Super Cool Glaciers and Ice Waves‏

 

I have been on the internet for quite some time now, over a decade. I thought I had seen every cool email distributed, but Ireceived this one from my friend Tracey the other day. It is so neat that I am posting on my blog for posterity.

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 Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. 

 Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. 
 
 When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a Green stripe. 
 
 Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea. 
 

 

 
 
 

   

AMAZINg! There’s more….   
  
Antarctica - Frozen Wave Pics - Nature is amazing! 

The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice.  
That’s what it is like in Antarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades.  Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.  Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air!!! 
 

 
 

  
  

 
 

  

  
 

 
 
 

 

WE ARE GOING GREEN IN 2010!

Our family goal is to reduce our overall carbon footprint. We are already very aware of our environment. This annual goal is designed to incorporate all aspects of conservation in our family habits and lifestyle.

We are being very serious about this desire to go green. Specifically, we have reduced down our vehicles to one, and we are going to move to a home that is about half the size of our current one which is more than enough for our needs. We will be choosing a new home that is closer to public transportation and has enough room for me to grow a small garden for our family produce needs. We are cutting red meat out of our diet completely, and will be going nearly vegetarian. We already have a diet full of vegetables, fruits, nuts/legumes, and grains. I was even able to switch my family to whole wheat breads and tortillas as well as brown rice this past year so we are well on our way to a more organic, earthy lifestyle.

 

In the Home

 

 

• Don’t use the dryer in the summer months. Whether electric or gas, less use of any energy to heat air to dry your laundry is less energy consumed. Certainly don’t dry towels, as they contain a lot of water, and naturally dry by design.
  

 

• Wash clothes with cold water, hang dry your laundry rather than putting it in the dryer when it’s warm outside. Clean the lint filter in the dryer every time.
  

 

• Take mainly cool showers if you are healthy or if you want to boost up your immune system and save energy and water at the same time.
  

 

• Replace any incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL) or Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
  

 

• Use the microwave. Microwaves use a lot less energy than conventional ovens and stoves, especially for heating water.
  

 

• Turn off your lights when they aren’t being used, even when you leave a room for a short period of time.
  

   

• Use dishwashers instead of washing dishes by hand. You actually use more hot water when you wash dishes by hand. Do not use the heated dry mode on your dishwasher.
  

 

• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth. You will save 25 gallons of water a month.
  

 

• Reduce water in your toilet tank. Putting a liter bottle filled with water in your toilet tank can save 300 gallons per month.
  

 

• Use a low-flow showerhead and faucet aerators to conserve water.
  

 

• Unplug your electronics: Most electronics still use some energy even when turned off. This ’standby mode’ or ‘phantom load’ drains up to 10 percent of electricity used in most homes.
  

 

• Turn off your computer when you’re not using it. Or adjust your computer’s power management to reduce the amount of power it uses while idle. Do this on any computer’s you have access too.
  

 

In The Garden

• Use perennial vegetables instead of annuals (there are more than you think!)
  
• Plant edibles including trees, vines, bushes, mushrooms, and ground-covers, to reduce your carbon footprint and have a “farmer’s market at home”.
  
• Avoid using leaf blowers and other dust-producing equipment.
  
• Leave grass clippings on the yard they decompose and return nutrients to the soil
  
• Use recycled wood chips to keep the weeds down, retain moisture, and prevent erosion
  
• Plant marigolds to ward off pests rather than a pesticide
  
• Water grass early in the morning. See more on Water Conservation in Gardens
  
• Borrow seldomly used items such as ladders, chain saws, and party decorations.
  
• Put leaves in a compost heap instead of burning them or throwing them away
  
• Install water barrels to collect rain water from troughs. Place a small bucket in your sink to collect water when washing produce. Use this water in the garden.
  

   

edit Reduce Reuse Recycle

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• Live where you work. Consider reducing the number of trips you take by habit.
  
• Consider car pooling.
  
• Consider using your bike, feet, or mass transportation for most transportation needs
  
• Consider purchasing a Hybrid vehicle, or more efficient car.
  
