Where’s Winter?
Warmth continues to dominate our weather patterns halfway through December. A headline in the paper this morning boldly reads, “Historic El Niño could be the strongest in 75 years.” Well, I’ll be.
Yesterday morning, I hurried to retrieve the garbage bin in advance of the arrival of the electrician(s) who were going to diagnose my loss of power in the barn.
I hastily parked the bin on the asphalt just beyond the turnoff to the barn and returned to tending to the horses. As minutes dragged on toward an hour of waiting, I returned to the house and took the bin with me, thinking that would result in the electricians showing up.
When that didn’t work, I went back out again and at the spot where I had temporarily left the garbage bin, I spotted something bright green on the ground. Thinking it might be a plastic piece of the bin, I bent down to pick it up. To my surprise, it moved, curling into a circle.
A caterpillar! In December!? Yikes. Me thinks our environment is reflecting the continued warming of the planet. The little guy didn’t even have a wooly coat on. Whatever trees or plants it consumes will be under greater pressure if creatures that feed on them don’t die off over winter. How is the caterpillar not freezing when the temperature drops overnight?
The guys eventually showed up nearly two hours after the expected time and quickly deduced the power is being lost somewhere underground between the shop and the barn. Two clues point toward likely possibilities.
There was a pile of disturbed dirt from a burrowing critter in the barn below the circuit breaker box where the pipe of wires comes out of the ground. There is also a known splice in the wires from 11 years ago when a skid steer cut them during the making of a drive-able thoroughfare around the back of the barn.
With the ground frozen enough to make digging difficult, revealing the status of that splice may need to wait until next spring. The ground inside the barn wasn’t solid like a rock, so I took a crack at digging in there.
I made it down to the bottom of the pipe and quit when there was no evidence of burrowing down that far. The wires are barely visible at the bottom of the hole and appear free of damage.
To help us out until I can dig for the splices, the electricians rearranged circuit breakers so they all connect to the single phase of 120V AC available. Power usage in the barn isn’t high enough to overload one phase and we aren’t currently using 240V for anything so this works for now.
Whatever failed on the one line could just as easily occur on the remaining line so this is something we want to fix even though the temporary solution is providing everything we need for now.
Since winter isn’t delivering its worst this year, maybe I’ll find an opportunity to dig outside sooner rather than later. However, I’m hesitant about making a big digging mess that I wouldn’t be able to clean up until much later and it didn’t sound like the electricians were very interested in repairing the splice during the winter months (hoping that truly is the problem).
Most likely, we’ll wait and see.
.
.
Missing Phase
So, yesterday I wrote about the stability I have enjoyed throughout my life. That would include infrastructure, which isn’t exactly what I was referring to in my rambling sermon. When it snows, our roads get plowed. When I turn on the faucet, water comes out. When I toggle a switch, the lights come on. Except when they don’t.
My current perception of stability was rocked on Tuesday when I flipped the two switches for lights in the barn and only one set came on. I’ve seen incidences where a circuit breaker fails. That would be easy for me to fix.
It’s not the circuit breaker. It is something I cannot fix. One of the phases of 120V AC coming into the master circuit breaker in the electrical box in the barn is no longer live. Zero voltage.
Since the source of this power is after or beyond our electric co-op’s meter, they do not provide service. That falls on their members to contact an electrician for help. The person I spoke with at the co-op was as helpful as possible in providing information to aid me in deciding what to do next.
The most unsettling thing I learned was that burrowing critters do indeed contribute to underground electrical line failures. He said that when cable insulation gets chewed to expose conductors, the wires can begin to corrode and eventually even turn to dust.
As a result of that, he told me the co-op now runs wires through piping between transformers and homes when doing new installations. Doing so has significantly reduced these kinds of problems.
Lovely.
What are our chances of finding an electrician who happens to have time to just show up when we call?
Well, pretty good, actually. The first company I contacted said “Joe” would call me back as soon as he had a moment. Based on previous experience, I fought my fears that I wouldn’t hear from him for days, if at all.
Cyndie encouraged me to send him love in advance. I sent the whole company love.
