Pets at Christmas

I had told the pets they would like Christmas.  I opened some of their presents this morning.   Blitz received some crinkle fish.  They are cylindrical, make a crinkle sound when grabbed, and have some catnip on them.  I threw one out on the floor for her to play with but as soon as she showed an interest in it Whip sauntered over, grabbed the fish and went over to a spot she could curl up with it.   She was a real 'dog in the manger'.  Dunder got a little fuzzy bird.  When a cat bats at it the little birds waves it's wings, moves along the floor, and makes a chirping sound.  It does that for awhile and then stops until the cat bats at it again and the routine starts up. .  Blitz played w/ that until both she and Dunder became more interested in checking out bits of wrapping paper and empty boxes.  Whip got a soft stump filled w/ little chipmunks that squeak when chomped on.  There are little squirrels strewn all over the house and Dunder is asleep in the now empty stump.  I tied some of the wrapping ribbons to Whip's harness.  When she walked past a cat would pounce after her.  Me ... Every meal was leftovers from last night and in between I made a dent in the Christmas cookies while watching White Christmas and playing w/ the pets.   Tomorrow will be soon enough to start picking up.

Russell & Donna

 

Brother Russell and Sister-in-Law Donna came over for Christmas Eve supper.  Yesterday I'd made out a time-table for what needed to be done and when.  Using that actually worked out rather well.  First, of course, was soup.  We had creamy tomato soup with a side of little glass dishes of raspberries topped w/ whipped cream and a sprinkling of crushed peppermint.  The next course was salad and I went w/ green and red bib lettuce leaves topped w/ feta cheese , dried cranberries, and sugared walnuts.  Dressing was a balsamic.  I also served some quick breads- pistachio, cherry, and banana/chocolate chip.  The filet mignons had been seared, finished off in the oven, and rested by the time we were ready for them as the entree.  Had a bernaise sauce simmering on the stove.   Zapped some peas last minute and everything arrived at the table at pretty much the same time.  Yeah!  By the end of that course we were all stuffed.  Had to keep going though - there were gifts to open.  I tried to make as much of a mess as I could.  In the middle of the night I'm sure the cats will be in and out of boxes and jumping into piles of tissue paper as if they were autumn leaves.  It wasn't until  Donna and Russell were about to leave that I realized I'd forgotten to serve dessert.  It was a plate of various types of cookies, fudge, and peanut brittle.  I wrapped them up and sent them home w/ two small boxes.  Neither Russ nor Donna have to work on Christmas.  Tomorrow they can munch on them while they watch movies.

Top of the Hutch

 

Breakfast w/ Friend Nancy this morning.  We both had the same plan - do our last minute grocery shopping this morning and then not go anywhere until after Christmas.  Guess lots of other people had the same plan 'cause the store was busier than normal.  We both thought though that waiting until tomorrow would be even worse.  I'd bought non-perishables earlier so what remained on this list was perishables and specialty items I could only find in this store.  Usually I make out the list in the sequence I'll find things in the store. I started this one a couple of weeks ago to cover what I planned for Christmas Eve dinner so it was in 'meal sequence'.  Threw me off enough that I had to go back to the produce section three times.  Once home it was time to wrap presents.  I went unconventional and wrapped them in peacock paper.  The paper may not exude Christmas but it is real pretty and easy to use.  That done I began cleaning.  All I can say is "Thank God for spare bedrooms to stash stuff."  Whip was looking a bit down and had begun following me from room to room.  Figured she didn't know what to make of all the prep so we took a break and sat on the couch.  She laid her head in my lap as I explained Christmas to her.  I stroked her head and said I wasn't going anywhere and she was in for some great treats.  She fell asleep.  Yes, I know I could have told her the myth of Theseus and it would have had the same affect.   To tell the truth, lots of people tend  to go to sleep when I get going on a meaty Greek myth.

