Snow is defined this
way in the dictionary:
Main
Entry: 1snow
Pronunciation: 'snO
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English snAw;
akin to Old High German snEo
snow, Latin niv-,
nix, Greek nipha
(accusative)
Date: before 12th century
1 a : precipitation in the form of small white ice
crystals formed directly from the water vapor of
the air at a temperature of less than 32°F (0°C) b (1)
: a descent or shower of snow crystals (2) :
a mass of fallen snow crystals
2 : something resembling snow: as a : a dessert made of
stiffly beaten whites of eggs, sugar, and
fruit pulp <apple snow>
b : a usually white crystalline substance that condenses
from a fluid phase
as snow does <ammonia snow>
Annie's Thoughts about Snow:
Snow
is always white when it falls from the sky. In literature
we often here the metaphor
"white as snow". But did you know that "white as
snow" is mentioned many times in
the Bible?
"Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
~Psalm 51:7~
Once
our sins are washed away we will be "white as
snow". We all have SIN in our lives. The
Christian and the Non Christian alike. Sin is separation
from God. But we can "wash away" the sin
in our lives by asking Jesus into our hearts. Jesus came
to the earth and lived among us. The Lord
God needed a perfect lamb sacrifice to atone for our
sins. "For without the remission of sin there
is no? forgiveness. In the Old Testament we can read
about the sacrifices that the Lord God
demands from us. But no man was able to keep all the laws
that Moses was given. God sent His son
Jesus and he was that perfect sacrifice. The perfect
lamb. Jesus fulfilled many of the old
testament
prophecies in His birth life, his death and ultimately
his resurrection.
Is
your heart white as snow? Have you confessed your sins to
the Lord. We don't need an
intermediary. We can go directly to the Throne of the
Almighty God but ONLY because
of the "BLOOD" that was shed on Calvary by our
perfect lamb sacrifice.
"For all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God."
~Romans 3:23~
Once
you have asked Jesus into your heart and life it doesn't
mean that you will be a PERFECT
person. Jesus was the ONLY perfect person. Unfortunately
people look at Christians for an example
and also as an excuse to continue in sin. They say
"if that is what a Christian is then I want no
part of it". They feel that we are all hypocrites.
Not all people will go to a Church or have a Bible
to read. You are the only Bible that some people will
ever see. It would be much easier for a
Christian to where a sign that says "I am not
perfect just forgiven" but of course not practical.
We
just need to remember what the Bible says about not being
a stumbling block to other believers.
"What then? shall we
sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?
God forbid."
~Romans 6:15~
Paul
tells us that we are to live a life that would not cause
any to stumble. That is of course almost
impossible. We really should try to be
"perfect". If we do we will always be
disappointed because
we are doing it in our own strength instead of the power
of God. We have a loving and forgiving
God. As Christians we have the promise that our sins will
be forgiven. And yes Christians do sin. But
believers are assured in 1 John 1:9 that "if we
confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness".
God
not only forgives us for our sins bur "forgets'
them. "As far as the East is from the
West so are our sins forgiven."
As
Christian's we strive for perfection. We are reminded to
forget then leave our past behind us
and then press on for the High calling of God. But even
though we strive for that unattainable
perfection we do fall short of that mark. We can
"try" to change our habits but TRUE change
comes from the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity is not a list of "Do's and
Don'ts".
Yes there are things that we are called to obey and
abstain from. Indeed, we will fail if we try to
do it all by our selves because we are not perfect. True
change comes from the inside and not the
outside. What changes a Christian is the relationship
that we have with the Lord. We have a new
heart. We have a peace that passeth all understanding and
a joy deep within us that is
unexplainable. A joy that is evident and radiant. People
can and should see a difference in us.
If
we think that our life as a Christian is measured by the
"things" that we do or don't do then we
are missing the core of what we believe. We are
"saved by GRACE and not of WORKS....lets any
man should boast". Some people never consider being
a Christian because they don't want to
"give up" their favorite habits and lifestyle
choices.