• Purchase radial tires and keep them properly inflated
  
• Drive during non-peak hours If you avoid heavy traffic you will not spend a significant amount of gas during stops.
  
• “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line” Keep that in mind while driving. Plan out your trips accordingly. Indeed some trips may be “slower” due to lane speeds, but less time on the road is less gas. More money in your pocket and less damage to the environment.
  
• Know when to turn the car off. The best way to warm up a modern car is to drive it. Idling hurts engines, wastes gas, and contributes to global warming and pollution.
  

DIET!

• Decrease your meat consumptionChoose seafood that is both sustainable and healthy.
  . More land has to be put into agricultural production to produce meat than to produce plant products. Because the methane they belch is 23 times more effective at retaining heat than CO2, domestic animals contribute more to global warming than all human transportation combined.
  
• Buy local products. Buy goods that were produced locally rather than transported across long distances.
  
• Buy food from the bulk bins at your local health food store. Most food in those stores is more expensive but the bulk bins and bulk spices are often cheaper than grocery store equivalents and use less packaging. Bring your own reusable jars or other containers.
  
• Be particular about the fish you eat. Many fish are over harvested or their capture has negative impacts on ocean ecosystems. In addition, some species of seafood pose health risks due to heavy metals and toxins that have built up in their systems.

(All of these excellent tips are found on http://green.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_reduce_your_carbon_footprint)

 

 

 

Join us in adopting some of these great tips and get more green with us!

 

Winter Wonderland

Taken 1/4/10, at the Geneva boat launch in Lindon.  At 10:30 AM.  It was 8 degrees outside, and very hazy.  Absolutely everything, including the snow piles, were covered in icy crystals.

Willow tree just northeast of the boat launch

The 2nd willow, just east of the first, escaping the shadow of the box elders.

View from under the tree

Second willow as a standalone

Glazed crystals on the willows

Pussywillows floating above the frozen ice

Icy gazes across Utah Lake

Even the weeds look pretty

pussywillows

Happy Holidays from the Webbers!

Taken from the bridge we were standing on

To you and yours. We hope you had a great Christmas and a very good upcoming year in 2010!

Jeff, Chance, Kayla and Justin

Jeff and Chris

Chance at the top of the hill

Justin

Kayla

Justin and Kayla

Scene from the Titanic - Sort of

Justin, Kayla and Chance

The crew

Eight WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’. That will bring on a ‘whatever’).

(8) Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response, refer to # 3.

Happy Holidays from Froggie’s Kitchen

 

Christmas Goodies

 

Do you want the personal touch of homemade goodies but don’t have enough time or energy this time of the year?  From now until December 20^th I am offering the following products to my local Utah friends.  They are made with the highest quality products and are guaranteed fresh!  Please email me what you would like.  Your order will be hand delivered on December 22^nd.* 

Small Loaves           $3.00                        Medium Loaves     $5.00

 

 Banana Nut Bread
Moist and delicious, this flavorful banana bread is laden with pecans and topped with a crunchy cinnamon nut streusel topping.

 Artisan Chocolate Bread

A dense, rich chocolate bread oozing with milk chocolate chips and dusted with powdered sugar. It goes perfect with Santa’s glass of milk.

 

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bread

 Delicious pumpkin spice bread loaded with coconut and butterscotch chips. A taste to die for.
 

Lemon Blueberry Bread with Streusel Topping
Decadent lemon pound cake with marbled blueberry veins running throughout.

 

 

Toffee/Fudge Plates

  

Ooey, gooey chocolately fudge goodness. Or, if you prefer, crunchy melt-in-your-mouth decadence. Or why not both?

The creamy fudge is made of both the highest quality semisweet and milk chocolate. The toffee is made with butter and topped with milk chocolate and toasted almonds.

1 pound toffee                                 $8.00

1 pound fudge                                  $7.00

Combo toffee/fudge plate            $10.00

 

 * Deliveries free of charge for orders over $30. A delivery charge of $7 will be added for any orders under $30.  Delivery area is Utah and Salt Lake County only.

I will only be accepting cash or check for this promotion.  Payment will be accepted on delivery.