An hour or two later, I got the call and he immediately asked if it was a dairy barn and whether it was urgent, or not. When I admitted it wasn’t urgent but we did have horses and the power keeps their water from freezing, he said they would come out first thing in the morning.
We couldn’t be more pleased about that.
Does it work if we send the underground electric cable love?
.
.
Hard Imaginings
Looking back on stories I’ve been told about things that happened before I was born, it occurs to me that I’ve lived through a relatively long period of stability. Thankfully, the U.S. Civil War and the two World Wars didn’t end the United States.
I was four years old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Too young to comprehend the full depth of such political turmoil. From my perspective, the world continued rather seamlessly.
My childhood occurred during the years my country was fighting the war in Vietnam. I was too young to be drafted into military service. I recall being occasionally aware of the risk, but my life was mostly insulated from any dramatic impact of the war. There were reports on the television news about casualties and protests, but as a kid, most of that drama went over my head.
My world involved stepping out our front door to hop on my bike and ride around the neighborhood to see who was outside forming a game of baseball, football, or kick-the-can. The first movie I saw that was rated “M” for Mature in a theater was, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969.
Throughout my life, I developed a naive sense of normalcy about my country. I trusted the local, state, and federal governments to maintain law and order. It was easy to turn a blind eye to our interference in other countries and abuses of power at home. I felt the truth would eventually come out and miscreants would be brought to justice.
I’ve lived a comfortable life. Even when the riots in Minneapolis broke out after George Floyd was murdered by police officers, my property was not at risk. Slowly, things calm and people return to their usual routines.
Is it possible now that the democratic system of government the United States has been operating under since declaring independence from foreign nations is at risk of failure from within? It appears the citizens of this country have shifted significantly from a time when there was broad agreement over who our enemies were, foreign and domestic.
Imagine if we suddenly lost our right to freedom of speech against an authoritarian ruler. The kid in me can’t reconcile how anyone in this country would accept for one second a politician who holds anything but contempt for dictators or communist leaders.
After watching the chilling apocalyptic thriller, “Leave the World Behind” on Netflix, it occurred to me that the majority of average people will have a very hard time on their own in influencing greater society if our government collapses. It is easy to see how things could devolve to every family (or person) for themselves.
It is my hope that the year 2024 will find a vast majority of U.S. citizens coming together to overwhelmingly dispatch any candidate who doesn’t honestly and seriously support our democracy with freedom of the press, equality for all, separation of church and state, and ultimately, liberty and justice for all.
Next November, vote to preserve democracy. Kleptocrats, grifters, and wanna-be dictators need not apply.
.
.
Getting Coffee
We are not comedians and are not in cars but I’d like to pretend you and I are out together for coffee just like Jerry and his guests on his internet series, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” I’ve been binging the series lately and it’s got me missing the days of idle banter with my various accomplices in the fine art of waxing lyrical about all manner of minutiae.
I would describe the futility of cleaning hay bale shrapnel out of winter boots.
When a new pair of boots I ordered arrived recently, I struggled to decide what to do with the old pair. They had been repaired once, but now the rubber base was cracked and ripping away from the upper leather. Feeling they were beyond repair, Cyndie advised me to throw them in the trash.
The laces were worth saving, so I pulled them out. That helped me to notice the leather was in really good shape and could be used for some future project, I was sure. I decided to cut the threads holding the leather to the rubber.
That is when I discovered how much of the nooks and crannies were filled with hay remnants. That new consciousness led me to try to empty my new boots yesterday after hauling nine bales from the hay shed over to the barn.
After dumping all the hay out of one of the new boots, I took a picture to convey the futility of trying to get it all.
A while back, I wrote about how the horses, Swings and Light, drool food over each other’s heads when they eat close beside each other. Yesterday afternoon, Asher and I showed up at the barn after Cyndie had finished serving up the feed.
Cyndie described the challenge of getting the filled buckets clipped to hang as quickly as the horses preferred. She decided to let Swings have a first and then she bent over to hook the handle of the bucket. Do you see where this is headed?
She said, “Now I have a bunch of slobbered feed pellets down my neck.”
