some longtime followers of odin's adventures may recall odin in parents magazine and mothering magazine and "above the fold" in the vernon county broadcaster.

and now, some of the pictures i took of him cross country skiing lessons made section B1 of the westby times! w00t!

left for dan kapanke on our organic valley rideshare van.

i truly hope we get more notes like this in the future.

we've had a fish tank with two humble goldfish for nearly ten years. soon after putting both fish the in the tank, one of the fish lost all its color which we thought little of since its not unusual for goldfish to change/shift color over their lives.

the usual explanation offered for a goldfish completely losing its color typically cites the fact that goldfish are born with fixed number of chromatophores and if the chromatophores are thinly distributed on the surface of the scales, they can lose color completely as the goldfish grows in size.

sadly, the white goldfish died a few months ago so we promptly got another brilliant orange and red companion to keep him company ( quit laughing, in the wild, goldfish swim and live in groups so why wouldn't they want company in a tank? ).

lo and behold, after being in the tank for a few months, the new goldfish quickly and nearly completely lost all his color even though he didn't grow substantially over that time. although it's a small sample size, it makes me wonder if the both of the white goldfish changed their color in response to the other fish in the tank.

everyone was so helpful with the hoar frost identification/nomenclature, i thought i'd test my luck and see who wants some bonus points by identifying this plant that was in a holiday arrangement.

after sitting in water for a month the branches have begun leafing out and budding.

it only seems right to give it a good and proper name.

raspberry brambles after a foggy, frosty morning.

anyone know if this type of foggy, frosty formation has a specific name?

update:it's hoar frost - thanks!

odin's 2010 "good energy" raffle - win $4,000 and an extra special bonus prize ( deadline: feb. 11th, 2010 )

http://snowdeal.org/raffle/

only a month has passed but the days of being, Odin The Shoveler of Snow are surely gone forever.

he asked if he could try the snow blower while we were out clearing the sidewalks after getting a 4 or so inches of snow. "sure!" i replied, quite confident he'd tire of it quickly.

he quite happily cleared the entire 50 foot strech of sidewalk with a smile on his face the entire time.

it's about time i began to reap the rewards after five and a half yrs of fatherhood :-)