10-24-13 Life Lately

4-12-13 Incident At Hawk’s Hill

a book report by Ben

In the family, there’s William and Esther McDonald. They have four kids: John, Beth, Coral and Benjamin. Ben was very small for his age and had a way with animals. He could imitate animals and could get very close to wild animals. Ben didn’t mean to run away; he just was following a prairie hen. The hen took him far out into the prairie because she was leading him away from the nest. That’s how Ben got lost. It began to rain so Ben took cover in a badger hole. When the badger came back, she adopted him because a litter of her cubs had just died. While he lived with the badger, the badger fed Ben prairie hens, frogs, and other stuff. Back at home, they sent out a search party but after two months of looking, there was still no sign. The McDonald family was starting to give up hope. Would they find him? You’ll have to read this book, which is based on a true story, by Allan W. Eckert.

3-28-13 Ted Plays Hockey

by Ben

One day Ted and his friends decided to play hockey. They got hockey sticks and they all got together at the frozen lake. When they got there they realized that they didn’t have a puck. That was a problem! Then Fred said, “I have an idea!”

“Go ahead,” Ted said, “Share it with us.”

“We could use my retainer case,” Fred suggested.

“Good idea,” Ted said. “Let’s make teams; Ed and I will be a team, and Fred and Ned can be a team.

Ted hit the plastic case extremely hard out into the lake. It shattered.

“Oops!” Ted said. “I guess it’s not made to be used as a hockey puck. Look! It’s shattered into one trillion pieces!”

Finally, they walked all the way back home and got a real puck. When they got back, they began to play again. They were having a good time when Ted slammed on the brakes, sending a shower of ice.

“Watcha stop for?” Ed asked.

“There’s a weak spot in the ice right there.”

“So…”

“We’re not going to skate on it!” Ted yelled.

Soon the others were there too.

“I have an idea,” Fred said.

“You don’t have very good ideas,” Ted said. “The last one about using your retainer case for a puck didn’t work at all.”

“This one will.” Fred said. “Here’s the idea. If we tie lots of balloon to our arms, we will be lighter and we will just skim across the top.”

The idea worked and the kids had a great afternoon.

3-15-13 Treasures Of The Snow

A book review by Ben

There was once a family in Switzerland. In the family there was a dad and mom and a daughter who was 8. It was Christmas and the mom was very ill. She died after giving birth to a son named Dani. The dad gave the baby to Annette (the daughter) to raise, and their granny came to help as a mom. Years went by and soon Dani was five. His birthday was at Christmas and he put out a slipper out at night because he thought that if he put one out, Santa Klaus would put a present in. They were very poor so they didn’t get presents. The next morning, he looked in and there was a shivering kitten. It had been lost out in the blizzard that night and had found a slipper to go into. They named the kitten Klaus. That summer Dani and Annette were playing out in the meadows and Lucien, a boy from school, was there. Lucien and Annette were not fond of each other and they were arguing. Annette slapped Lucien on the cheek and ran away, so Lucien decided to bother Dani because Annette got away. First, Lucien took his flowers for Annette and stomped on them. Then he took his kitten and held it over the side of the ravine and pretended to drop it over. By accident, he did! It landed on an out jutted rock and Dani tried to save it. His foot slipped and he fell all the way down to the bottom. Everything was quiet. Lucien looked down and Dani was sprawled out on the rock below. He ran all the way home crying and hid in the hayloft. Meanwhile Mr. Burnier (Dani and Annette’s dad) looked for Dani. Meanwhile, Annette stopped by Lucien’s house to see if they had seen Dani. Annette talked to Lucien’s mom (the dad died) and sister Marie to see if they had seen him. Annette asked if Lucien was home so she could ask him. Then they heard a whimper from the hayloft. They ran up in the hay loft and there was Lucien crying. They asked him where Dani was. Lucien led them to where Dani was and Mr. Burnier got rope and lowered himself down the sheer rock edge. Dani had a broken leg, and Lucien’s mom knew they would have to pay for it and they were poor. The only thing they made money off of was Marie. She worked at a hotel. Lucien knew Annette would tell all the kids at school about it so everybody would hate him. The first day, he walked up the side of the mountain and met an old man who taught him how to carve. He carved something for Dani but Annette broke it. There was a carving contest at school so Lucien thought that if he would win, the other kids would like him better. He made a very good horse, but before he entered it, Annette broke it and then she felt horrible. Now they all feel bad. Dani felt bad because he has a crippled leg. Annette feels bad because she broke the horse. Lucien feels bad because everybody hates him. Will they always feel bad? If you want to find out, you’ll have to read this great book called TREASURES OF THE SNOW, by Patricia St. John.

3-8-13 The Vacation, Chapter 4

by Ben

To Wisconsin and Other Places

The next morning they decided to go home because they were bored. Then, Ted had an idea. He said, “Let’s go to Wisconsin. It might not be so boring there.”

“Yes! That’s a good idea!” Carrie shouted for joy.

So they bought tickets and got on the ship. The next three days were spent on the ship as it rocked along on the waves. Once again, Ted was almost always in the pool. He liked to go in the indoor pool (which was 90 degrees) and then walk out to the outside pool (which was 63 degrees). When he saw the pool, it reminded him of pool, so he asked if there was a pool table. There was, so he and Carrie spent three hours playing pool. Finally, they landed at the New York harbor where they got off and drove to Wisconsin. In the car they watched cartoons. They watched cartoons because the first three letters in cartoons spell car. They rented a room in a hotel and the next day they were in Wisconsin. “What a busy day!” Ted sighed.

They spent a week at a place called Wisconsin Dells. Ted really liked jumping off big rocks, hiking, and blazing trails.

“I knew we would have more fun in Wisconsin than in Greenland,” Ted told everybody. “Maybe we could stop at Kansas City just to see if there’s anything fun there.”

“Yeah,” Carrie said. “Whose idea was it to go to Greenland anyway?”

“That was Mom and Dad’s idea,” Ted answered.

“We thought you might want to see a polar bear,” Dad said quickly.

“Oh!” Ted laughed. “I forgot to tell you that I did see a polar bear!”

Ted told them about meeting a polar bear.

“Ok,” Dad said, “We will stay here for a day yet and go on some quarter mile water slides.”

They went to a huge amusement park and had a lot of fun on water slides and roller coasters. One roller coaster was three miles long and very wild (that’s how Ted likes them). The next day they went to Kansas City. They found out that it was even more boring than Greenland.

“Maybe we could go to Arizona and see the Grand Canyon,” Ted suggested.

They did. They took a train to Arizona and hiked down to the very bottom of the canyon.

“I didn’t know it was such a long hike!” Carrie commented.

“Yes,” Mom said. “It’s a very long hike.”

The next day they decided to go home because they all had enough vacation. They arrived just in time to see some smoke coming out their window. Ted ran around and saw a fire on the side of the house. He ran around and told Dad, and meanwhile he got the garden hose and started spraying water on it. Dad called the fire department and they got it put out. Not too much harm was done.

“I’m glad we came home when we did,” Ted said. “Otherwise our house could have been burned down!”

THE END.

3-1-13 The Vacation, Chapter 3

by Ben

Ted Meets a Polar bear

“I’m bored!” said Carrie, (Ted’s sister).

“Maybe we can get our binoculars and look for polar bears,” Ted suggested.

“That would be too hard,” Carrie said.

“Why?”

“Because polar bears are white and so is the snow,” Carrie answered.

“Could we look for penguins?” Ted asked.

“Do you really really really really really want to look for penguins?” Carrie asked.

“Yes.”

“Ok. We can look for penguins,” Carrie said.

“O good! I love looking for penguins!” Ted shouted.

“How do you know?” Carrie asked. “You’ve never even seen one.”

“At the zoo, there was one five feet away from me,” Ted replied.

After about two minutes of looking, Carrie said, “Ted, have you seen one yet?”

“No.”

After ten minutes of looking, Ted said “I don’t think we’re going to see any penguins. I think we should go out into the wilderness and look for polar bears.”

“Go get the camera and we’ll go out there and take pictures of polar bears,” Carrie suggested

“You make it sound as if were really going to see one,” Ted answered.

“We might see a really big one.”

“Maybe we should take a gun,” Ted said.

“Why?” Carrie responded. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“No. I just think we should go out and look for penguins instead because the polar bear might get mad and you don’t want that to happen,” Ted answered.

“I think polar bears are scared of people. If we do see one, we can just hide behind a tree and not get close,” Carrie said. “I guess there are no trees.”

They began walking out into the wilderness. Carrie had the camera up and ready to take a quick picture of a polar bear or penguin. They were both bored but neither one was going to admit it. Finally Carrie did.

She said, “Ted, I’m extremely bored so I’m going back to camp. Have fun!”

Ted kept on walking and soon, he thought he saw something moving. Ted stood very still. He hid behind a rock. The thing got closer and closer, and soon Ted could see it was a polar bear. The bear saw him and didn’t look happy. The bear came charging forward. Ted played dead. It worked! The bear just sniffed him and kept on going. After Ted was sure the bear was far away, he got up and walked back to camp. Back at camp, Ted started a fire. Before they went to bed, Ted put a big log on the fire so it would burn all night. The next morning, everything was wet and there was no igloo.

“I guess I made the fire too close to the igloo and it melted,” Ted said.

“Yeah, and now everything’s wet! And it’s all your entire fault!” Carrie yelled.

“Accidents happen,” Ted responded.

2-22-13 The Vacation, Chapter 2

by Ben

The Wallet

The next morning Ted slept until 10:30. He got up and fried some eggs and ate them. Then Ted went for a walk. Then he saw a wallet. He picked it up and looked inside. There were ten 100 dollar bills in it! There was a picture of the person who had lost it, and his name was there too.

“I’m going to return this,” Ted said. “Because I would be glad if I had lost 1000 dollars and someone gave it back.”

Ted’s Dad agreed, so they Ted took it to town and yelled, “I found a lost wallet! Come get it if it’s yours!”

Soon an old gruff-looking man came up.

“It’s mine! He said gruffly.

Ted knew the man was lying so he said, “How much money is in it?”

“33 dollars and 44 cents,” he said.

“Well that’s not the amount that’s in here, so that means it’s not yours. Where did you lose your wallet?”

“I lost it at the town restaurant,” said Mr. Grump. (That’s what Ted called him.)

“That’s not where I found this one, so I’m not givin’ it to you.”

After Mr. Grump left, another man came up. He was nice.

“My name is George. I lost a wallet. I lost it away from town. It had 1000 dollars in it!”

“I found this wallet this morning while I was taking a walk,” Ted said.

Ted gave George his wallet and told about the other man.

“What did the man look like?” George asked.

“He had red hair and he had a pink shirt and a black hat and blue eyes and dirty brown jeans and he had glasses,” Ted said.

“Those are some good clues, Ted,” said George “You see, I’m a cop, and me and the other cops have been trying to catch that crook for years. Where did the man go when he left just now?”

“He went to that yellow house over there.”

“Ok! If you will help me, we could catch that thief right now, Ted. The family who lives in that house is gone and the thief knows it so he’s just going to walk right in and steal some stuff. Watch him. He’s trying to get in the front door but it’s locked. Let’s follow and catch him. He’s going to the back door because it’s not locked.”

They followed him inside, and George told Ted his plan to catch him.

“Ted,” George whispered, “You hide behind the stairs and when he comes around you jump out and push him over.”

The plan worked perfect. When Ted pushed Mr. Grump over, George jumped out from behind the piano and hand cuffed him.

“You did a great job!” George said. “That was a pretty big hit!”

“I didn’t want him to keep standing because if did, he probably wouldn’t be in jail right now,” Ted said.

Ted got 100 dollars for helping catch the thief.

2-15-13 The Vacation, Chapter 1

by Ben

Traveling

Ted and his family were going on a vacation. Ted was not excited. Winter was just over and he hated it because it was cold. He could hardly wait for spring but then they were going to Greenland.

“Dad, do I have to go to Greenland?” Ted asked.

“Oh yes! “Dad said. “It’ll be a lot of fun and we’ll live in an igloo!”

“We’re going die out there because it’s so cold!” Ted said.

“We’ll bring some matches and wood,” Dad said.

“We’ll probably forget the matches,” Ted said. He tried to stop Mom and Dad from making him go but he couldn’t. When they were packing Ted said, “I can’t find my pants.”

“They’re right here where they’re supposed to be,” said his Mom.

The next day, they got to the train station.

“We’re here!” said Ted’s Mom. “Wake up! Ted! We’re at the train station!”

