{"id":1129,"date":"2013-01-05T00:55:54","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T07:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/hultquist\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2013-01-05T00:55:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T07:55:54","slug":"happy-perihelion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/?p=1129","title":{"rendered":"Happy Perihelion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word perihelion stems from the Greek words “peri<\/em>” (meaning “near”) and “helios<\/em>” (meaning “the Greek god of the sun”).<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.chron.com\/sciguy\/2013\/01\/happy-perihelion-and-why-winter-is-shorter-than-summer\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday, Dec 29\u00a0 Stayed home today and it snowed much of the day.\u00a0 John did his normal stuff, but added taking some bird seed for the quail out to the back of our property and putting on the side of the hill where the deer are not likely to find it, but we can see it from our back patio window.\u00a0 They usually bed down under the trees or walk by a path on their way around above the creek.\u00a0 He stomped and packed down their path, so the deer might walk by and not find the bird seed.\u00a0 I think I mentioned, but maybe not, that the seed he broadcast up the driveway yesterday was eaten by the deer.\u00a0 He is still searching for our old broken down birdhouse-shaped feeder, which must be behind the fence covered with snow.\u00a0 Good dinner tonight–Ham and the last of the baby Swiss cheese in an omelet with fried potatoes on the side.\u00a0 Been sharing my time between newsletter and music chores.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Dec 30 \u00a0Slow day, no trips away, nice!\u00a0 A little snow, but just cold and getting colder.\u00a0 The quail never found the seeds John put out yesterday.\u00a0 John fixed up all the cars with electrical assists (that have it).\u00a0 The Ford PU got a new battery tender put on to counter the slow drain. The ’09 Subaru got plugged into an engine warmer.\u00a0 My ’04 Subaru doesn’t have one, so John started it, drove it up the driveway, and back into the 3-cornered shed.\u00a0 Other than that it was normal chores outside and inside, and I tried to work on the newsletter, but all my time went to emails and to working up music for the group for tomorrow night. \u00a0I finalized the number of people coming, and the menu sent out.\u00a0 We will have 15 and this list of entries (I’m hungry just reading it):\u00a0 calico beans & cinnamon rolls, ham, exotic bean casserole & applesauce, spaghetti, Apple Crisp and Wine, a dish of Mixed Nuts and a Chicken Salad, a green salad and deviled eggs, Acorn Squash \/ Feta casserole\u00a0 & sugar-free Carrot Cake.\u00a0 The temperature went to 19 and is going further (tomorrow night).<\/p>\n

Monday, