Weather winter 2010/2011

[angie]

A woman that looks out for herself  I like that. Coffee and chocolate biscuits in the cupboards is all we need.

Angie

[Hoy]

Hoy,

Very interesting and it has surprised me that there is not that great amount of snow, something I would have expected in Oslo. Do you know who made it or where. Was it in a person's garden or a park? I would find it difficult to dedicate a camera to such a project for a year. Perhaps, it was something like a surveillance camera?

Very interesting! Paddy

If you open the link under the video you will find a description, in Norwegian though, but the accompanying pictures show what is done.

By the way, I also stockpile coffee - always

[Paddy Tobin]

Hoy,

Very interesting and an amazing amount of data stored to make the time-lapse film. By the way, I use "Google Chrome" which translates webpages on request so I was able to read the account of how the film was made and also came on this one among the comments which followed.



Paddy

[Hoy]

Hoy,

Very interesting and an amazing amount of data stored to make the time-lapse film. By the way, I use "Google Chrome" which translates webpages on request so I was able to read the account of how the film was made and also came on this one among the comments which followed.



Paddy

Paddy, to make such videos have been very popular here after a start last year. I understand I was a little late then in offering a translation to swap with a nice plant 
As you noticed, Oslo don't get that much precipitation, it is about 800mm (31.5") a year.

[Paddy Tobin]

There you go, Hoy; an opportunity missed.


To change to the southern hemisphere, Australia in particular: with no intention of being offensive, what opinion do Australians have of the Prime Minister as a  person, not as a politician?

She appears on our television news programmes in reports on the flooding, all smiles, describing it as a heart-warming experience - the response of people in helping others. Her reaction seems so strongly in contrast with the disaster as to be absurd. She comes across, to me, as the politician putting the positive spin on a disaster and hasn't the intelligence to realise that it simply is a disaster, that everybody knows it's a disaster and that smiling at it won't fix the situation and that her political spin is inappropriate. I always thought Australians were inclined to tell it as it was, straight-talking people, but, of course, the Prime Minister is not Australian.

Paddy

[Hoy]

Here you can watch what to do with the snow while waiting for greener times:
http://www.vgtv.no/?id=35978&category=115

I promise to show more plants when possible!

[Paul T]

Paddy,

It seems at odds to me as well.  I think the QLD state premier is coming across better.  I think our PM is trying to be positive, as stating that it is a disaster is pretty obvious and I think in some cases she's be condemned for going on about it if she did.  Sort of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation to be in.  I do agree that she seems to be smiling way too much, although it isn't her usual smile, but appears quite forced.  I think she's been quite affected by what she's seeing, but doesn't really want to show it.  Whether that is the right way to go, I don't know.  It really must be a hard place to be in, and then having to talk to the cameras all the time and answer inane questions (I could shoot a few reporters for some of the things they're asking flood victims..... "Oh, you've lost your house, your wife is missing, your pet cat was taken by a shark.... how are you feeling?" (OK, the shark comment never happened!    But asking someone how they're feeling in that situation seems pretty stupid!).  I think that some of the reporters are just trying to get people to cry on camera so that it is more "human interest".  Cynical mongrel, aren't I!   I feel so sorry for those in the areas affected and I just feel that stupid questions from reporters are NOT helping them cope.

OK, rant over.

[angie]

Paul that just sounds like reporters, as long as they get a story they don't really care what's happening to those poor people.  It's terrible to see all those homes under water.
When we were in America last week we drove through Mississippi and to see all the vacant plots where someones home once stood was really sad. I can't imagine how people will cope with such disasters.

Angie 

[astragalus]

Another good snowfall - good in the sense that it keeps the antlered rats away for the toime being - another 15".
It makes for some interesting scenes.
1. rock garden somewhere under snow
2. winter dining
3. favorite trough
4. more troughs

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul,

Glad that you have seen her as I have seen her. For a while I thought it might a cultural thing - that I saw things differently from a distance than locals saw it.

I agreed with you that the Queenland State Premier comes across far, far better.

This is a very minor and insignificant aside to what is a dreadful situation for so many people in Australia.  Hopefully, it will improve soon.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Terribly pretty photos of your snow, Anne.... your multi-topped ice cream dessert ( image 004) looks quite delicious.... but I imagine some of the larger shrubs in the garden will be being bent and broken under that weight of snow. That will make them easier for the antlered rats to get at them later, of course.... you really can't win, can you?

[Stephenb]

Another good snowfall - good in the sense that it keeps the antlered rats away for the toime being - another 15".

Talk of antlered rats - well, we have antlered mice here. The Norwegian word for mouse is "mus" and is pronounced "moose" (probably is in Scotland too come to think of it?). I remeber the story of the newly arrived american professor here at the University being told matter of fact that the "mus" come into the houses in winter 

[astragalus]

Terribly pretty photos of your snow, Anne.... your multi-topped ice cream dessert ( image 004) looks quite delicious.... but I imagine some of the larger shrubs in the garden will be being bent and broken under that weight of snow. That will make them easier for the antlered rats to get at them later, of course.... you really can't win, can you?

Maggie, the rock garden is almost devoid of shrubs taller than one foot, so there's no problem.  As I write this, the first deer trails have become visible, grrr.
We have a leash law here, which means that Ranger (our German Shepherd) cannot be turned loose to chase his avowed enemies.  Too bad.  This afternoon it warmed to a high of -3C with lots of sun. I did brush the snow off Daphne x hendersonii 'Ernst Hauser' in the large trough.  It's right next to the house and that may keep the deer away briefly.
Picture is of icicles forming in the sun.

[Paul T]

That is one HUGE marshmallow that you have sitting there on your outdoor table, Astragalus.

[angie]

That is one HUGE marshmallow that you have sitting there on your outdoor table, Astragalus.

It's so smooth and pretty I just wanted to stick my fingers it it and make holes  that's the big kid coming out in me.

Angie