Some
people may indeed say that "IF" you are a
Christian you should NEVER do "this or that"
and
the list of "do's and don'ts" could be endless.
But one Christian should not be telling others what
they should give up or do. We are not the Holy Spirit who
does the convicting. If change doesn't
come from the Lord then we try to change in vain and with
our own strength. We are told in the
Bible by Jesus to "not tell someone about a splinter
in their eye when we have a board in our own".
Evelyn Christenson has a great book that you should read
if you haven't. It is called "Lord change
ME" not "Lord change EVERYONE ELSE." It
isn't always the action that is the problem but our
reaction to the action.
Remember
that sin is sin. Big or small. Gossip is equal to murder
in the Lord's eyes. Breaking one of
the 10 commandments is just like breaking all of them.
Don't get caught up in the exterior "sins"
and forget about the other hidden ones. You can be the
most upright looking Christian from the
outside and have hatred and unforgiveness in your heart.
Don't wait another moment. Use this time
to check your own life and heart. Stop trying to
rationalize your choices and behavior. It is time to
bring your sins to the foot of the cross. No more
excuses. Now is the time for we never know
what tomorrow will bring. God only promises us today.
"For the wages of sin
is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord."
~Romans 6:23~
If you are not a Christian and would like to know how to
become one just click the snowman above.
 Snowbirds 
The
dictionary defines a
"snowbird" this way:
Main Entry: snow·bird
Pronunciation: -"b&rd
Function: noun
Date: 1674
1 : any of several birds (as a junco or fieldfare) seen
chiefly in winter
2 : one who travels to warm climes for the winter
We
make sure that in the winter we don't go out to eat
unless we make reservations. We expect
the traffic to increase. But really we don't mind sharing
the warmer weather with our Snowbirds.
It is always fun to look at all the different license
plates on the cars. Snowbirds are not
just Canadian they are also American's who live in the
North and want to get away
to the warm weather for the winter.
Birds migrate south in
the winter just like the Northern SNOW BIRDS!!!!!!!
Snowbird
links:
All-Florida
Visitor's Guide & Snowbirdhelper
Florida USA & The Travel Channel
Snow:
Snow
is a form of precipitation that consists of masses of
certain types of tiny ice crystals. These
crystals, called snow crystals, grow from water vapor in
cold clouds. Snow crystals all have six
sides, but they differ in shape. They collide and stick
together to produce snowflakes.
Snowflakes
vary widely in size. As many as 100 crystals may cling
together to form a snowflake
larger than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter. Snow
contains much less water than rain. About 6
inches (15 centimeters) of moist snow or 30 inches (76
centimeters) of dry, fluffy snow equals the
water in 1 inch of rain.
Snowfall
varies greatly across the earth. It falls in the polar
regions throughout the year. But the
heaviest snowfalls occur in the mountainous areas of the
Temperate Zone in winter. These areas
include the coastal mountains of British Columbia in
Canada, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra
Nevada range in the United States, and the Alps in Italy
and Switzerland. Snow may even fall near
the equator on mountains higher than 16,000 feet (4,880
meters).
Snow
is an important source of water. When snow melts in the
mountains, it provides water for
streams, hydroelectric power plants, and irrigation
reservoirs. Snow also serves as a good insulator,
protecting plants and hibernating animals from the winter
air. However, an excessive build-up on
steep, unforested mountainsides may result in dangerous
avalanches.
Record snowfalls. In the United
States, the record for snowfall in one season was set
from July
1971 to June 1972, when 1,122 inches (2,850 centimeters)
of snow fell at Rainier Paradise Ranger
Station in Washington. In 1921, a 76-inch
(193-centimeter) snowfall in Silver Lake, Colo., set a
record for the largest snowfall during a 24-hour period.
The record snowfall for a calendar month
occurred in Tamarack, Calif., where 390 inches (991
centimeters) of snow fell in January 1911.
