We weren't exaggerating about the dark January: according to the local paper, the sun was out so seldom it tied for the
second darkest first month of the year in the last 100 years. Ayup.
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2/8-9: 60°! Crazy weather continues. It is confusing many:
The daffs are up!
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2/8: WI recorded its first February tornado on record. It touched down in Evansville, a town of 6,500 located between the IL border and Madison.
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From www.you can't make this stuff up.com:
-In the NV Republican primary, Nikki Haley and "none of these candidates" were the only two choices on the ballot. She lost in a landslide. Trump is being anointed by the NV Republican caucus.
-Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas was saved from impeachment when TX Dem Al Green was wheeled in by Democratic colleagues from the hospital, shoeless and wearing scrubs, to cast the deciding vote.
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The CALL SAM Bernstein Law Firm has been around for 50 years as personal injury specialists, a polite euphemism for ambulance chasers. In one of their latest ads, the next generation with Mark Bernstein as their spokesman, gives his spiel in rhyming verse!
Trust me, I say! Whoever hit grandma, will pay!*
*This is not an actual Bernstein rhyme, only one created as a demonstration, although admittedly satirical, as an attention-drawing device and not reflective of the attitude of the Bernstein Law Firm towards their valued clients or their situation.
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Buddy continues to show us how smart he is in figuring out human behavior. Bud and I were sitting together on the couch surfing YT when my cell phone, sitting over on the desk, rang. He has learned that when he hears this sound, Dad will move, so he immediately jumped off the couch.
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1951 pulp that appealed to the anti-cannabis, anti-jazz, anti-Negro, anti-free sex, anti-kicks in general moral crusaders. From the back cover:
In a similar nostalgic vein, I was wondering if the Soap Box Derby still existed? I never was interested but it seemed to be a piece of Americana and have not heard any mention of it since I was a kid. Well, it is now known as the International Soap Box Derby seemingly still going strong since 1934.
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Ludwig Hohlwein 1874-1949, German Poster Artist. As a printmaker, I admired his graphic style.
1907-Fashion catalog
1912-Munich Zoo
1914-Red Cross
c.1920 Riquetta chocolate
1929 Passau Bavaria
1935 Nazi propaganda students
1936 Olympics
1943 Nazi propaganda-civil air defense RTB
From Wiki:
Holhwein was a pioneer in Plakatstil (German for "poster style"), also known as Sachplakat, was an early style of poster art that originated in Germany in the 1900s. It was started by Lucian Bernhard of Berlin in 1906. The common characteristics of this style are bold eye-catching lettering with flat colors. Shapes and objects are simplified, and the composition focuses on a central object. Plakatstil turned away from the complexity of Art Nouveau and propagated a more modern outlook on poster art.
Holhwein was also an ardent Nationalist, working for the government during both World Wars.
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Sly and the Family Stone "Stand) from 1969. Still timely!
Stand In the end you'll still be you One that's done all the things you set out to do
Stand There's a cross for you to bear Things to go through if you're going anywhere (ooh)
Stand For the things you know are right It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand All the things you want are real You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand, stand, stand Stand, stand, ooh Ooh
Stand You've been sitting much too long There's a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand There's a midget standing tall And a giant beside him about to fall
Stand, stand, ooh Stand, stand, ooh Ooh
Stand They will try to make you crawl And they know what you're saying makes sense and all Stand Don't you know that you are free? Well, at least in your mind if you want to be
Everybody Stand, stand
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Curious vid concerning the Book of Enoch, an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the patriach Enock who was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah. The earliest section is believed to date to 300-200 BCE and while accepted in the canon of the earliest Christian churches and still is by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (see 12/31/23 post Church Forests), it is notby the majority of Jewish or Christian church bodies.
This piece is a weird amalgam of cheesy graphics, heavy X-File material regarding alien abductions, a alien/human hybrid project that created a race of giants, cherry-picked facts of world-wide ancient tales about visitors who arrived from different star systems and taught humans stuff that fit into this particular narrative: speculation of alien involvement in human civilization creating a 2001 monolith moments where Shazam!-humans make giant leaps forward, figuring out, for example, both the wheel and algebra.
It is a rather radical manifesto: we need to offend the worldview status-quo dictated to us from Church and State in order for us to widen our concept of the human species and the universe. The host also takes a strong advocacy for abductees and returnees, opining that they should be valued and listened to. Hmm, our neo-prophets?
