway with the specificity of what they do, but who would stand for that? A prognosis of 3 months or 30 years to live or a car warranty that lasts 1000 km or 100,000 km. What's an order of magnitude or two between friends? The variability in forecasts is explained away by the unpredictability of weather patterns that 'wobble' or 'veer off' in unexpected directions. If it is unpredictable and that is the reason stated by the predictors, there may be less science in this than we have been led to believe. Or, perhaps I'm just jealous of their ability to have fun with their science and technological playthings, get things sort of correct, and still make a living at it all <grin>.

Today's selection somewhat speaks to the concepts of science and technology. Enjoy!

She blinded me with science -- Thomas Dolby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83JR2IoI8k