The ice shifts happen, apparently, more often than not. My husband and his family are from Minnesota and they say it happens from time to time. Scary, though, and unfamiliar to me.
But speaking of tornados, are you and yours' OK, Martin? Mel -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Martin G. McCormick Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 10:29 AM To: Just Chat; Where Anything Goes ... Almost! Subject: Weird Events Fire and Ice None of these things happened anywhere near us, but there were a couple of news stories that got my attention for their sheer craziness. Nobody got hurt as far as I know in either of these happenings, but there was property damage and the potential for injury. In one part of the country, a house caught fire due to Solar energy gone wild. It was a bright Sunny day. The Sun shown in through a window and was caught and reflected by a shiny dog bowl which must have been shaped just right to produce a sharp focus on a nearby wall. The spot heated up enough for the wall to catch fire. This does happen from time to time with fish bowls and bottles of water that can all focus the Sun's rays to a sharp enough point to ignite something. Then there is the ice. It's kind of like Old Man Winter taking a parting shot. In Minnesota, wind of about 20 miles per hour pushed melting ice from a lake up on to the shore. The National Weather Service calls this an "ice shift." The ice hits the beach and stacks and piles up until the pile collapses, causing it to surge forward. This pile of ice slowly ate several cabins and houses on the shores of that Minnesota lake on Saturday while the people who lived there watched in helpless amazement. One man said they looked out their windows to see the ice coming. It piled up past the roof line and got very dark in the room as all the windows were blocked. The people in the house had to run for their lives as the windows imploded and ice burst in to the room. There are now a bunch of homeless people because of that stupid pile of ice. Who would think about that when thinking of disasters? Around here, Spring has finally come. The air is full of honey suckle smell and will be so for maybe a couple of weeks. The daytime temperatures have shot up to near ninety F which would be the high twenties C and the air is now humid on most days. Classes ended at Oklahoma State on May 3 and we had our yearly hosting of the Oklahoma Special Olympics which is always hosted here the first week after the dormitories empty out on Graduation day which was May 4 and about as early as I can ever remember it being. It's been 35 years since I went through a graduation, myself but it is still an exciting time as the moving trucks and students roll out of town. There is a Summer term, of course, but the really big excitement is in the Fall when it all starts over again. No ice or incendiary dog bowls to worry about here, but we are in prime tornado season right now so anything can happen. Martin ======================================== The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either of the following: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html> or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> --------------------------------------- ======================================== The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either of the following: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html> or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