While Asher and I were making our way along the north loop trail I was impressed by the power of the low-angled winter sunshine to melt snow despite our daytime temperature remaining below freezing all day.
Is it obvious which direction is south? In the picture, Asher is facing the direction of the setting sun. It never gets high enough to shine on the whole path, but the areas that receive direct sunlight are completely clear of snow.
Based on the present weather forecast, the rest of the snow doesn’t stand much chance, even in the shade. Temperatures will rise well above freezing for the next few days.
By the way, I don’t drink coffee. Make mine a chai latte and bring on the humorous back-and-forth wisecracking about our perceptions of this crazy world in which we live.
Say goodbye, John.
“See ya later, gator!”
.
.
Lap Dog
Weighing in at somewhere between 75-80 pounds, we don’t think of Asher as a lap dog. Especially, because he shows little interest in climbing up to sit on our laps. However, he seems to feel differently when he finds visitors sitting down.
Our kids stopped by on Sunday and Asher climbed up to sit on Julian.
Since that doesn’t happen very often, we captured the novel moment with a photo. It was just so cute. Little did we know, it would get even more photo-worthy.
I hadn’t been paying attention until Julian mentioned his legs were starting to fall asleep.
Asher was out cold, sprawled across the arm of the chair and Julian’s legs. Cyndie has tried many times without success to entice Asher to lie down by her to share his warmth. Silly dog.
Speaking of silly, I gave Asher full freedom to dig for something that was really captivating his nose. I’m glad there weren’t any buried cables in the vicinity. He chewed through roots and dug, and dug.
I wish I knew what he was smelling that interested him so much. Ultimately, he came up with nothing but dirt.
All that digging appeared to tire him out but still, he showed no interest in resting on our laps when we got back inside.
Maybe we should refer to him as being a selective lap dog.
.
.
Calories Galore
How sweet it is. Even though I had been duly warned, there were several instances yesterday when more than the recommended number of cookies found their way into my mouth. Cyndie was a machine of efficiency, cranking out non-stop cookie magic.
She accomplished a heroic achievement. According to the television advertisements I saw during NFL games, I should reward her with a car, diamond jewelry, and expensive perfume for Christmas. Or beer. Or bundled insurance.
By the end of the day, Cyndie needed to get off her feet to control swelling in her ankle. That didn’t stop her from continuing to work on her holiday treats.
She wrapped homemade caramels while watching an episode of “All Creatures Great and Small” on her laptop.
Julian and Elysa stopped by and did their part to reduce the overload by taking home a platter of cookies each. While Julian was here, we tried tinkering with the software for our driveway surveillance camera. We made some progress so that it seemed to be working to ping my phone when a vehicle arrived.
Unfortunately, it also began pinging me even when there was no vehicle. The camera that cried wolf.
I will need to spend a lot more time tweaking the software settings, of which there are many, including a numerical adjustment of the sensitivity.
It will give me something to do while I’m continuing to taste-test Cyndie’s baking results.
.
.
Warning Reissued
.
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM THE WINTERVALE DIET OBSERVATION ADMINISTRATION ***
The WDOA has issued the following High-Level Alert:
000 WDOA26 WRLC 231210 WSWMQT URGENT - DANGEROUS CONSUMPTION ADVISORY Wintervale Alerts Service Beldenville WI 529 AM CST Sun Dec 10 2023 EAT001-004-160100- /O.NEW.WRLC.WW.Y.0030.161008U3031Y-171119T0200Z/ Pierce- Including the city of Beldenville 529 AM CST Sun Dec 10 2023 ...DANGEROUS CONSUMPTION ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CST JANUARY 3, 2024... * WHAT...High calories occurring. Plan on incredible food conditions, including during the evening meals. Additional treat accumulations of 2 to 3 batches per hour are expected. Quantities will fluctuate with periods of heavy servings throughout the alert duration. * WHERE...Pierce County, especially in the areas of Cyndie's kitchen. * WHEN...Until 9 PM CST on January 3, 2024. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The most delectable treats will appear whenever Cyndie is in the vicinity of her kitchen. Be prepared for irresistible aromas and disappearing room in stomachs at times of intense baking. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Dangerous Consumption Advisory for seasonal foodstuffs means periods of high-calorie appetizers, entrees, and desserts may lead to self-control difficulties. Be prepared for off-the-charts satisfaction, and use caution while chewing. . . .
