CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS? YOU MAY HAVE TO SETTLE FOR VIRTUAL SNOW (COLUMN 18)

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Even if local weather doesn't cooperate, the Internet guarantees virtual snow on the World Wide Web.

Snow sites are provided both by businesses, government and individuals. One of our favorite snow sites comes from the Teel family in Alaska. This is certainly well done, and is featured on several Internet listings for children.

http://www.teelfamily.com

Joni: The Teel family homeschools, and this web site is part of their home-based education. You can find a family photo of the two parents and three children. The page has won numerous awards, including "Net Mom Approved" and "Family Approved" and the recommendation of several magazines and books.

Peggy: Since the family lives in Alaska, snow is a big part of their lives. The snow page is full of such activities as snow science, snow art, snow literature, snow food and snow links.

Joni: Let's try snow food. I used to make snow ice cream when I was a kid.

Peggy: It's right here. For your snow ice cream, collect freshly fallen clean snow, sprinkle some sugar in, add a little vanilla extract and milk. They suggest to add just as much sugar as your parents will let you get away with. Other recipes are for snow slushes and the edible glacier. You make the glacier with blueberry gelatin, chocolate sandwich cookies and Cool Whip. Yum.

Joni: Important safety tip: Make sure your snow is really clean. Under the snow art section, the family provides directions to cutting a six-sided snowflake. You can also make sparkle snow paint out of equal parts of flour, salt and water.

Peggy: When it's verrrrry cold, the Teels tell us to blow bubbles outside. They won't pop when it's 30 to 40 degrees below zero. We'll take their word for it.

Joni: I'm cold just thinking about it. There's also advice here on keeping snowflakes with a piece of glass, aerosol hair spray and of course, snow.

Peggy: The Teel Family also links us with several other snow pages. Next stop, the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/

Joni: Much of this site is in techno-language. But in the gallery section, we found a number of glacier photographs, dating back to the 1880s.

Peggy: The education section had a number of online brochures, including "Have Snow Shovel will Travel," the history of snow removal.

Joni: Please put that at the top of my Christmas list. What to do with all the snow? A group in Rockford, Ill., takes snow sculpture seriously.

http://www.accesschicago.net~/(tilde)jnuckles/snow/

Peggy: The competition will be held in January, and there's a countdown with days, hours, minutes and seconds to the contest. There are photos of past winners in the international, state and high school team categories.

Joni: They might know a lot of snow sculpting, but they need to work on photo lighting quality. Some are quite intricate. Be patient. The second photo of each finished work was considerably better. The site shows sketches of the proposed work, and the day's creation.

Peggy: The competition started in 1987, according to the Frequently Asked Questions section. The snow comes from the Greater Rockford Airport.

Joni: The sculptures may not use any power tools -- sorry Tim Taylor. They must use axes, machetes, shovels, ice chisels, water and such unique tools as aluminum cake pans and barbed wire. The teams work on ice blocks as large as 12 tons.

Peggy: The teams can start on Wednesday, and have until Saturday morning to finish up. If you're interested, there's no fee to enter.

Joni: Well pack my bags. Wait a minute, my schedule is simply booked. I guess we'll have to be satisfied with the "Building a snowman" Shockwave game on the page.

Peggy: This is kind of fun, but it's a little tricky to maneuver on our Macintosh.

Joni: He looks a little lopsided, Peggy. Our apologies to Frosty. You can also see it finished, which by the way, looked nothing like your creation.

Peggy: Mine had more character. Besides, two arms are overrated.

Joni: What about that second head on the ground?

Peggy: Snow pet.

Joni: Will there be a white Christmas? The Weather Channel provides a pretty up-to-date report at

http://www.weather.com

It's also a good place for travel information, including a section on the latest airport and flight delays. The site's "winter weather" section offers the latest forecasts for snow, frost and freeze conditions across the United States.

Peggy: The snowfall forecast won't dip into southern Missouri so it doesn't look like our Christmas will be white. The site's "White Christmas Historical Probability Map" confirms it. It seems a white Christmas is more the exception than the rule around here.

Joni: There's also a pleasant reminder from the North Pole -- actually, from Barrow, Alaska, which is the closest reporting station. It's 15 degrees. Compare that to the Christmas forecast here: Sunny with highs in the mid-30s.

Peggy: If you can't have a white Christmas, how about a White House Christmas card? We found a copy of this year's card on the White House page, complete with signatures. You can find it at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Holidays/1996card.html

Joni: As for us, we wish you and your family a very merry Christmas.

E-mail us at movnldd.net.

See you in cyberspace.

~Joni Adams is managing editor and Peggy Scott is graphics editor at the Southeast Missourian.