It’s that cold.

If I hadn’t been too cold to actually get out of my car - instead of circling the block to pull up beside this hydrant and take the photo out of a cracked window - you’d have a better view. But see it? Just there? There’s a little ice stalagmite growing from the drips. There’s been ice on my stairs too, but it doesn’t photograph nearly as well. This photo was taken on Tuesday morning. Yesterday felt a bit warmer. Today, we’re back in the temperature basement. Brrr.

Random, non-weather related aside, after the jump

So of course I had to use wikipedia to make sure I was using the right word for the things that grow up from cave floors, rather than the things that hang down. Things that pile up are stalagmites. Things that hang down are stalactites. Those two words, of course, are the bane of grade-school geologists the world over. But what do you call it when the two meet in the middle?

The resulting formation is known as . . . wait for it . . . a column.

What a cop out.