Sweet Anticipation
This is one of those times when any words I could assemble into descriptive sentences would pale compared to a simple photo to depict the sweet anticipation when Cyndie begins to prepare for her seasonal baking extravaganza.
When the cookie tins come out, and huge bags of baking flower, sugar, flats of eggs, and tubs of butter show up from the grocery run, I know it is time to dig out my excessive calorie warning.
The house is decorated, lights are on, purchased gifts are being delivered by all the acronyms (USPS/FEDEX/UPS), and songs of the season keep popping up.
The only thing missing is a hint that ours might be a white Christmas this year. There’s still a little over two weeks to go, but forecasts don’t sound promising in that regard. At this advancing stage of my maturity, a lack of snow bothers me a lot less than it did in the past.
The problem I keep needing to cope with is that our frozen mornings feel so dang cold compared to the warm afternoons we have been enjoying the past few weeks. The back and forth is more taxing on my body than when it just gets cold and stays that way for months. Or should that be, more taxing on my mind? Probably both.
Asher decided to do his best to contribute to the festive decorations Cyndie has been putting up in every available space of our house.
The snuffle mat Cyndie created out of a sink mat became a colorful spread of fabric and plastic shards this morning. It worked well while it lasted. I suppose Asher was just making sure none of his food nuggets had gotten lodged between the plastic and the felt strips.
He has no clue about the smells he is about to be smothered with from Cyndie’s kitchen this weekend. I have no idea whether it will compare to the animal scent trails he freaks out over on our walks around the property. Given the intensity of Cyndie’s Christmas cookie-baking process, I suspect the sweet aromas from the house will have all the wildlife in the vicinity at risk of spiking their blood sugar simply by smelling it.
Don’t worry about me, though. I’ll survive. It hasn’t killed me yet in the past [mumble-mumble] years.
Now, where is that special excessive sugar warning that needs to be re-issued…?
.
.
Out Holidaying
Last night was a festive dinner and a [somewhat] holiday-ish concert at the Dakota in Minneapolis with our friends, the Wilkuses. Singer/songwriters Karla Bonoff and Livingston Taylor performed a mix of their solo pieces with duets and a handful of Christmas songs.
It is such a treat to hop in the car and find ourselves transported from the rural countryside to the downtown streets of the big city within an hour.
Tall buildings!
Highlights include the delicious deviled egg bite followed by a chicken sandwich and fries. Food and flavors that matched my desires perfectly on this occasion.
I was greatly entertained by one of Livingston’s songs where his lyrics sort of break a fourth wall if that can be applied here. I’d never before heard his song, “Railroad Bill” in which the main character, Bill, gets into an argument with the songwriter, Livingston.
Karla performed each of the songs that I wanted to hear in addition to her renditions of the holiday tunes and duets with Livingston, frequently backed by the very effective guitar artistry of Sean McCue.
The one thing missing that I truly enjoy in live concert performances is a blending of voices and spot-on harmonies, to put it in as gentle a way as I can think to say.
Despite that minor gripe, the show and audience contributed to a pleasant dose of holiday cheer. Getting in and out of downtown was a breeze, for which I, as the driver, was very pleased. It didn’t hurt that the weather was unseasonably gorgeous with temperatures well above average.
It felt more like October than December, which made it only a little bit weird to be reveling in the season of having ourselves a merry little Christmas now.
.
.
What Again
It’s back again! A fresh new edition of everyone’s favorite image-guessing game. It’s simple to play. All you need to do is guess what is depicted in the image below.
Do you trust your first impression, or ponder the possibilities? Can you hold off long enough to wait for the answer to come to you, or will you look for the solution right away?
You are in charge, but it is strongly recommended you come up with some kind of guess for yourself before clicking on the image to find out what this could possibly be. Guess your best, and enjoy the mental exercise! What are you looking at?
.
.
Relative Something 