I do agree, however, that there has been a lack explanation by the "experts" concerning something that has fascinated me for some time: there was some kind of worldwide giant leap that created calendars out of stone circles, pyramids, earthen mounds as humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to agriculture. These were massive undertakings--not only the many years of communal labor but the amount of time to track celestial movements and translate this data into a giant calendar often with no written language! How did they do it?
Stonehenge
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Don't be a loser-feed your FOMO and buy your MUDMERCH for a mere $25, operators are standing by.
I recently came across an ad for this: MUD\WTR, the anti-coffee morning drink for those who are "not mad, just disappointed" with coffee and most likely, the whole genre of heavily caffeinated drinks. It contains a wee bit of caffeine from the 100% organic cacao, ayurvedic herbs and functional mushrooms. No, not those 'shrooms, silly. Functional mushrooms are mushrooms with qualities some say go beyond their nutritional value such as natural health
properties: brain-boosting, stress-reducing, immunity-fueling,
mood-enhancing. This evidently is the newest craze--mushroom energy bars and mushroom lattés. Not surprisingly, the headquarters for this company is Venice, CA.
Yesterday morning, we had an uncommon weather event: freezing fog. Indigenous people called this Pogonip and warned that inhalation of the icy air could cause lung damage. I began noticing that the tops of trees along I-496 were frosted, while in other areas, the frosting went all the way to the ground. Other places were untouched. The event continued until nearly noon when the temps rose above freezing and all the frosting melted.
Early February historically hosts a number of holidays: very old Celtic festival Imbolc, marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox and for the optimists, the beginning of spring as well as association with lambing and the pre-Christian goddess Brigid.
St. Brigid's Cross, traditionally displayed over the door of a house to ward off evil.
The Christian Feast day of Saint Brigid is celebrated at this time-Brigid is Ireland's patroness saint who represented the light half of the year and the power that will
bring people from the dark season of winter into spring.
Candlemas, February 2 is also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a feast day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Worshippers bring their candles to mass where there is a blessing and procession of candles, symbolizing that Jesus is indeed the "light of the world".
Yesterday, Mr. Birch celebrated by basking in the late afternoon sun.
Walnut, a white-naped crane who resided at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC has died at age 42. Her story is both curious and sweet for she bonded with one of her human zookeepers, Chris Crowe and regarded him as a proxy mate for nearly 20 years.
Mehgan Murphy
Right out of Hollywood: Bird 'Bachelorette': A Rare Female Crane Who Chose a Man Named Crowe as Her Mate for Life.
Walnut, who is rumored to have killed two avian suitors who tried to
mate with her in the past, had fallen in love with her Smithsonian
zookeeper. Imagine this storyline in the human version of the show. Yikes!
Fabulous 2022 gonzo parody of late night talk shows featuring Dr. Z, the orangutan elder statesman in the Planet of the Apes film interviewing famous guests. It has the feel of one of those old local public access channels with basic production values. Dr. Z's music director reminds me of Red Green's nephew Harold.
James Carville in fine form with worthy advice for the Democrats: be relentless and loud and keep the Roach as the centerpiece of any conversation about the election: do you really want this piece of shit to run the country?
Ever since the below zero weather left us, we've had a string of monotonous, grey, foggy, wet, overcast days. It brings the Macpherson side out in me, yearning for Sligo, a peat fire and a dram of Jameson in hand. As a Michigander, this long stretch of unchanging weather is counter to our mantra of having a change every three days or so. After that, we tend to get cranky.
A colleague of C's has a light therapy lamp in her office and offered it for anyone to use when she is gone. The demand by her friends to the main office to give them access grew to the point where the Department Chair went out and bought one and set it up in the Department common area. That, is a thoughtful and wise action by a manager and my hat's off to her.
$40 bucks from Amazon.
Meanwhile, the inch of snow we received yesterday is already gone as well as the pond in the Back 40. Rumor has it that Friday afternoon the sun will return and hang around for a few days. Mild temps in the lo-40's. What a pleasant change from this:
Diner news: well, the coons are up and they are hungry, perpetrating nightly attacks on the feeder.
I guess we'll have to begin bringing it in every evening again. Sigh.
Big Woody has returned and Nutkin is now a regular. With warmer weather, I imagine the skunks will be up soon. Stubbs, Freddie and the Jays receive daily peanuts.
Stubbs
Buddy was dismayed to see the white stuff again (we feel you, bro) and was a tad pesky about going in and out. With milder temps and things drying out, he will be able to spend more time patrolling the realm.
I see hawks frequently when I drive I-496, perched on top of the light poles. I wondered how very scary it would be if they were substantially larger than life. Yikes!