Ted and his family were on a train going from Colorado to Chicago. From Chicago they are going to New York City. Then they are going to Greenland by ship. They got off the train and took a taxi to the airport. They got there just in time to see a big plane land. After about an hour of waiting (because the plane was late), they got on the plane. It was like a house inside the plane, and Ted wasn’t bored because he could see the ground. The plane took a long route and flew over across Lake Michigan. Ted thought he saw a three foot shark. Ted tried to scare his older sister by telling her that he saw an 18 foot, 5 eyed, sea monster but it didn’t work. Finally, they landed in New York City. They had a few hours before the ship came, so they went and looked at the Statue of Liberty.

“I never knew it was so big!” Ted said.

“Oh yes! It’s very big,” Mom said.

After walking around a lot and having lunch, they got on the ship.

“I would like to buy four tickets,” Dad said.

“Ok,” said the man at the desk, “That will be ten dollars each.”

Dad gave the man forty dollars. After half an hour they were on their way to Greenland. The trip would take two days, so they got settled in. This was Ted’s third time riding on a ship. (The second time, his friends were there and they got in a life boat and floated away by accident.) The next morning, Ted was on the deck of the ship playing checkers with his sister. Ted was winning. When the game was over, Ted looked over the side of the ship. As far as he could see, there was nothing but water. Ted hoped spring wouldn’t be over by the time they got back from Greenland. That night, on the ship, in the darkness, on the ocean, there was a BIG storm. In bed, Ted hoped the ship would stay afloat, but they were in no danger. The next day was cloudy and cold but Ted didn’t care. He just went for a swim in the indoor pool. When he was done he asked his dad, “When are we going to be there?”

“We will be there in three hours,” said his Dad. He was right. They were there in three hours. They were finally at Greenland.

“I’m glad to be off that ship!” Ted said. “I was a little scared at night.”

That night they stayed at a hotel because they didn’t have time to build an igloo. The next morning they got a good look around town. The town was very small. There were twenty houses, one small store, and a gas station. They got what they needed and then started to build an igloo. By noon it was done.

“I’m going to start a fire,” Mom said. “Where are the matches?”

“We forgot to bring some!” Dad said.

“Oh, no! We’re stranded!” Mom said.

“I got some because I knew you would forget them,” Ted said.

They settled down and had a nice warm supper.

12-18-12 The Best Adventure Ever (conclusion)

by Ben
At night, the kids snuck out and picked up lots of gold coins and diamonds. They put everything in the boat and pushed out.
They got farther out, but some rocks were blocking the way.  They climbed up on one of the rocks.
“Look!” Ned said. “It looks like a sunken ship.”
“Maybe,” Ted said, “that’s where all the coins and stuff came from”
“Why would all that stay though?  Wouldn’t the people on the ship get it?” Ned asked.
“Not if they didn’t know how to swim,” Ted said. “Let’s get it.”
Fred said, “It’s only about fifteen feet down.”
“Ok. Here we go.”
They dived down.
There was a chest. They motioned to open the chest. They did. Inside there was gold, diamonds, rubies, pearls, silver, emeralds, and many other valuable things.  They swam back to the top.
Meanwhile, back on the ship, the driver called America. Some planes were sent out to look for the kids. 
The kids hadn’t eaten in a day, so they made a fire. They got a rock that was shaped like a cup. They put some water in it and some wild chicken eggs. The water boiled and they had some eggs. 
Finally the kids were found.  They were pulled into a helicopter. They told all about the money and gold and everything they found.  They got all the money.  It was worth 31,000,000 dollars.

THE END.

12-13-12 The Best Adventure Ever

by Ben

Ted and his friends were playing baseball. (They were trying.)

Soon Ned said, “I think it’s time to go.” They packed everything and started walking back.

Soon everyone was back home and in the van. Ted’s friends’ parents and his Mom and Dad were in the van, and Ted’s friends were too.

They had to drive to the airport to catch a plane going to New York. At New York they’re planning to go to Africa by ship. Everyone is excited.  Finally they’re in the plane going from Colorado to New York. Dad says the trip will take two and a half hours. They read books on the plane. Finally they land.

Soon they were walking to the ship.  The ship’s name was The Big Floater.  A few days later they were exploring the ship. They saw the lifeboats and they decided to look at one. It was tied on the edge of the ship so they stepped inside.

“I wonder what would happen if I pull this rope,” Fred said.  He pulled it.  The little boat dropped down down into the water.

