WINTER SOLSTICE

      Today is the day we get the shortest day and longest night. This has interested me since I was a little kid. On the farm we played outdoors and were out at night. We didn't have electricity so the night sky was bright. We also new that when we played outside after supper it got darker every day. 

      When I got someplace with a daily paper and the records of sun up and sunset, the solstice was more interesting. 

      So today our sunrise was at 8:42 and sunset at 4:24 for a total of seven hours and 42 minutes of sun. 

      What I find interesting is that sunset on Dec.8 was 4:22 and on Dec. 21 4:24. So the afternoons have started to get longer. Sunrise on Dec 8 was at 8:31 and on Dec. 21 was 8:42. The sun is still coming up later. 

      Our average high temperature in Dec is -4 C and average low -16 C.

     So I always think of the winter solstice as going up a hill and you reach the top. Now it's down hill and much easier. 

MY TWO BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

      Now tell me, can you name your two best Christmas presents? Well that may be a bit of a hard question. I've set the rules. So twist this question around if you like. 

     My two best Christmas presents were my children. Yes , they both arrived for Christmas.

     My children are adopted. When we decided to adopt we had to fill in a detailed application form and have a house inspection and a long interview. We were at the mercy of the bureaucrats. They told us we could be waiting for as much as two years if we were accepted as parents. With this happy news we carried on our lives and careers and put adoption in the back of our minds. The application was made in Sept.

    So on Dec. 21 one of the bureaucrats phoned and told the MM that they had a baby for us! Wow! We were not prepared at all. The MM was just getting ready to go on shift. She thought fast and asked for an extra day from the bureaucrat. The first phone call she made was to resign . She spent the next  day shopping as she had to buy everything needed for an infant. And she did get everything and the big day and trip came. 

    We were delighted to receive a baby boy who was about 8 weeks old. This little guy knew that something was going on and he knew that he was with different people. After a day or two he calmed down.

    So his sister? Almost the same thing. They phoned on the last day of school and would we come to Edmonton the next day. She was about 8 weeks old. 

    Okay we were ready we thought. The usual interview happened and then we were left alone with the baby to make a decision. Who is going to turn down an infant. She looked as she may have a deformity and we had been told she was a healthy infant . Things were reviewed and checked and found to be normal . 

    Off to home we went with a new daughter. Her shoulder straightened out in a day or two. Sad to say that she may have been left in a chilly area and was cold. 

    So there you have it...my two best Christmas presents. 

I'M BAAACK!

        The bunny was back at it's scrape this morning and stayed all day. They rest and groom during the day.

        The first photo is from 9:00 AM this morning. We had 4 to 6 Cm of snow Thur. evening so one of the raspberry leaves was hanging down over the rabbit's face because of the weight of the snow on the leaf. Later in the day the snow fell off the leaf and you could see the rabbit's face. 

       He/She/it will be the same animal coming back to it's spot. The animal probably has several more scrapes where it spends the day. They rotate from scrape to scrape for security. 

MAKING THE BED

       Recently, one of the jobs being delegated to me has been making the bed. As the Micro Manager finds things more challenging , I've taken on some of her jobs.

      What I found is that making a bed is hard. Particularly if you have the Micro Manager supervising. 

      Now my history of bed making is quite small. I don't remember making a bed when I lived at home. When I left home I boarded, and the landlady made the bed. When I went to the Arctic we had a day nighter. This was a combination chesterfield and bed. The chesterfield would roll out into a bed that you made up. If you were careful in the morning you could roll the bed back in with the bed made. so no making the bed there.

     Add wonder of wonders, when I got married the MM made the bed with no assistance from me. 

     However, when I was being brought up my Mom was extremely busy. She rarely had time to make our beds. We were told to go to bed. My bother and I slept in the same bed. We would go to the bedroom and it doesn't take much imagination what two little boys would do. Jump on the bed? You bet . That was fun. Pillow fights ? Oh yes. 

    After a while a loud voice would say , "You boys go to bed." This just meant we could carry on but we had to be quieter. And then finally ,"You boys go to bed or you'll get a spanking." This usually got the message across that we had to take things seriously.

     So there we were. Two little boys sound a sleep in a mess of sheets, blankets and pillow cases. 

     Here are the two little angels who couldn't make their own bed. 

Now some of this may be exaggerated but most of this is what happened and so I didn't learn to make a bed at home either. 

KING OF TACK

        I walked by a house a few days ago and every inch of the yard and house some decoration on it or in it. 

        There's no exaggeration when  I say all surfaces were covered by some kind of decoration. 

       There is much to choose from when it comes to dressing things up for the season. This guy/gal bought everything they saw and placed it wherever it would fit. There was no plan to fit things together as to color or size or lights. Big stuff , little stuff it was all there in the yard. They had many of the big inflatable figures which seem to be quite popular. 

       Some people will go by this place and think it was great. I would like to see a lot less glitter

       I went back at night and tried to get a photo but it would have been much better in the daytime. In the day I had a little more elevation so could look down a bit on the area. 

      So I nominate these people for the King and Queen of tack. (tackiness)

THE JACK RABBIT

     We have the pleasure of having a large jack rabbit population in the city. I've seen them in front of the downtown library so they are right downtown.

     The jack rabbit is fairly large. Length varies from 22 to 26 in and weight from 5.5 lb. to 9.5 lb. 

     They are mostly active at night but usually remain resting in the day. In my subdivision there may be 5 to 12 animals and they visit my yard very often. 

     These rabbits turn white for the winter. That's what this post is going to be about. Most years all animals have their white coat long before this time. This year there are a number of animals that have a winter coat but they are mostly brown. That's what I'm wondering about. Why are these animals still brown rather than white?

     I took the first photo on Nov. 25. The ears stay brown and the ear tips are black. The second photo was taken Dec. 7. I believe this to be the same animal. It has two forms under my raspberries. A form is a place that is smoothed out and they stay there all day.

     This animal will probably keep spending time in my yard every 4 or 5 days until something scares it off. I'll keep watching. 

      

MORE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

          The other night when I visited City Hall Park, I got quite a few photos. I just had to turn around and I had more photos. Some will look the same as there are similar light displays.