Artificial snow. In 1936, Ukichiro
Nakaya, a Japanese physicist, produced the first
artificial snow
in a laboratory. During the 1940's, Vincent J. Schaefer
and several other American scientists
developed methods for artificially making snow outdoors.
Clouds containing supercooled water are
seeded with artificial ice nuclei, such as silver iodide
and metaldehyde crystals. In some cases, such
seeding agents as dry ice pellets or liquid propane are
used. Also, special machines are used to
produce limited amounts of artificial snow for ski slopes
and trails.
Snowstorms:
Winter
storms include ice storms and blizzards. Most ice storms
occur when the temperature is just
below freezing. In an ice storm, precipitation falls as
rain but freezes as it hits the ground. As a
result, a coating of ice forms on the ground and on
streets and other surfaces. Ice storms make
streets and sidewalks slick and often cause traffic
accidents. The weight of the ice can also break
power lines, telephone wires, and the branches of trees.
Blizzards
are snowstorms with high winds and low temperatures.
During a blizzard, the wind blows at
35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour or more, and the
temperature may be 10 °F (-12 °C) or less.
Blowing snow makes it impossible to see more than a short
distance. The wind may also
pile
the snow into huge drifts.
Winter Driving Tips & lots of
weather links on my Annie's Hurricane
Page
Blizzards:
Blizzard
is a blinding snowstorm with strong, cold winds. A
blizzard occurs when a cold air mass
moves out of the Arctic into the Temperate Zone. The
advancing heavy, cold air forces the warmer,
moist air to rise along the boundary between the two air
masses. This boundary is called a cold
front. The rising action produces a heavy snowstorm,
which is accompanied by cold north winds.
Many blizzards follow a period of unusually warm weather
in winter.
The
National Weather Service of the United States defines a
blizzard as a considerable falling or
blowing of snow with winds of 35 miles per hour or more.
The winds are accompanied by
temperatures as low as 10 °F and visibility less than
500 feet. A severe blizzard has winds of more
than 45 miles per hour accompanied by temperatures less
than 10 °F and visibility approaching zero.
Blizzards
occur most frequently in the northern Great Plains of the
United
States, in eastern and central Canada, and in various
parts of Russia. They
may pile up huge snowdrifts that completely disrupt daily
life. Sometimes all
transportation stops and businesses close down for
several days.
Winter Storms Update Center & Fact Sheet: Winter
Storms
Igloos:
Igloo
is the Inuit name for a shelter. The Inuit are sometimes
called
Eskimos. Traditional Inuit shelters were made of snow,
sod, or stone. The
best-known igloo was the winter snowhouse of the Canadian
Inuit.
Hard-packed snow was cut into blocks from 2 to 3 feet (61
to 91
centimeters) long and 1 to 2 feet (30 to 61 centimeters)
wide. The blocks
were fitted together in a spiral that became smaller
toward the top to form
a dome. A hole poked through the top admitted fresh air,
and seal oil lamps
supplied heat. The entrance was a tunnel that trapped
cold air. A thin slab
of ice may have been set in the igloo wall for a window,
and shelves for
utensils were cut in the walls. The Inuit ate and slept
on a raised snow
platform covered with furs. Some family snowhouses were
as much as 10
feet (3 meters) wide. Prefabricated houses have replaced
igloos.
Related Link: Building an Igloo
Snowshoes:
Snowshoe
is a device used for walking over snow. Snowshoes
distribute a
person's weight over a large area, which prevents the
person from sinking
into the snow. Most snowshoes are at least 3 feet (91
centimeters) long,
and from 1 to 11/2 feet (30 to 46 centimeters) wide. They
are made of a
light wooden frame, bent into a long oval. Strings of
animal hide are
stretched across the frame. In walking with snowshoes,
the wearer moves
the feet so that the snowshoes slide along the surface of
the snow. The
wearer gives an outward motion to the snowshoes with each
step.
North American Indians were among the first people to use
snowshoes.
