Down Antarctica Way

Yesterday we had cold rain, then freezing rain and sleet, then snow: a full array of wintertime precipitation, for your sensory pleasure. Much of the time the air was slightly above freezing, so water flowed from the driveway into the gutter. Or it did, at least, after I removed some of the icy slush at the base of the driveway, to drain a huge puddle of icy water. Today, just snow. Dealing with plain old snow is a lot more simple, and I have a foolproof method -- don’t go out in it. (That almost worked, but I did have to take Ann to pre-school.)

An e-mail from traveler Ed, who’s gone south for a while -- really far south, Antarctica: “Got the passport stamp at a Ukrainian research station (which used to be a British station, which was where they discovered the hole in the ozone layer) at 65 degrees, 15 minutes south,” he writes. “Shy of the circle, but as far south as we go on this trip. Penguins, fog, ice. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect.”

We’ve got ice, and sometimes fog, but no penguins around here. Though from my home office window, I do see a variety of things go by, so one of these days a waddle of penguins might wander by.