Word Of The Day: Mosaic

This incredible mosaic chimney can be found on University Avenue between Snelling Avenue and Rice Street in St Paul. I honestly would like to know how long it took to complete the design. What caught my eye is the white picket fence in front of the Lao Market, do the customers have to jump over it to enter the store?

Sunday Morning Coffee

What better way to spend a Sunday morning than with my cat and a cup of freshly brewed coffee. This exclusive shot of my coffee drinking cat can only be found right here at the Twin Cities Daily Photo. The little rascal will dip his paw into the coffee and then lick it's paw to get that caffeine he needs to jump start his morning. If only I can get him to shovel my drive way after a snow storm, I'd be set!

I'm Not Worth, I'm Not Worthy

I will give credit where credit is due. The weather scarecasters were half correct on their snow forecast for my area. I watched their clip they posted on their website [I personally do not watch the live news broadcast] and they did say the snow took longer to get here than originally predicted. It's in full force right now as the snow is piling up as I type in the comfy of my warm office with the fireplace blazing.

Now I do have to complain about something and the people who live in Minnesota. Do you not realize it snows in the winter? Have we forgotten what this area can give us this time of the year? We are not called 'Minne-snow-ta' for nothing.

Friday before any snow really started to hit, I had to make a trip to the grocery store to pick up some night time cough medicine for my children who are battling the flu. I find my one item and head to the cashier to pay. There are at least ten people in the eight or nine lines that were open. I'd never seen the lines this long on a Friday night. One would have thought it was the typical Saturday crowd purchasing a months worth of food. Not so, the weather scarecasters had done their job and everyone was in a panic.

while standing in line with my one item, there was a teacher in front of me. While chatting with her about the absurd lines, she mentioned that several of her studets had called in already and said they would not be coming to class the next morning. Keep in mind, it hadn't started snowing yet but they panicked and thought there would be snow up to their belly buttons by morning. They were wrong, but the weather scarecasters worked their mind altering magic on the young minds.

Lastly, my wife is a nurse and she will be headed into work about two hours early as several of the staff have called to say they would not make it to work because the roads will be bad in the morning. At the time of their call, it had snowed about one inch total. Wouldn't it make more sense to call in after the snow falls to see if it's worth calling in because the roads are bad? Again, the weather scarecasters were successful in scaring the hell out of everyone.

I'm making a plea to all Minnesotans, it snows here during the winter season. Be prepared and for goodness sakes, unless this is your first winter here, you should know how to deal with the snow. This is NOT a warm climate state where they do not have snow plows. We all should know how to deal with this type of weather already. It snowed last year, and the year before, and so on. Unless you're an out of state transplant like Chris and Deb of the Minneapolis Daily Photo, you really don't have an excuse. Although they have lived in Minnesota for 13 years now and I would bet they know how to handle the snow by now.

Scare Weather Forcast Says Snow This Weekend

Here in Minnesota we are under a Winter Storm Warning. The scare weather forecasters are predicting anywhere from 4 to 16 inches of snow depending on who you hear it from and how many hours ago. I've become so discouraged with the weather forecast the past couple of years. They like to scare people with the weather so you have to tune into their forecast to see how much snow they think will fall. It's become so comical on how bad their predictions are as of late. I know these are just predictions and a storm will do whatever it wants, but my goodness, stop scaring people into thinking the end of the world is coming with a snow storm.

Start forecasting something that is believable and I'll start tuning into your presentation.

Today's photo is of my neighbor clearing his driveway with the snowblower. It was taken well over a month ago when we had a snowstorm that was predicted correctly [they got one correct out of 15 this year]. This morning there was more grass and dirt visible than snow, but there was some freezing precipitation falling the past couple of hours. Perhaps they will be accurate this time....stay turned.

Inside The Barn

The Gopher Basketball team faced currently number 3 in the RPI rankings Ohio State over the weekend. Ohio state proved with authority why they are ranked so high over the Gophers who are on the opposite end of the scale in talent. While the Gophers did give them a game for the first 12 minutes of the contest, it was an easy win for the Buckeyes. In today's photo, Greg Oden is about to block the attempted shot by Brandon Smith. The final score for this one, Ohio State 85, Minnesota 67.

It should be noted, Williams Arena, where the Golden Gophers play, is the last remaining raised floor for a college team in the country.

The Barn

As I mentioned yesterday, across the street from the Mariucci Arena was Williams Arena, otherwise know as "The Barn". While other cities tear down their old facilities and build brand new ones, the University Of Minnesota has revamped, added on and will make this building last for generations to come. The Barn houses the women's and men's basketball teams.

We're Number 2!!

The Men's College Hockey polls currently have the Minnesota Gophers ranked number 2 in the country. The Gopher Hockey team have played in this new Mariucci Arena since the 1993 season. The moved from across the street where they played in the old Mariucci Arena that was attached to Williams Arena, otherwise known as "the barn".

If she weighs the same as a duck,... she's made of wood

I do hope some of you get today's title. I shot a close up of the Prospect Park Water Tower from yesterday's photo because simply it looks like a very large witches hat to me. Plus I love the texture of the roof and whatever it is made out of.

Maybe your monitor is better than mine, but this small photo makes the roof texture look awkward. Click the photo for a crisper and larger image.

A Quick Visit To Prospect Park

Last year back on August 28, 2006 I posted a distant sky shot of a tower that I'd always seen, but never was close enough to figure out what it was. A local blogger thought it was Prospect Park which it turns out to be correct. Another local blogger commented a few weeks later that it was a water tower to the neighborhood. Even looking at the tower today, it's hard to believe that it's holding gallons of water inside. The tower is close to the Minneapolis, St Paul border and just off of University Avenue. The tower is open to the public once or twice a year for observation and I'm told you can see quite a distance from up there.

And She's Buying A Stairway To....

the stairway of snow, often found shortly after a snowfall in Minnesota.