Yggdrasil 2025

The local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) broadcasts lectures from the state universities.  I can snuggle onto the couch and listen to a discussion on the physics of time,  James Madison and the U.S. Constitution, finding Homo Naledi in South Africa, a survey of the state's springs, etc.   Today's talk was on the history of Christmas trees in the U.S.  The lecturer said early on when the Puritans were still running most things, bringing evergreens into a home could mean a stay in the stocks as it was a 'pagan mockery' to Christianity.  (Of course, Puritans weren't big on any holidays but that's a different story.)  In the first half of the 1800's, things changed w/ the massive influx of German immigrants who brought their traditions w/ them to the new world.  By the second half of the 1800's, having a Christmas tree in your house was all the rage.  The surge for trees led to some indiscriminate cutting and in the early 1900's there was a concern that this could lead to environmental problems.  Conservationists started a movement that one tree should be planted in the middle of a town where everyone in the area could come and celebrate Christmas in the communal space.  Businesses liked the idea because shopping areas would put up their own big trees that could be seen from a distance and bring in customers.  Big companies sponsored some trees as advertising.  A few communal trees (think New York's Rockefeller  Center's) still remain but the idea didn't really take.   Turns out that many people didn't like to celebrate w/ their neighbors - especially if some of those neighbors were immigrants.   Farmers realized evergreen trees could be a new and profitable crop so tree farms sprang up.   1954 my state's growers formed the Christmas Tree Growers Association to spread  best practices, set standards, and mass advertising.   Then in 1962 Rachel Carson wrote 'Silent Spring' documenting the harm done by DDT and other pesticides to wildlife.  At first the Christmas Tree Growers Association claimed DDT was safe and necessary in order to grow trees.  They called Ms. Carson an alarmist and her book was a big hoax.  The public view and concern about pesticide use (particularly DDT) however changed.  The association's message then changed too and embraced using safer chemicals.  Plus they pushed the fact that trees create oxygen in their advertisements.  (Everybody likes oxygen, right?)   By the last half of the 1900's some bright person figured out  how to make artificial Christmas trees from plastic, metal, and wire.    This year 83% of Christmas trees in my state will be artificial.   Not exactly an environmental plus but no watering required, no dropped needles, reuseable, and you can even pick one up in pink.

Winter Solstice sunrise

Today is Yule (i.e. Winter Solstice)!  The last of the autumn decorations (this year it was the orange rugs that top the window seats) have been tucked away.   Sunrise occurred so late this morning that I made it through the whole morning routine and still had time to spare before catching a pic of the sun making an appearance.    The tradition of decorating the home w/ evergreens at Yuletide is an old Germanic one.  Each year's live Christmas tree I name 'Yggdrasil' after the Norse tree of myth.  This one is again a white spruce that has been waiting for it's debutante presentation in the workshop.   I follow Mom's rule of not allowing a tree inside the house until the week of Christmas.  She didn't want it dropping needles into the rug (plus we usually cut one large enough to disrupt normal movement routes in the house).   Yggdrasil comes inside today.   Looking forward to decorating it's little branches w/ tiny ornaments.  Best get busy - not a lot of daylight to work w/ today.

Tracks in the fresh snow

I knew a storm was coming.  At the bottom of the TV screen a banner started announcing early school closings and cancellations of afternoon activities.  The locations were all well south of here but moving closer.  It was overcast, winds calm, and temps just above freezing.  Actually a relatively nice day.  When I left for the library though it had begun to drizzle.  Librarian Trevor had been on a web meeting w/ other librarians and they were telling him how bad the coming storm would be so he was making plans.  He'd talked w/ Library Board President Rose.  He would be leaving for home in an hour but if I thought the storm was getting bad I could close down the library early.  There were the two women knitting and gossiping at a back table, a man doing research on one of our computers, a grandmother and four kids waiting for her daughter to get off work so she could pick up the children.  Those kids were having a great time w/ all of the toys available for them.  One was reading out loud to his grandmother who patiently helped him sound out words.  Nah ... I wasn't going to close down the library early.  Could hear when it began to sleet 'cause the pellets pinged off the windows.   Eventually that became snowi and the wind started screaming as it was squeezed through the village's pathways.  A couple of hours later actual closing time came, everyone had already left.   As discussed with the Trevor, I put a sign on the door that the library would be closed on Friday.  If the storm wasn't that bad, Trevor would remove the sign when he came in next morning.  I drove home slowly.  Not slippery but the wind was whipping the snow across the road so at times hard to see anything.   Whip was anxious for her nightly constitutional.  She didn't like the blowing snow but took off into the teeth of it.  I followed.  Once she had urinated, I whistled for her to come back.   When she realized I was headed back to a nice warm house, it was a race for the front door.  I fell asleep listening to the howl of the wind.    In the light of this morning though turns out there wasn't that much sleet or snow and the winds have abated.  Hopefully Trevor will remember to remove the sign or it will be a slow day at the library.

