FIVE SECOND STORIES

In the neighborhood:

12/7-12/8 Overnight on the 8th it was -1° at the airport, +3 at our house.

Chickadee and finch at breakfast:

 Our woodland gnomes are buried:

 The sun came out-looks like January:

 Cold evening:

The deer have become frequent visitors to the Diner-we are part of their foraging route that takes them to the other Diners in the neighborhood-Benny's to the East and John and Michelle's across the street. One early morning, newcomers Mom and her triplets stopped by:

While at the same time, our usual Mom and her twins were browsing by the pool and East Garden:

The two tribes saw each other without issue-the Mom and triplets went East along the berm while our trio went over across the street.

That evening, they returned. Here's Mom:

At least the sun has come out now and again but it's still nippy.

Lil' Woody: 

LG:

The Diner had a couple of holiday specials at the buffet-one time only, while supplies last: C had some bread that had gone stale so she soaked it in some almond milk and nuked it. That got snarfled by someone. I had some gingerbread dough left over about the size of a golf ball and put it out. LG enjoyed it:

I returned 5 minutes later and he had dragged it off somewhere!

One of the young Nutkins likes to come up on the planters next to the deck:

12/16-this afternoon we got home after picking C up from the U. We both were settling into our offices when she gave me a holler: 3 deer were under her window! By the time I grabbed my camera, only one remained-one of the twins:

They were foraging around the leaves surrounding the planters. Winter rations I suppose. It reminded me of the "starvation bread" from Sweden called barkbrod, made in part with ground birch tree bark.

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Buddy hanging out with the tree-this is his third xmas with us and like our other cats, enjoys this annual appearance. Thank goodness, he isn't a climber-none of our cats were climbers either. We think they like the piney scent-a bit of the great outdoors, inside.

Buddy is approaching a milestone where he has spent more than half of his young life with us. We hope for many more years together Buddy-roo!

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More milestones:

12/13-Dick Van Dyke turned 100 years old!

12/16-250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austin 

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Animated short Vibrantea from 2023:

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 How the moon is viewed from different parts on the planet:

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Charles Dickens had a pet raven named Grip and featured him in the novel Barnaby Rudge. Edgar Allan Poe read the book and wrote Dickens the bird outta talk. Within a year, it does in the famous Poe piece The Raven. Grip died in 1841 and Dickens had his remains taxidermied. C has seen Grip at the  Rare Book Department of theParkway Central Library in Philadelphia. 

 Landmine killer:

 

FUBARland:

The regime's Anti-DEI/Anti-Biden challenges reach new absurd/petty/stupid heights:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html 

Following a NYT article about his failing health, the Roach raged about it and suggested it’s ‘treasonous’ to report he’s in bad physical shape. Considering the amount of air travel he does, perhaps he should take up his Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's suggestion that there should be exercise stations at airports. 

We watched some All in the Family after Reiner's murder. That era came rushing back: the racism, the hatred of hippies and the controlling and disrespectful nature of men towards women (including their "beloved" wives). And one could not help but think that here on the screen was a precursor to MAGA and their white male working class grievances. Gawd.