Digging Out on Valentines Day!

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Digging Out
8 AM February 14

A gusty winter storm dumped several inches of snow on the Chicago area. Over 9 inches fell, but it's difficult to tell how much actually accumulated because the winds blew the snow into deep drifts.

After a four day weekend celebrating Lincoln's birthday, the local schools were closed Tuesday and Wednesday making it a six day weekend.

As of 9:30 AM, it's still snowing even though the sun is shining!

Cupid is going to need a shovel!

Swing Bridge in Winter

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Old Railroad Swing Bridge
Romeoville, Illinois

Fresh snow cover an old swing bridge in Romeoville, IL. It's now used as part of a bike trail network through Lily Cache Island. It's a great spot to see deer - and the Citgo Refinery!

You can see the old bridge tender's hut above the roadway. It must have been quite a lonley job waiting for the trains to come by.

Lincoln's Birthday

Statue of Lincoln
Carthage College
Kenosha, Wisconsin

Chicago Theatre in Winter

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The Chicago Theater
State Street

Called the "Wonder Theater of the World" when it opened in 1921, the Chicago Theater still hosts top performers today. The theater is seen here during a snowfall in February 2007.

Kristin Hersh - Chicago In-Store Performance

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Kristin Hersh Performs in Chicago
February 6, 2007

I was able to catch singer, songwriter Kristin Hersh at a recent in-store performance in Chicago. She was promoting her new album "Learn to Sing Like a Star" following it's release late last month.
Kristin is a founding member of Throwing Muses, (an influential 80's - 90's band that opened the world's eyes to women in alternative music), a prolific solo recording artist, and front women of the "surf punk" band 50 Foot Wave.

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Often called "The Godmother of Alternative Rock" Kristin can play the guitar like no one else. I'm always surprised when I hear her play live that all the sound can come out of one guitar.

Montrose Harbor - Frozen

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Approaching Snow Storm
Montrose Harbor
Lake Michigan
Chicago, Illinois

Below zero temperatures have turned Lake Michigan into a dangerous but beautiful sheet of ice. Standing close to the ice in the cold wind, you can hear loud pops and groans as the ice moves and cracks. Under tremendous pressure, sheets of ice on lakes have been known to crack, break free and fly upward several feet!

The aid to navigation seen here looks like a mini lighthouse. The red banding near the top tells boaters to keep left of this aid to navigation when returning to the harbor. There is another lighthouse shaped marker on the other side of the harbor entrance with green bands, this tells the boater to stay to the right of the marker when returning to the harbor. It's simple to keep these rules in mind: Red, right, returning! Keep the red channel markers (called nuns) to the right of the boat when returning from the ocean or lake - or traveling upstream. The green channel markers (called cans) should be kept to the left. This way, boaters are certain to be on a safe course - even at night.

Ice Fishing on Fish Lake

More from the 35th Annual Ice Fishing Derby on Fish Lake.
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Ice Fishing Shanties
Fish Lake, Indiana

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Ice Fishermen Keeping Warm
Fish Lake, Indiana

With bitter cold temperatures in the single digits and high winds, canvas, wood and plastic shanties offered fishermen little shelter from the cold.

35th Annual Ice Fishing Derby

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Boys running toward frozen lake
Upper Fish Lake, Indiana

The 35th Annual Ice Fishing Derby in Fish Lake, Indiana was lighter than usual due mostly to the extreme weather. At 12:00 noon, the temperature was 6 degrees with winds gusting 30 to 40 miles per hour - not a great day to sit on a frozen lake! January was much cooler than normal, so nobody knew if there would be ice on the lake by February 3. Two weeks of below freezing weather produced about four inches of clear ice on the lake, with a few inches of packed snow just in time for the derby.

Absent were the fishermen sitting on buckets in the open; only two men were seen at noon without a shanty. In the 30 minutes or so we braved the cold, five fishermen packed up their tents and walked off the ice empty handed as the high winds kicked up the powdery snow.

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Too Cold for Ice Fishing
Fish Lake, Indiana

Florida Greenery

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Old Cedar
Phillippe Park, Safety Harbor, Florida

I once knew someone who hated Florida. I guess that's not so unusual, but the reason she hated it so much was because of the trees. She hated "stupid palm trees." "That's all that you ever see, skinny palm trees, it's so ugly!"

I happen to love palm trees, but even today- years after she said this- I cannot understand what part of Florida she visited. Every place I've been in Florida has more Live Oak and Bald Cypress trees and other regular looking trees than palm trees - except maybe for the beaches. Even on the beaches you see lots of Sea Grapes (those are really cool plants).

If you look at the photo above, you get a sense of how dense and lush the wooded areas of Florida can be. Maybe she's right, you can't get away from those "stupid palm trees" -there's one in the middle of this photograph!

Fishing in Comfort

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Fishing in Comfort

As crazy as this one time gag may have been, It was very comfortable lounging around on the pier!

Stormy Skies

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Storm Clouds after Sunset
Clearwater Beach, Florida

Minutes after sunset, clouds from an approaching storm give off an eerie glow over the calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Burnham Harbor

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Sears Tower taken from the Burnham Yacht Club
May 2006, Chicago, Illinois

Warming Up

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Turtle Warming Up
Kapok Tree Inn pond
Clearwater, Florida

This little guy is warming himself in the Florida sun. I wonder how old he is? He's got algae growing on his shell, so I guess he doesn't spend a lot of time out of the water.

Blue and White

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White Bird, Blue Water
Lake Catherine, Palos Hills, Illinois

Bumble Bee

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Bumble Bee Gathering Pollen

Summer on Ice

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Frozen Lake
Fish Lake, Indiana
January 20

Finally,cold enough weather to freeze the lake! Only about an inch thick so far, but it's only been about a week of cold weather.

Let's hope it stays below freezing until the Ice Fishing Derby in early February!
Then it can climb up to 80 degrees.

The Sands .. Then and Now

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The Sands of Treasure Island, Florida
postcard circa 1960

And here it is now....



Not much has changed it seems. A second storey on the back, a little paint, and a few less trees, and that's about it!

Brown Pelican

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Brown Pelican
Clearwater Harbor
Clearwater Beach, Florida

Summer Sunset

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Sunset over Fish Lake

I can dream this time of year, can't I?

Dusting of Snow

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Dusting of Snow on Woodpile
Naperville, IL

Almost a week of weathermen screaming about a significant winter storm with freezing rain followed by snow and this is the result. About 200 snowflakes per square mile!

I'm certain that when they call for sunny skies and a high in the 40s we'll get buried under 10 inches of snow.

At least I was able to spend lunch in the park.

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Snow on a Fallen Tree
Naperville, IL