Installing the dishwasher

It was a banner day!  The temps got above freezing.  First time this month and first time in the last four weeks.  I do love the cold - it kills most invasives and  cold stratification is required by native seeds in order to successfully germinate later.  In the darkest part of the year though, who doesn't revel in a sunny day and (relatively) warm winds.  I watched w/ great satisfaction the remaining snow slide off the solar panels.  Then, the dishwasher  (I'd ordered it in September) finally arrived and was installed.   The appliance company is poor at supplying updates on when appliances would be arriving.  After a month of not hearing from them, I called and called again and again before I got anyone who would tell me what was going on w/ my order.  The day of install the company does a communication 360.  I got a text of when the truck was starting out, a map showing me where the truck was at any given time, which stop I would be (#8 for the day) and an approximate time they would arrive which was updated multiple time during the day.  These installers were pretty nice guys.   Finally, Friend Kathy and I did an impromptu Zoom meeting.  With all of the different events, activities, preparations, etc. going on this time of season it's relaxing to just be able to talk and laugh w/ a friend.

Solar Pillar before daybreak

In 1751, Benjamin Franklin wrote about the 'palatine boors' (German immigrants) who refused to adopt English customs creating "a colony of aliens" here in the new world.

1840-1890  'No Irish Need Apply' were in work advertisements because the Irish were considered dirty.

The 1882  Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by President Chester Arthur because of a large anti-Chinese sentiment.  

1924 another act - The Immigration Act limiting Southern Europeans.  The Italians were said to be natural criminals and too swarthy to be really 'white'.

Lets not forget 1942 forced internment of 120,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were put in camps in case they might be spies for the Japanese.

You'd think we would have learned or at least be more tolerant but our president says of all Somalis '...we're going the wrong way, if we keep bringing in garbage into our country."  

 On the Statue of Liberty is written "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free."  The statue's message is of acceptance and hope - wouldn't it be nice if we supported that ideal."

Barn Quilt

 Christmas in the village was Saturday.  I picked up Neighbor Anita and we took off.  The craft sale is held in the Fire Station.  Usually the big rigs are parked outside.  Don't know if because it was below zero outside or there weren't as many crafters but the fire engines were left inside.  They keep those machines way cleaner than I do my car.  I wanted a winter wall quilt to put in the spare bedroom.  Found multiple that would do very nicely and picked one.  Also found one that I liked for spring.  Put those two aside.  The proprietress asked if there was anything else and I said I needed some fall placemats.  She said she had some and begin pulling out bins hidden under the table.  While she looked for them I admired a cloth book w/ quilted pages of the poem "A Visit from St. Nickolaus".   I loved that you could read it to a child, let the child chew on it, and throw it in the wash.  However, I don't know any children that young.  I put it aside when the lady produced two placemats that would be perfect.  She put everything in a bag for me - quite the bargain!  By this time Anita had made the rounds of the crafters, bought a few things, and we were ready to go.  We stopped at the library.  Kids were running around, Santa ho-ho-hoing, and Librarian Trevor was wearing an elf hat while he worked the front desk.  Next door in the village hall was the raffle.  Some really nice baskets so I bought 20 tickets and started putting them in the cups next to baskets.  One had a live Christmas cactus.  I anthropomorphised the little plant, felt pity that it didn't have a home, and dumped a bunch of tickets in for it.  Too early yet for the free chili and sandwiches served in the village meeting room but we walked in to admire the festive decorations and talk w/ people working.  Then drove to Maple Hill Farm.  Both Anita and I were in a buying mood so found stuff there also.   Both of us had skipped breakfast.  We stopped at Toad House and had their breakfast sandwich along with coffee/latte.   Eventually we made our way home.  I brought in my packages from the car and opened them.  Yikes!  The little cloth book I'd admired had been picked up by the crafter and was in with my wall quilts.  I knew the craft sale still had an hour to go so bopped on back downtown and was able to return the book.  Since I was there anyway, I stopped off at another craft table that had been selling decorated sugar cookies I'd admired but hadn't purchased.  They were sold out of cookies but still had pecan caramel corn.  Yes!  That would do nicely.

