Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The Cloud Factory

The other day on my way to work, I got stuck in a little bit of a traffic jam. Turned out it was caused by a fender bender up ahead. What I thought was interesting was the dark cloud in the sky. You see, when it's really, really cold our Cloud Factory turns out really big and distinct clouds. And the temperature at that time was about 4 below zero F.



What? You don't know what a cloud factory is? Well, we have one here in St. Paul. It's a steam-heat generating facility that provides heating and cooling for most of downtown St. Paul. Green energy! I'm so proud! But we know it's really a Cloud Factory, and we love seeing our clouds on super cold days.









Because the sun was behind the clouds, they look dark and menacing. I photo-shopped the close-up a little, to make it look even scarier.



But here is the fluffy, soft, innocent cloud from the other side, with the sun shining on it rather than behind it. I had to admit it was a beautiful day (see that lovely blue sky?), even though it was below zero, and I'M TIRED OF THE COLD.



Thanks for the nice comments on my "moral dilemma" yesterday. It's not as earth-shattering as I made it sound, but it is something that is causing me to take a good look at myself. It's a process I'll have to work through. Thanks for your support!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey I learned something new today! I didn't know about the cloud factory! Great pics...

Joyce said...

The cloud certainly looks more menacing with the sun behind them! I'm glad it's only steam and not factory smoke!

Clare said...

Over here we get fantastic cloud formations and because, like you, we've got big skies they are even more daunting.

Great photos.