ice, ice, and baby

During an outing earlier this week, maybe I was flashed?

A patch of ice in the street seemed rather happy to see me?

I remembered being greeted by a similarly frisky ice formation in our dogs' water dish a few years ago.

So no, it wasn't happy to see me. It was cold in just the right way. 

At the time of the dog dish incident, I was flummoxed.  I remember looking up to see if something was dripping down to form the phallic ice monument.

But no, I learned it can happen if conditions are right while making the transition from water to ice. In small bodies of water, ice begins to form on the outer rim and works its way in. Since water expands when it freezes, if conditions are right, a small hole forms in the center of the ice, and the expanding water pushes up while freezing, and... success!

Here he is, another angle.

They are given the so fancy name: ice spikes.  

I googled and found - among those things to stretch over shoes - plenty of photos of nearly pornographic birdbaths and such. 

So that was my exciting week. You?

Things got a bit busier at work with the spring semester now in full swing. Math students are already panicked, and there are not enough math tutors to go around to accommodate all one-on-one requests, so I've been asked to do some group sessions. Okay?

Speaking of groups, we got together yesterday with all the "kids" for a belated celebration of Chaco's birthday. It was a cold grey day that included a couple more inches of fluff snow, but a nice gathering. We placated our chilliness with heaps of good food at a nice local restaurant we'd been wanting to check out.

As always, it was good to catch up on everyone's doings. Chaco's shoulder is progressing as expected since the surgery last month. We played a couple rounds of "Wits & Wagers", and a question about Elizabeth Taylor came up. None of the young guys knew who she was. Sheesh, I'm old. 

And speaking of catching up, Magnum and I finished season 1 of  Yellowjackets. At the start of the season, I was under the impression that it would be a one-and-done season with beginning, middle, end. But NO! The final episode left more questions than answers, so... season 2. 

Everyone's hungry, winter's coming, they've tripped out on 'shrooms, and one of the girls is pregnant. Hmmm, what's to eat?  Helps to pass the time during these cold winter months. 

It's currently 3 degrees F outside, but I'm feeling a bit cabin feverish. Time to get my moneys worth from the outerwear, I suppose.