If you would like nuts omitted on any bread or candy, please let me know when you order.

Call Chris at 801-602-2958 or email biggreenhugs@gmail.com to place your order. Hurry!  And Happy Holidays from Ambrosia Farms.

 

 

How to Make a Perfect Foil Dinner

Every time I make foil dinners I am transported back to my childhood.  There was not a whole lot to do or see in Bloomfield, New Mexico, so our family would often make up foil dinners for Family Home Evening and head up into the back hills and arroyos (a desert stream bed that is usually dry except after heavy rain) around our home.  The arroyos were always sandy and we could explore the surrounding areas for such treasures like petrified wood, giant snake holes, cactus flowers, sandstone balls, and even errant pottery shards from times gone by.   

New Mexico arroyo

Amazing little sandstone balls

I can remember creating an assembly line while creating the foil dinner with mom doing the carrots and potatoes and Cheryl and I doing the hamburger patties and everyone fighting over who would fold them into the foil.   We would dig a pit in the sandy arroyo, sometimes line it with rocks, and make a big fire for the foil dinners.  Dad always handled the cooking which, as I have since discovered, is the most tricky part of the perfect foil dinner.  Dinner was almost always followed by the grand roasting of the marshmallow……………far before the smore became a vogue campfire cooking rage.

I have fiddled with the original recipe and finally arrived at what I believe to be the best foil dinner ever.  Instead of the arroyos, we head up the canyon in search for the perfect place for the perfect fire for our perfect foil dinner. 

As an avid coal gazer, I recommend that you make up the foil dinner and eat it slowly around the fire.  Fire coals are some of the most beautiful things in the world.  (she says as she drifts into the hypnotic world of the glittering, winking coals)

Anyway, to make the perfect foil dinner, you start with these ingredients:

2 pounds hamburger, shaped into four 1/2 pound patties (about 1/4 inch thick)
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
1 onion, sliced
3 c sliced carrots (1/8 inch thick)
4 c sliced potatoes  (1/8 inch thick)
1 green pepper, sliced  (opt)
2 slices of peppered bacon, cut in half (opt)
salt and pepper
8 14-in long aluminum foil pieces

(this recipe makes four adult sized foil dinners)

You get a shallow soup bowl and line it with a foil piece, dull aluminum foil side up. Grab 1/4 c or so of carrots and line the bottom. Add 1/2 c sliced potatoes on top of the carrots. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a bit of onion soup mix.

large shallow bowl

Lay hamburger patty on top. More salt, pepper and dry onion soup mix. (I’ve done this recipe with just salt, pepper and onion soup on the top instead of dispersing it through the layers and the flavor is much better this way) Add an onion slice, pepper slice, and then the piece of bacon.

Peppered bacon slice

You’re almost done!

Another 1/2 cup of potato slices, and then the top 1/4 cup of sliced carrots. Sprinkle this last layer with salt, pepper and dried onion soup mix.

All layers in!

Starting with one corner of the foil, fold it in,  and turn to the next corner, folding in until all corners are in and the food is fully covered.  Should be tightly packaged.  Flip it over and set it into the center of another dull-side up piece of foil.  Foil the corners in again so you’ve got two full layers of aluminum protecting the food.

Foil dinner ready to be baked

Keep foil dinners in a plastic bag and on ice until you are ready to place them on coals.

The perfect coals are essential. If you put them in flames, you will have scorched and black food with a raw hamburger inside.  Not good. Wait until the coals are red and white without flames. If you are using a briquet fire, let the briquets go until they are quite white. If you are using wood, make sure you have plenty enough coals to lay out your foil dinners flat.

Cooking on the coals, if you place them in direct flames they will turn black!

Cook 25 minutes on the first side and then, using either tongs or a shovel, flip them over.  They should have a black smoke sheen on it.  If it is black black, you’ve cooked it too long.    Cook on the second side for about 10 minutes.  Pull one out and check it.  Stick a fork in and test to make sure the meat patty is completely cooked through, and the potatoes and carrots are tender but not mushy.  (The carrots take the longest to cook which is why they are on the outside layer.   Do not deviate from the layer order for this reason.)  I cannot overemphasize the trickiness of the cooking portion of the foil dinner.  If the meat is not done, refold and put back on the coals.  I generally do a test at 10 minutes and end up cooking another five minutes.  You will be able to tell by the smell of the foil dinner as it is cooking if it is getting done.

