Walking in the Sunshine

Today I got everything ready for two meetings I must chair in the next few days and began working on the opening lecture for one of my classes next week. In addition I got the live wreath carried out without making too much of a mess. A lot of work done today.

About 4 PM I noticed the sunshine on the living room wall again and decided I should get outdoors and see what the world looked like. The temperature at this time was slightly below zero in the Fahrenheit system and -16 in the Celsius system that my European friends will understand.

Here's the view out the door on the way to the river. The lights along the path are just a bit below my shoulder -- but then I'm short. However that may give you an idea of the depth of the snow out the back. The drifts here are higher than in some other areas because the wind blows the snow across the river and it doesn't hit anything to make it stop until it hits the building.

The next trick was to find a way through or over the Minnesota glaciers between the sidewalk and the river trails. A Minnesota glacier is made when the snow is plowed from the street, including the salt put on the street. This freezes into a block that is just about impossible to break. And the snow banks along the sidewalk are much too high to climb over.

Finally found a place that some maintenance worker had carved through the glacier. Speaks well to the maintenance services we have around these buildings.

From the distance it appears that the river is frozen. However that is never the case. The ice that forms when the temperature falls below 0 is too thin to walk on and too thick to boat through.

When I got closer I found open water. The current was very fast along this open channel, too.

The final view today is of the district heating plant.

The district heating plant serves the downtown buildings. The heat -- or in the summer cool  air- is delivered through a series of pipes and ducts around the downtown area. On a day like the this, the steam really bellows. I was so surprised when someone in Pecs told me the power plant there used wood as a fuel. It wasn't until I took a walk after returning home and read all the signs by the district heating plant that I found this one too operates by burning wood. It sits next to the Science Museum and on the plaza there is are signs that explain about the power plant.

With my new coat and boots, I was quite comfortable. Sun makes all the difference even when the temperature is 0!