Snow!

Big snow today, first big snow of the winter. It was tolerably warm (25 F), and snow began falling in mid-afternoon when I was at the post office buying stamps. The clerk asked if I wanted Christmas stamps (or did she say holiday?) or “regular.” I decided on regular, since I’m not planning to send Christmas cards this year, but interesting postcards instead. I asked for either constellations or Greta Garbo--one kind of star or another--but she was out of both. Settled for snowy egrets.

The snow continued for most of the evening, stopping only a little while ago. Looks like about half a foot or so.

Here’s a science project, for home or office, if it’s equipped for it. Take one stainless steel kettle, fill nearly full with ordinary tap water, heat on stove at a high temperature. Then, do other things, forgetting about kettle, until the water boils completely away. Return to discover empty kettle, remove from stove carefully with oven mitts, place in empty sink (well, sink cleared in haste). Turn tap on, run into kettle’s spout.

Short-term results: First, an intense hissing sound emanates from kettle, followed by a remarkable column of steam gushing from spout. Later, metal cools down, but unevenly, with the metal handle remaining hot after the rest of the kettle (ouch!). Long-term results: The kettle tarnishes a little near its bottom, but the bottom itself seems unchanged. A faint smell, a lot like skunk, lingers around the stove, though not so much that Wife or Child would notice, fortunately.