Columbus, along with the rest of Ohio is under siege by Old Man Winter. Last week we were under a Level 2 Snow Emergency (some counties were Level 3) and many Columbus businesses and all schools were closed one or two days. Lots of snow, followed by ice, followed by more snow.
Here’s a view of our neighbor’s patio furniture:
Driving down to Kentucky we saw miles and miles of trees covered in ice:
It was quite magical.
Yesterday it was just very cold. Today it has started snowing again.
This video (and the work involved in creating it) is amazing. I can’t figure out exactly how many puppeteers are involved, but they manage to give a giant puppet very life-like movements.
I’m conflicted about zoos. On the on hand, they support animal conservation efforts, but on the other hand they keep animals in cages. This weekend we got up close and almost personal with rhinos, and zebras, and bison, oh my! (No lions and tigers yet, but by next year there should be cheetahs…) We were at “The Wilds“, which isn’t a zoo, per se, but it does have similarities…
(the exotic animals, for example)
The first difference is that the animals are roaming ‘wild’ (within fences, of course, but they have a lot of space in comparison to your traditional zoo.
And the second difference is that you are the one in a cage (i.e. a bus with a friendly tour guide). This may be the next step in the evolution of the common zoo.
I think it was just lovely of NASA to delay the Discovery Shuttle Launch until July 4, when I happened to be in Orlando, FL…
Seen at our local Kroger grocery store. Apparently these are actual props/costumes…and a very clever advertising hook from the "Star Wars"-themed exhibit currently at COSI Columbus.
Here's something about me that only some of you know: I enjoy putting together jigsaw puzzles. I know, it's a bit archaic in today's digital world, but there it is. I'll admit, I don't jigsaw as frequently as I did growing up, but every once in awhile I get the urge.
Here is my most recent accomplishment, a PhotoMosaic puzzle, where the puzzle is composed of a whole bunch of tiny pictures which create a larger image when seen at a distance (in this case a wolf):
As someone told me that 'only a crazy person' would try to put together such a puzzle, I offer proof that it can be done and a few pointers should you wish to try it yourself:
Hint #1: Turn all the pieces face-up and sort by major color groupings (in this case I sorted by bright/white, dark/black, and everything else). This puts a lot of pieces that fit together closer to each other. Pick a portion of the puzzle that has a lot of a given color and start with those pieces (in this case I started with the wolf's snout, which had a lot of whites and light-blues).
Hint #2: The tiny pictures are configured in a grid pattern. This means that all the puzzle pieces in any given row or column, will intersect the grid pattern at the same width or height as every other piece in that row or column.
Hint #3: The tiny pictures are all right-side-up! This gives you a huge advantage as you can pick up any given piece and know its orientation relative to the rest of the puzzle (in most cases at least; it won't be clear on some pieces which end is up).
Hint #4: When all else fails, look at the picture on the box. The tiny pictures are even tinier on the box, but you can figure out a piece's relative position this way.
Hint #5: As you get closer to finishing the puzzle it becomes extremely helpful to sort the remaining pieces by shape. This makes it especially easy to fill in those one-piece holes that invariably remain.
With these few tips you should find that these puzzles are really not much more difficult than your basic jigsaw puzzle. Happy puzzling!
Last week I got a call out of the blue from Jeff, one of the guys I was a student missionary with in Chuuk, Micronesia. He was going to be picking up a motorcycle in Michigan and realized that a bunch of us from that year were in driving distance of his destination. As a result, about half of the gang met up for dinner last night at an Olive Garden in Jackson, MI. I think a good time was had by all as we reminisced about the year we lived together and realized that nobody had changed all that much in the intervening years.
