Quaking & Snow Flaking.. You Pardon, Joe!!!

Puerto Rico & Hawai'i got the shakes

Snow still piles downwind of da Lakes

Here, it's cold but w/ solar heating

As I work on Holladay card greeting

So glad to see Joe pardon his son

1/2 of GOP congress on drugs w/ a gun

And didn't pay taxes, that's a GOP goal

But, hypocrisy & blame's..how they roll

While he's got immunity, 1 step beyond

Make fat, lying traitor, be up & gone!!

Dementia donnie & JD, disappear at sea

And, a better place the world would be!

Sun got spots, no blasts headed this way

That's 'bout all I got to say..

Today On Earth

Buddy the Cat

Gettin' his bluegrass on!!

December - On & Off Earth

December 2024 - On & Off Earth

There are trade-offs putting a house with a wall of glass on the south side, to welcome solar heating, amongst hardwoods. The cooling provided by those fully leafed trees during the warm months becomes less welcome as we revolve into the cool seasons. But, the solar heating improves with every leaf that tumbles to the forest floor and by mid-November it’s too warm and bright to write, or eat, at my ‘summer’ desk. As December’s sun angle nears its lowest point, the Winter Solstice(@ 4:21am on the 21st), I have drifted farther and farther back into my, toasty warm, little tirehouse.

With just the evergreens and a few, hardy, clingy, red oak leaves to block the views, December offers the bundled up wanderer a perspective of our piedmont world unseen for many months. Our ancient, slowly eroding, wrinkled planet reveals its true self more readily in the winter and with far fewer pesky biting bugs and reptiles. It’s even safer to push the limits on outside strolls into the long hours of December darkness.

The first week of December hosts the earliest sunsets of the year (earliest, the 7th @ 4:51pm) and as the sun sets on our part of Earth, our star’s reflected light is easy to spot, well up in the southwest, on our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus. And, the Evening Star is tracking us down.

After 4.5 billion years, our star and its planets have settled into a geometric resonance; each semi-locked into a balanced, predictable, orbital dance. Venus twirls about the sun nine times while Earth is making but five trips. Over the next 3 months, I'll hope you can get out often to watch Venus swing wide in its journey before catching and zipping by us in early March.

Venus will be joined, a little later tonight, by its brightness rival, Jupiter. With a fairly clear view, by 6pm, facing south, you can turn to the left, looking east and see Jupiter, turn right and see Venus. For the first half of the month, the waxing moon will be somewhere along the arc between the two planets. That waxing moon, its reflected sunlight no longer blocked by leaves, offers bonus outdoor lighting to counter December’s early darkness. Get out and check out the lunar crescent left of Venus on the 5th, near Saturn on the 7th, passing Jupiter just shy of full on the 13th. The Full, Long Night, moon will chase Jupiter across the sky the next night.

December offers a chance to highlight the difference between the mythology of Astrology and the science of Astronomy. Earth wobbles about in its orbit, our space view slowly changing over the centuries. Because Scorpio and Sagittarius are very low on Earth’s orbital plane, the sun actually spends the first eighteen days of December in the constellation Ophiuchus, the Snake Bearer, moving into Sagittarius on the 19th. Who knew there was a 13th zodiacal constellation?

After eating cherry tomatoes from my garden deep into November, the reality of the seasons is here, it’s suddenly cold. The deep deposits of evaporated Great Lake water as ‘lake effect’ snow on cities just downwind of those lakes should be a reminder that hurricane preparedness has become snow and ice storm preparedness. Long range forecasts of La Niña and a milder, drier winter will always be interspersed with the daily reality of Earth’s, ever changing, winter weather.

As a retired Holladay and able to enjoy every day as a Holladay, I realize we are shopping and celebrating our way into ‘The Holiday’ season. However you celebrate this festive time of year, this Holladay hopes your holidays are safe and filled with the sharing of much joy and love.

Today On Earth

And, yes, google sucks as a word processor...stick to slanted searches..

Cold & Gettin' Colder..

While not hammered w/ lake effect snow

The sun has mostly been a no-show

Little solar heating, so Mitzy & a fire

If inside temps are to inspire

Suddenly, most of the leaves are gone

December cold & wind's come along

Quake scene minor, New Madrid reminder

Major potential, mid-continent binder

Billion year old rift, continent suture

Safe bet, more big quakes in the future

Today it's lake snow, piling every higher

Some idiot trucker, think he's a flier

Turmoil on I90, we all know it's coming

Just how many will be a'bumming??

Sun remains spotty, but for big blasts

Seems.. detector servers, flood trashed

Pickle tourney early, blog running late

But, now, woods walk would be great

Today On Earth

Quartz xls

Ubiquitous stuff