Sunrise Clouds

Library volunteers meeting. Our new Librarian Trevor is making changes so the meetings are important to keep up w/ how things work now. New books and movies are shelved in a different location but have a 'NEW' sticker on them so we need to remember to look for that and shelf them properly. After six months, we can take off that sticker and they go in w/ the other books. The children's books in Spanish have moved over by the Children's Holiday Books.  The spine label for these books was 'ESP' which I'd thought stood for 'Espanol'.  It's now 'E Spanish' designating 'Easy Reader Spanish' It will be clearer when we add books for juveniles 'J Spanish' and young adults 'YA Spanish'.  We just got a gift of art work which can be checked out. Trevor's not yet sure how the process will work. He said the pictures are of deer, eagles, trees, etc. It's the kind of art that is popular here. At least one display cabinet in January will be books/movies that were Oscar winners.   That sounds like a fun display and one we can put in and take out easily. He's also introduced Book Bingo Cards.   Each box has a different reading-related requirement: Read w/ a family member or friend; Read a book about food; Read the first book of a series; Read a book that starts with "G"; Read a book set in a warm place; etc. If you get a bingo on the card you can turn in the card and at the end of the month there is a drawing for a prize. The rules and a place for your list of at least five books read that month is on the back. It's for all ages and I can see kids easily making it through that many picture books or graphic novels in a month. We volunteers said it would be pushing it for any of us to read five books in a month. "No!" exclaimed Trevor and brought out his phone. He has graphed not only the number of books he's read monthly (easily over five)  down to how many pages per day. Graphing the number of pages you read daily?   And people make fun of me for graphing which Christmas cards I sent/received.

First Light at the Feeder

 

I know I'm suppose to tell people 10 minutes before the library closes that they need to go but I don't.  I wait until closing time, let them know, and while I'm doing closing tasks they can wrap up what they are doing.  That happened last night so I was a good fifteen minutes late for the town board meeting that starts at 7 p.m.  Not a problem.  I'd looked at the agenda on-line and two things I wanted to be at the meeting for were towards the end. The board was still going through correspondence when I arrived.   Seemed more begging letters from various organizations than usual.  Then came the first item of interest to me: the board needs to OK the list of potential poll workers for the next two years.  We had a pool of 12 which is the goal I had set but I couldn't resist whispering to Neighbor Vern who was sitting ahead of me that I could still get his name on the list.  Vern let me know that wasn't necessary.  The second item of interest was the Planning Committee Report delivered by Committee Chairman Roger.  The board OK'd every thing we'd suggested in our meeting.  Unfortunately they also want us to add something to the driveway/culvert ordinance.  Seems too many driveways are not being taken care of and allowing the water on the driveway to flow onto the roadway insead of into the ditches.  The board wants to have a process to enforce keeping water from washing out a road.  Not sure how to phrase that but I'll do my usual thing and search other town's ordinances to see if any of them address this situation.  Why reinvent when you can build on what already works?

The Plow Guy Cometh

The TV station that stopped transmitting during the storm last night was back on this morning.  I sat in bed and watched the strip of cancellations at the bottom of the newcast.  Abbotsford, Alma, Altoona, Amery, Arcadia, Ascension, Augusta ... took a while but finally the local school's name was there.   It was officially a 'snow day'. On our morning constitutional it looked like another five inches - hard to tell when it's drifting.   Whip was bounding around in it up to her belly.   Deep enough in the driveway that I wasn't going anywhere until the snow plow guy came.   I looked out to where the truck had been stuck last night.  Couldn't see anything.  Turned out though it was just covered w/ snow.   Late in the morning a wrecker pulled it out of the ditch.  Good day for crockpot steak w/ onions and peppers - got that started.  Wrapped a gift.  Worked on some more Christmas cards.  Started an experiment.  (What's winter w/o an experiment or two going?)  Hung out a small platform feeder and put mealworms in it.  During the summer it should be a big draw for the insect eaters but most of those species have migrated.  Was curious if any of the remaining birds would go for the dead insects.  Around 2 p.m. Whip began to bark.  Plow guy was here!  I took a shower and jumped in the car to get a few errands out of the way.  By the time I got back the house smelled of crockpot steak.   Not bad but not one of my better efforts - think it will taste better tomorrow.