The January thaw is upon us and for the first time in what seems like weeks, the Big Light in Sky (BLS) is gracing us with what meteorologists term "bright overcast". For days, we have had a dreary mix of heavy fog, on and off rain with temps in the 30's. Between the snowmelt and 1.5" of rain over four days, we have a pond in the back 40.
I noticed a few days ago that no birds were stopping by-it was strictly squirrels including Nutkin.
I discovered that this guy turned out to be a bully, chasing the much larger squirrels away from the Diner. I asked Stubbs what this was about and he replied small squirrel syndrome.
As for the decline in bird customers, I suspected the seed in the feeder had gone off. The bottom third went from being frozen to thawing into a seedy goop. I dumped everything on the ground, cleaned and filled it back up with fresh seed. By the afternoon, the regulars had returned led by the chickadees, sparrows and purple finches.
Several evenings ago, we finished watching a film and were going through our heading to bed routine when I returned to the darkened room and saw a big Doe at the Diner. She was eating with her front legs splayed like a giraffe. She caught a glimpse of my movement and skedaddled. Shortly afterward, I saw three does on the berm moving West to East back to their woods.
We had cleaned out the frig and arranged a buffet including some arugula, hoping the buns would enjoy some fresh greens. Nope. It continues to confound C that historically, the wild buns will not imbibe humangrown produce. We wonder if this aversion points to their Better Living & Survival Guide which clearly warns about being tempted by something new. Stick with what you know!
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The algorithms have figured out that I am an old boy so my YT feed is packed with Medicare ads. Generally they are bland until this one appeared. Well! Nothing like some blatant, old school sex sells advertising. I wonder if this would cause Speaker Johnson's pornwarn app on his phone to ping.
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Speaking of S*E*X...
New Guinea is home to 38 of 43 known species of bird of paradise. Each has evolved their own idiosyncratic performance to attract the girls. It's like some giant collection of Broadway actors trying to outdo each other on the stage: some are dancers, some are singers others combine into song and dance routines.
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This is what I'm talkin' about! From 1989, The Beastie Boys "Hey Ladies".
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Fun fact: during the moose rutting season, males will use their antlers to scent areas hoping to attract females and ward off suitors. It is also thought that this adds adornment to their rack-females judge worthy mates by their size (yeah, sorry fellows-size matters in this culture). If you want an edge over the other schmucks, well, spice up your rack with some grasses. Some like the shaggy, bad boy look with grass hanging over their eyes. Others prefer a more curated look: a few strategic weeds hanging off one antler, like a single earring.
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Totally gonzo vid from Muppet's Swedish Chef making popcorn shrimp and microwaving popcorn resulting in total chaos.
"Popcorn" is a synthesized instrumental written and originally
recorded by Gershon Kingsley in 1968. A 1972 cover version by Stan Free,
recording under the name Hot Butter, was a Top 10 hit in the United
States and Europe.
Warning: earworm alert!
I remember, unfortunately, this song which caused a near involuntary and immediate urge to change the radio station. Gawd.
A cicada from Brood X in 2021 next to the shed exoskeleton from which it emerged.
From the NYT:
This spring, for the first time since
1803, two cicada groups known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood,
and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, are set to appear at
the same time, in what is known as a dual emergence.
The
last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the
Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period, Thomas Jefferson was president.
After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the broods, which
are geographically adjacent, appear together again.
They will appear late April in roughly 16 Midwest and Southeast states. This dual emergence will bring around 1 trillion cicadas appearing in these areas. They live around a month and it is noteworthy that during the 1990 singular emergence in Illinois, people used snow shovels to clear the insect carcasses from sidewalks and driveways. Entomologists suggest that folks should consider this as free fertilizer for their plants.
Gene Kritsky, Mount St. Joseph University
Brood XIII is shown by blue dots, and Brood XIX is shown with red dots.
Not only does the Satin Bowerbird build elaborate nests, they collect piles of blue colored swag in order to impress the girls.
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The other day I saw Paczki for sale in the markets. What??!! I thought. Already?? Welp, Ash Wednesday is only a month away so let's get a running start with these gut bombs where ONE can typically contain 300-450 calories with 15-25 grams of fat. I am not a big fan-one and done for the season. I like raspberry the best. And old school with powdered sugar on top. Meijer does their version with granulated. Ick.
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We haven't gotten much more snow lately but it has been bitterly cold. We had a couple of -4° overnight temps with daytime highs barely getting into the teens. January thaw is coming this week with 30's and rain. Fireplace nights have been a welcomed event.
