Haluški: NEW YEAR

New Year's Eve

Cold and wet outside, we were snug in front of the hearth. We watched a magical animated fable "The Red Turtle", 2016 from Ghibli Studios. It tells the story of a shipwrecked man on a small island who is frustrated in his attempts to escape by a large red sea turtle. Wonderful visuals throughout-highly recommended.

New Year's Day

We got maybe an inch from yesterday afternoon to this morning.

As I do at the beginning of each month, I noted our precipitation and today tallied the totals for 2024. We received 2.27" above average and for the first time since I began observations in 2019, we have had two years in a row of above average moisture. The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a hot/wet Summer. Stay tuned!

1/4-cold with light snow at times. Temps going down into the teens for the next few nights. The turkey bros were making their rounds:

Later, a flock of starlings came by, mainly hanging out at Johnny's next door. This happened 1/10 last year.

Starling with winter plumage:

Chris Bosak

Some wandered over to the Diner to see what is on the menu. At the same time, in the Back 40 under the honeysuckle, were a handful of robins!

Again, back in 2023 when C and I took a long walk on xmas day-we saw robins then as well.

For both instances, we wonder if it is by chance we come across them or are they stopping by to refuel? Are they heading South because it's just too darn cold where they were or are they in a yearly pattern moving from one area to another looking for food?

Another cold early evening:

Buddy enjoys being by the tree and will spend some time facing it. We refer to this as Buddy doing his meditation.

1/5-I got up just before 8am. It was +12° at the airport.

1/6-Epiphany-very cold-got down to 0° at the airport. I put away the holiday decorations, untrimmed the tree and put it out by the Diner-we're going to hang goodies for the critters. The turkey posse were out and about. The sun appeared for a bit in the late afternoon.

1/8-monochromatic bright overcast with snow showers starting in the early evening:

1/9-bitterly cold morning +3° but bright and sunny.

A couple of squirrelies at the Diner:

1/10-more snow. The Diner was v busy with squirrels, nutkin, a variety of birds including starlings and robins stopped by. A robin on the roof:

1/11-we picked up a good 3" of snow overnight. The day started overcast.

By mid-morning, the sun had come out and so did the critters

It was in the low-30's after noon. Buddy went on the front porch to catch some rays before going on his rounds:

Tiger in my backyard

It was one of those typical Michigan January afternoons although clouds were coming in. Another overcast day predicted for tomorrow with an inch of snow predicted.

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Buddy in his sphinx pose:

His Lordship heartily endorses these vids:

Nothing like chillin' with some cartoons after a big holiday meal

Doggie gets a feline masseuse and dog whisperer

Feline hyperbole

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I've been a long-time fan of David Lynch and have seen most of his work except for Twin Peaks Season 3. Well, I'm in the middle of the 18 episodes and yikes! it's a head-spinner. Peculiar, surreal, creepy with numerous threads, rabbit holes and just strange stuff. Lots of experimentation in mini-segments, storytelling. The series came out in 2017, a year into Roach 1.0 and there are several rather oblique references to life in America during his administration. Many of the actors from the original series continue their roles in season 3-which takes place 25 years after Laura Palmer's murder.

Potential drinking game: track how many times "ambient whooshing" appears in the captioning.

Throughout the episodes, there is a thread featuring Dr. Lawrence Jacoby played by Russ Tamblyn, who was Laura Palmer's shrink. 25 years later, he is a ranting QAnonesque podcaster bitching about the swamp:

Like so many of his ilk, he hawks ridiculous items to make a buck off his "followers". The good doctor bought a bunch of cheap shovels and spray painted them gold. Sound familiar? These vids explain what the shovels are for.

Fun stuff:

The Vinicunca Mountain, Peru aka The Rainbow Mountain

Michaelbrawn

The mountain used to be covered by glacier caps, but these melted and by the mid-2010, mass tourism came, attracted by the mountain's series of stripes of various colors due to its mineralogical composition on the slopes and summits.

Passo Giau, Italy-high mountain pass in the Dolomites

Fun Facts:

-Human red blood cells live on average 120 days.

-In 2024, Los Angeles had more rain than Seattle-15.77" vs 12.94". While it refilled the reservoirs, it has not alleviated the dry conditions which were exacerbated by strong Santa Ana winds resulting in major wild fires that flared up in the LA area.

-Deer and boar have dichromatic vision meaning they cannot distinguish between red and green so a tiger's orange fur to them would read as greenish.

-There are more castles in Germany (25,000) than there are McDonald's in the US (14,300).

-Both of Jack Black's parents worked for NASA.

-The term "alpha" which first appeared 100 years ago did not pertain to lions or men in suits-it was about chickens. "Pecking order" also comes from chicken life.

-The oldest chicken on record lived 23 years, 151 days. A recent Guinness world record holder died on Christmas Day, 2023 aged 21 years, 238 days and lived on a farm near Chelsea, MI.

-Peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on the planet with dives reaching 200+ mph.

-Jaguars in South/Central America are known to eat vine/root of the ayahuasca plant which has hallucinogenic properties. It is theorized that this enhance their senses for hunting.

-Ducks are among only 3% of avians who regrow their penises. As daylight hours increase signalling mating season is on the way, they develop their penises anew.

-Speaking of ducks, farmers in Bangladesh have begun switching from growing chickens to ducks. Ducks are more resilient than chickens and can survive better in floods and cyclones which are more frequent due to climate change. Currently, ducks bring in a better price than chickens. Double-bonus!

-The largest prehistoric bird was the Quetzalcoatlus, a giraffe-sized pterosaur that lived 70 million years ago with a 40 foot wingspan. It lived along the Rio Grande River in Texas, and nested on mountains and cliffs.

-Turkeys blush when they are excited. This can range from anger to horny with hormones during the mating season.

C and I were just wondering what they do in the Winter to sleep. They roost in trees, especially in pines, which gives them shelter with their year-round needles from snow and being in a tree provides safety from predators.

-Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He was the first president to have cats in the White House. It is said that they helped relieve stress. He often had a place set for them at the table and once fed one at a formal dinner.

-Apes don't ask questions. They don't realize that another individual such as another ape or a human, might know something they don't. They lack metacognition or put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one's understanding and performance. Metacognition includes a critical awareness of a) one's thinking and learning and b) oneself as a thinker and learner. In human children, "metacognition" begins at age 2-3 years with significant development ages 5-7.

-Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic. They were all in First Class and were carried by their owners to the lifeboats.