County Snowplow coming through this morning

 

When Whip and I walked out the front door for our nightly constitutional I could see car lights shining at the end of the driveway.  I couldn't see a car but could hear an engine being revved and whine of tires spinning in snow.   Top of a hill is a funny place to get stuck.    I had my phone so went out to check what was going on.  It was a truck in the ditch.   The back lights of the truck illuminated it's tracks.  He'd been driving in the ditch on the wrong side of the road for as far as I could see.  The truck had stopped because my driveway blocks the ditch and the ditch is too deep to be able to just drive out.  The first flakes of the latest snowstorm were starting.   I couldn't see in the truck so knocked on the passenger side window.  Took a couple of tries before the driver answered, " Yah?"  I asked if he had a phone and had called for help.  He said he had called his buddy who would pull him out.   Couldn't think of anything else I could do to help him.  "OK, as long as you've got someone coming." and I went back to my place.  I checked out my window a short time later and there was a car that looked like it might be trying to pull the truck out ... but not succeeding.   I called the sheriff.  I explained what I'd seen and said maybe a deputy should evaluate the situation.  Was surprised how quickly the deputy arrived.  Eventually the car that looked like it was trying to help left and then the deputy's car slowly drove off too.  Funny thing is it looked like the lights of the truck in the ditch were still on.   I looked out my front door a couple more times.   The last time I checked the lights were gone.   Either the truck was pulled out, the truck's battery died, or the snow was coming down too heavy to see that far.  I'm not walking out to see which it is.   I'll either find out tomorrow or maybe it will make the Sheriff's Report.

Gibbous Moon and Jupiter

Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report: 

10:34 a.m. - Caller reporting a male that came to her residence.  He was told to leave and then he pulled out a knife and punctured the rear tire of her vehicle as he walked away.  12:58 p.m. - Officer spoke with male about calls on him in the last 24 hours.  He denied puncturing the tire, said it was flat when he was at the house this morning.  He was given his phone back and was asked to return to Sheriff's Office to speak with a deputy. 

12:08 p.m. - Post Office worker requests a welfare check for a female that has mail piling up since mid-October.  Officer spoke with neighbor who believes she is out of the area.

12:12 p.m. - Issues with vehicles blocking traffic.  Related to the turkey giveaway.

12:30 p.m. - Deputy observed an ATV in the middle of the street with a male standing next to it.  Upon turning around the ATV was gone.  Deputy followed dust cloud into alley and located it with the driver.  ATV hadn't been registered since 2018 and the driver caused damage in the alley by spinning his tires.  Driver cited for non-registered ATV and without a valid driver's license.

2:26 p.m. - Turkey giveaway event causing traffic to back up.

2:44 p.m. - City officer participated in an elementary school assembly

3:10 p.m. - Caller reporting damage to a gate on county forest land.  Angle grinder was taken to a lock box blocking a non-motorized vehicle trail.  Deputy will take photos of the damage and follow up.

4:03 p.m. - Caller reporting a tractor pulling a trailer house, blocking the intersection.  Giant rut was left in road.  Trailer house was pulled by tractor without wheels.  Deputy in contact with tractor driver.  They are fixing the road and any other damage they caused.  

6:24 p.m. - Complainant reporting he has drones that have been following him for the past two months.  He is at the ball diamond at the school.  Complainant will be driving around the area to show that the drone is following him.  Deputy reports it appears the lights the complainant is seeing are stars.  

7:04 p.m. - Gas station workers reporting a female sleeping in her car with a sign on the windshield stating something about Donald Trump and Princess Diana.  Officer spoke with female who denied she had any issues with gas station workers and admitted putting up the sign.  She was told to leave the property and not return.

7:47 p.m. - Caller reporting what looks like a small child walking on their dead-end road.  Caller called back and said it was an elderly lady.  She is fine.

8:59 p.m. - Complainant requests a check welfare on a female that is living in an ice shack in her yard.  It blew over last night.  Deputy in contact.  Female is inside of structure with electricity and heat.  DHHS to follow up.

10:55 p.m. - Caller reporting fire in a field.  Village Fire Department responded.  DNR Fire paged but no answer.  Village Fire Department said they're not needed unless they want to try to determine the cause.