Most days Freddie and Stubbs have been out and about. I've been surprised by the lack of birds at the feeder as I would have thought that they would be fueling up all day. In the evening, our pair of rabbits stop by The Diner and they seem to be exhibiting mating behavior. It's confusing: from what I have read, adults, even siblings generally don't hang out together. Yet this pair have, starting when they were little last Spring, growing into adulthood in the Summer. So, is this a different pair? Plus, it's a tad early for mating which in these parts begins in February. Are they working on their moves, lol? Cuing up:
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Buddy has adjusted well to the new routine, thank goodness. And, he uses the portal when he doesn't have a doorman. He's been such a good lad and not awakened Mom during the night so she can rest. When he does go out during the day, I keep an eye on the clock and give him a holler after 10 minutes. He comes right in-he's no dummy. We understand his need to keep an eye on his realm. I shoveled and kept swept some paths on the deck so he can sit on bare wood.
DHS on duty.
Nice and comfy in the library in a nice spot of sun.
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Fabulous vid from 1971 Sesame Street "That's About The Size of It".
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Linen, made from the fibers of the flax plant, is one of the oldest textiles made by humans dating back up to 30,000 years ago. Linen was used in ancient civilizations including Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and is mentioned in the Bible.
I was YT surfing the other day and came across a primer on linen making, from seed to cloth, from a gentleman in the UK. Yikes! Insanely labor intensive-I would never want to do it yet fascinating to watch. Lots of familiar terms associated with the process such as distaff which is a tool used in spinning. The day after Epiphany, is known as Distaff Day when the holiday feasting had ended and women went back to their usual work. For men, the Monday after Epiphany was known as Plough Monday, when men returned to work in the fields.
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Eager YT algorithms: I was surfing and watched a show with tomato growing tips. Upon completion and clicking Home, my feed was flooded with home and garden stuff. Wow. Including: what do you do with the veggies that you have grown? Yep, cooking shows!
The snow on 1/7 gave our wild neighbors a strong warning: snows a comin' and you better fuel up. The next day, The Diner did a brisk business with most every species of daytime feather and fur stopped in.
Morning snow on 1/9
Morning of 1/10-I noticed a group of blackbirds in the Back 40
There seemed to be more birds to the West so I looked out the garage-side door:
Yikes! a visitation by hundreds of European starlings. More were curled around out front and in the crab apple tree. They were quite loud. They hung out for about 10 minutes until for some reason they rose together, murmurated in the sky above the parking lot just over the berm. Many lit in the pines before moving on.
The storm arrived late in the afternoon of the 12th. The Diner was deserted.
Buddy was like a kitten, tossing bits of snow into the air and chasing it.
C and I were quite concerned about Buddy and his insistence to go outside for long periods at night. We knew extremely cold weather was coming so we decided to set aside our anxiety about wild critter invasion and re-installed the portal. We had noticed in the past couple of weeks that he was going up to the portal window, seemingly looking for it. Once installed, Bud and I revived our old game of me urging him "go, Buddy, go" as he galloped in from 15 ft away, up the boxes and out the portal with Dad assisting by holding the flap open. One night, C had assisted him, went back to bed only to be awakened by mewing outsider her door. The big scamp had come in by himself! This pretty much answered our suspicion that our Lordship has the upper-class attitude: why have servants if you don't use them? (Prince Chuck reportedly summoned a servant to his office to put a piece of paper into to waste basket-one that Chuck had managed to miss).
This eased out minds considerably. Bud, like most cats, prefers routine. He likes to go out and make sure things are good in the realm. Now, he can do his thing and Mom sleeps better.
Butterfly bush out bathroom window
Crab Apple tree from my office window
By 7 pm the storm was in full force with wind-driven snow
We received 3-4" of snow, thankfully far less than the 6-8" that was predicted the day before. The Diner was busy the next morning.
The arctic air began to swing in by late afternoon. The next morning it was +2° with -17° wc. As Bin would say-colder than mouse titties. I was up early to shovel my neighbor Benny's drive and ramp-his ailing wife has medical folk stopping by every morning. We received little snow-it was mainly wind drifts. I didn't bother with our drive but I cleared paths on the deck for Buddy and put out seed at The Diner.
By 10am, it was bright, cold and sunny-so typical of a Michigan January.
Bud went out a couple of times, the first for 5 minutes. Just hung out on the deck and kept his eyes on the sparrow raucous caucus in the burning bush. Came in for a snack and wanted back out. This time for 10 minutes-I called and he came galloping back in. Sigh. It was +5° outside. But he does seem to sense that this is no weather to be out for hours. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
