Haluški: December 2024

Eugene Grasset-1896

11/29-Lake effect snow on and off all day and into the evening, sometimes with fat flakes. A stiff breeze. Mr. Purple Finch sat at the feeder, back to the wind, turning now and then to peck a seed.

4pm, a deep and dark November.

12/1-precipitation for November continues to lag behind normal. For the fifth year in a row, 2024 was below normal at -.55". The past three months have been a total of 5" below normal. Some of this lake effect snow will help.

12/2-Sun and turkey bros at the Diner!

Freddie holding his own amidst the giants

Later, they stopped by with a couple more of their posse

A lone yellow leaf among the brown oaks

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One of the things we admire and appreciate about our feline family member is his intelligence and politeness. With the onset of cold weather, he enjoys going onto the dining table in front of the big windows to keep an eye on things in the Back 40 and Diner complex. Now, cats don't expend energy needlessly and often, following a visit to the table, he would like to join me on the couch. But geez, jump down off the table, walk around, jump up on couch-what a pain! Bud's solution: "let's go horizontal"-table to couch arm to couch. Just one problem: Dad's TV remote which often is on the arm.

Buddy, who is a polite cat, goes into his Bastet pose:

staring at the remote. This is his way of communicating with us and after a couple of instances (in quick succession to reinforce), I figured out what he wanted.

I removed the remote and in an efficient, singular movement, he jumped from the table, bounced off the couch arm, flew across my lap, landing next to my left thigh pivoting 180° to finally lounge across my quilt-covered thigh. He did this in a flash and settled in for some premium scritches from his Dad.

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Curiosities:

Migaloo, the albino humpback whale first sighted in 1991 off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Last reported sighting was in 2020.

Watermelon snow-from Wiki:

Watermelon snow, also called snow algae, pink snow, red snow, or blood snow, is a phenomenon caused by Chlamydomonas nivalis,a species of green algae containing a secondary red carotenoid pigment (astazanthin) in addition to chlorophyll. Unlike most species of fresh-water algae, this species appears to be cryophilic (cold-loving) and thrives in freezing water.

This type of snow is common during the summer in alpine and coastal polar regions worldwide. Here, at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet (3,000–3,600 m), the temperature is cold throughout the year, and so the snow has lingered from winter storms.