“HELP!” they screamed.

It was too late. They had already drifted out too far. They sat in the little boat for three hours.  Soon they saw land.

An island.

It was a big island.  They thought it was an island, but it was Africa.  There were some neat rocks on the shore. They picked them up.

“Oh, look!” Fred cried. “This looks like a coin!”

“Let me see it,” said Ted. “It is! It might be from a ship that sank, and some gold coins and diamonds got washed up on the shore!”

“Yeehaa!” Ed yelled. “We’re gonna be rich, rich, rich!”

They decided to go farther into the trees. They didn’t know that some Africans were watching them.  Suddenly they jumped out on them and put them in a deep pit.

 

[to be concluded]

11-29-12 Ted Goes Camping (Conclusion)

by Ben

It was a very scary time. How could they get out?

“Well,” said Ned, “I think we should try to move some of these smaller rocks.”

“Yes,” Ted said. They began moving some of the rocks that weren’t too big.  Soon, after about an hour, there was a hole. They tried to squeeze through, but it just wasn’t big enough.  Everyone began to think but nobody could think of a way to get out.  They they heard a noise.  It sounded like a deer. Fred peeked out the little hole. It was a deer.  Then Ed said, “I feel really dumb. I have a cell  phone.”

“It won’t work,” Fred said.

“Why not?”

“Because we are in the mountains.”

The boys decided to have lunch. They only had one bottle of water though. The hiking trail was only 3/4 of a mile away from the cave, so they decided to call for help.

“Help! Help!” they called.

Someone heard them and tried to move the rocks, but they were just too big. He had some strong men come and help to move the big rocks.  Meanwhile, Ted and his friends had a flashlight and were reading books. Soon the rocks were moved away, and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

11-27-12 Ted Goes Camping

by Benjamin

One day Ted and his three friends (Ed, Ned, and Fred) decided to go camping out in the woods. There were going to stay for a week.  The first day went by quick, and the second day went by quick.  On the third day things started to happen. They were hiking along a trail when they heard a rumble.

“It’s a landslide!” Ed screamed.

They all hid in a rock cave. They heard the rocks getting closer. They were scared! They saw the rocks tumble down in front of them. Then, the opening got blocked off! Everything was quiet. It was pitch black in the cave. 

What would happen next!?!

11-1-12 Our Fort

by Ben

Kate and I have been working at the South Grove.  We have been building a fort.  The door is an old window frame.  The roof is some 2x6s and a large piece of plywood.  The walls are made out of scraps of wood.  We still have to finish the west side and make the north side.  The fort is down in a ravine.  We have a lot of fun playing with it.

 

10-3-12 Ted’s Adventure

by Ben

One day Ted and his friends Ed, Fred, and Ned were walking through the woods of Montana when they came to a mountain stream.  There were some trout in it.  “Perfect,” said Ed. “This is why I brought my fishing rod.” He caught some trout.  Ned had some matches, so he started a fire and cooked the fish.  Then the boys ate them.

They kept walking until they came to a canyon.  The boys climbed down into the canyon.  There was a stream. The boys walked upstream. Soon there was a waterfall.  “Let’s climb to the top,” Fred said.  So up they went.  The waterfall was only 25 feet so they jumped into the pool of water below.  They did it three more times.

“Jumping off waterfalls is fun,” Ted said. They climbed back up the side of the canyon.  They sat on a rock until their clothes dried.

“Let’s go home,” Ed said.

“I think we’re lost,” Ned said.

Fred climbed to the top of a tree.  “Home is that way,” he said, pointing to the west.  They started for home. They ate some cooked fish. Soon they were home.

“That was fun,” Fred said.

They all agreed.

 

THE END

4-14-12 The Scare

by Benjamin

One day Ted went to Arizona with his Mom and Dad for his family vacation.  They went to see the Grand Canyon. There was a bridge over it.  They began to walk across.  In one spot there were no edges.  Ted was not watching where he was going and slipped off the edge. He fell down and landed on one of the two foot beams.  He looked down to the bottom of the canyon and if he fell he would be doomed.  So he held on. Ted’s Dad and Mom got a rope to pull him up.  “That was cool!” Ted said.  “Cool?!” Ted’s Dad and Mom said. “Yes,” Ted said.  “There were ten-foot-long snakes on the beam!”