Today, snowshoes are used in regions of deep snow by
hunters, trappers,
loggers, and farmers. In some parts of Canada, there are
snowshoe clubs
organized for recreation.
Related Links: Winter Hiking and
Snowshoeing;
& Grandshelters Igloo 'Ice
Box' How to Build a Simple Pair of Snowshoes
Snowlink.com -- "Snowlink
offers tips and information on skiing,
snowboarding, cross country skiing and snowshoeing, plus
hundreds of links to
other Web sites for equipment, clothing, accessories,
resorts, and more."
Sources: Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia & The World Book
Encyclopedia
MORE SNOW Things:
A Snow Day is defined as a
day off school because of SNOW!
World Extremes of Snowfall
Deepest
falls in one day: 76 in (193 cm) at Silver Lake, Colo.,
10,000 ft
(3,050 m) above sea level on April 14-15, 1921 72 in (183
cm) at Dartmoor,
England, on Feb. 16, 1929 Greatest known total fall in
one year: 102 ft
(31.1 m) at Paradise Ranger Station, on the southern
slope of Mount Rainier,
Wash., about 5,403 ft (1,647 m) above sea level in Feb.
1971-Feb. 1972.
~From Compton's Encyclopedia~
Snow Blindness
Snow
blindness (or niphablepsia, or ophthalmia nivialis), a
temporary visual
problem caused by exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet
rays reflected from
snow or ice; problems can include intolerance to light,
impaired vision, and
inflammation; especially affects people walking or
driving in high altitudes;
treatment is to relieve the fatigue of the retina by
resting in a dark room.
~From Compton's Encyclopedia~
Snow-on-the-mountain:
Snow-on-the-mountain
(also called ghostweed), an annual plant "Euphorbia
marginata" of the spurge family, found in e. North
America; leaves shaded
light
green and white; flowers are the characteristic pistil
and
stamen flower arrangement of genus "Euphorbia"
~From Compton's Encyclopedia~
Snow Scorpion:
Snow
scorpion fly (or snowflea), an insect (Boreus brumalis)
of the order
Mecoptera, family Boreidae; this is the smallest species
of the genus; often
found on the surface of snow. ~From Compton's
Encyclopedia~
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs':
Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs', old fairy tale in Grimm
brothers'
collection, in which Princess Snow White, friend of the
Seven Dwarfs, is
awakened from sleeping death by the kiss of the prince.
~From Compton's Encyclopedia~
Snowshoe:
Snowshoe,
oval wooden frame strung with thongs and attached to the
foot
that enables a person to walk or run on snow without
sinking.
Fitting a Snowshoe:
The
shoe is fastened to the foot with thongs or with a
contrivance so
adjusted that the back of the foot rises and falls freely
as if the sole of
the foot were hinged to the webbing at the rear edge of
the toe opening.
The adjustment should always be such that the tail of the
snowshoe drags
and is not raised when a step is taken.
For
a person who weighs from 125 to 150 pounds a snowshoe 4
feet long and
from 12 to 14 inches wide at the point of greatest width
is recommended.
Either leather moccasins or flat-soled boots of rubber
with leather tops are
proper footwear. At least two pairs of woolen stockings
should be worn.
An
hour's practice generally will enable the beginner to
master the use of
snowshoes for ordinary tramping. He will not become an
expert until he has
covered a great many miles on the rackets, as they are
sometimes called.
Running, jumping, sliding, turning quickly, and climbing
are accomplishments
that will come gradually to the enthusiastic snowshoer.
The sport enables a
person to go almost anywhere across country and to
discover the
breathtaking beauty of the winter landscape.
Abominable snowman
Abominable
snowman (or Yeti), legendary creature that is
believed to inhabit the Himalayas.
Snowman
The
dictionary defines a
"snowman" this way:
Main
Entry: snow·man
Pronunciation: -"man
Function: noun
Date: 1827
: snow shaped to resemble a human figure
~Above
Information From Compton's Encyclopedia~
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