When it IS done, pull it out and let set for about two minutes.  Then dump it out onto a plate.  Or leave in the foil and eat from it if you prefer.  Drizzle with catsup or bbq sauce if desired.  Or eat all by itself.  My family prefers it with catsup.

The finished product!

The light on the finished product was from the flashlight as these foil dinners were baked after the sun had gone down.

For your coal gazing pleasure

The creek in camp, just as the sun was going down.

Happy outdoor eating!

New Recipes

I’ve added several new recipes to my recipe box.  Including

Sweet Potato Rolls

and

Pumpkin Filled Cream Puffs with Caramel-Maple Sauce

Enjoy!

Fun facts about Jeff

 

• Jeff has an incredible metabolism and energy level.  He was 185 pounds when we married 22 years ago, and he is 197 pounds now.  I’m not even going to tell you how my weight has fluctuated during this time.  Suffice to say, he is Mr. Universe.  Lately you will find him biking/hiking at least four times a week.
• Jeff has a minor degree in philosophy.  We used to stay up all night long and talk about philosophy and the mysteries of life.
• Jeff loves sports.  Throughout his life he has played basketball, baseball and football.  He has coached the boys teams as well.  Lately he has taken to hiking and nearly every weekend you’ll find him somewhere up in the mountains with the dog.
• Jeff is a morning person. Up at the crack of dawn.    If I want him to sleep in on Sunday mornings with me, I have to slip him a tylenol PM while he isn’t looking.
• Jeff likes horseradish.  I don’t understand, I don’t understand!
• Jeff loves to travel.  And when he can’t travel, you will often find him on Google maps browsing for places.
• Jeff is a walking calculator.  He can calculate percentages and ratios and word problems within seconds.   He loves math and once we had a college calculus textbook for reading material in our bathroom.  I guarantee it wasn’t me reading it!
• Jeff loves fresh berries.  He’s in happy heaven when he can go out in the back in the summer and pick a quart of fresh strawberries and raspberries.
• Jeff has a dry, witty humor.  The fact he can still make me laugh in even the darkest of nights should be a testament to his natural ability to see the funny side of life.
• Jeff has beautiful broad shoulders and slim hips.  And a perfect, round derriere that thankfully my sons have inherited.
• You will rarely see Jeff without socks.
• Jeff scored a 30 on his college ACT.
• It took watching A&E’s Pride and Prejudice two times before Jeff decided he liked it.
• Jeff’s favorite egg is the omelet.  A denver omelet with bacon, green onions and peppers, mushrooms, cheese and freshly cut tomato slices and parsley.
• Jeff is an extraordinarily clean individual and is very hygeinic.
• Jeff used to work for Geneva Steel.
• Jeff sleeps on the right side of the bed, facing out to the door in case burglars come in.  No really.  ‘)
• Jeff looks and acts ten years younger than what he really is.
• Jeff loves the Eagles. 
• Jeff reads a lot for relaxation and learning. 

 

Jeff, July 2009

Birthday week at our house

 

We celebrated Jeff’s 48th birthday on Tuesday and Jessica’s 21st birthday on Thursday.  We are not too horribly big on birthdays around this house.  Everyone gets to choose the meal and cake they want and I will cook it.   Jeff spent last week in California with his family for his birthday and he enjoyed that very much.   Jessica spent this week settling into her new job.

Happy birthday to you both!  I hope this upcoming year bodes well for each of you.  You are beautiful people.

strawberry ice cream cake with chocolate covered blueberries and strawberries

 

 

Jessica at 2 years old. Also Alexis (2) and Chance (1).

Through the years - Jess (15) and DC

Jessica at 18

Birthday crew - Jeff and Jessica 2009

Berry birthday cake. Yum!