3-7-12 The New Planet

by Ben

One day Ted saw a spaceship going to Pluto. He said to himself, “I want to go to a planet when I get big.” So he went and asked the President if he could rent a spaceship. The President said that Ted was too young. But Ted didn’t think so. So he decided to build his own. He got right to work. After a year his spaceship was done. He decided to take his family to Pluto. They all loaded up and took off. Soon they were out in space.

“This is fun,” Ted’s sister said.

Dad and Mom agreed too. Soon they saw a planet. From this planet they could see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. They saw the Sun and Earth. They saw all the planets but what planet were they on? They were confused. Ted asked his Dad what planet they were on.

His Dad said, “I don’t know.”

Ted said, “I’m going to give it a name.”

He called it Zoocuna. So he and his family went back to earth. On the way there they stopped at Mars and Mercury and found some gold. They told the President about the planet and they became famous.

The End

3-1-12 Ted The Hero

by Ben

One day Ted and his family went on a vacation to Florida.  Ted asked his Dad is his friends Fred, Ed, and Ned could come too. His Dad said it would be fine.  So Ted asked his friends if they could come.  They said they would have to talk to their Dads about it.  Ned said he could come and Ed said he could come too.  Fred was already going on a vacation with his family so he could not come. So Ted’s family and friends started on the way to the airport.  It was a 2 hour drive to the airport and a 20 hour flight on the plane.  When they landed they got a taxi and had a ride to their cabin.  When they got there, they unpacked.  Then they went on a hike.  They went to Key West and swam in the ocean.  Ted saw someone he knew.  It was Fred.

“Hi,” said Ted. “I didn’t know you were coming to Florida on your vacation!”

So they all decided to stay in the same cabin.  Then they went out for a boat ride.  Ted saw somebody out in the ocean.  So he threw out a rope and saved the boy’s life. The boy gave Ted $1500 for saving his life.

2-15-12 Quite a Time

by Ben

One day Ted and his friends Fred, Ed, and Ned went to Yellowstone National Park. They were walking on an old dusty road when they came to a place where there was a BIG mountain.

“WOW!” said Ed, “I've never seen a mountain that big!” The four kept on walking around the mountain. Then they stopped really fast. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

“What’s that?” they all said at the same time.

“It looks like a slide,” said Ted.

“It’s probably Devil’s Slide,” Ned said. They began to climb the mountain so they could look at it from the top.

“I didn’t know that this mountain was so tall,” said Fred.

“You said it!” said Ted. The kids kept on climbing higher and higher. And they kept on talking and talking. Finally they were at the top of the mountain.

“Check out the view!” Ned said.

“I have a phone that can tell how fast I’m going, so I could slide down the middle of Devil’s Slide and tell how you how fast I was going,” Ed said. “The rest of you just slide down behind me.”

“That looks really steep.” Ted said. “I’m not sure if I really want to go down.” Fred and Ned agreed too. But Ed still wanted to see how fast he would go. Ed knelt down on his knees and sat down at the top of the slide. He got out his phone and clicked a few buttons. The phone started.

“That looks really steep.” said Ed “I’m not sure I want to slide down there!” So he ran down the side of the mountain with the others close behind.

“That was quite a time!” Ned said, and all the others agreed too.

“How fast did you go running down?” Ted asked.

“I went 20 miles an hour,” answered Ed.

“Imagine if you would have tripped!” Fred said. “That would have really hurt!”

Soon the kids went home.

THE END

2-5-12 At the Creek

by Ben

Thursday afternoon Jacob, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jewel, and I went down to the little creek to take a walk. But it ended up that we began to make a dam. We had to make the overflow higher because we wanted to make the dam deeper. Then we put some boards across the dam to make a rickety old bridge. The next day we came over again and made it a lot better. Did I ever tell you that the dam was made out of old boards and clumps of sod that we found down there? We did. You should try to make a dam sometime because it is very fun!!

1-18-12 Ice

by Ben

This is a picture of where the water comes out of the tile that runs underneath the road.

This is the same picture but closer. There is a blade of grass in the middle of one of these big chunks of ice.

The water at the bottom is not frozen. Some of the water falling down from the tile is not frozen. If you look into the tile under the road, you can see steam.

Same picture up close.

This is ice that froze over the grass.

It’s pretty neat.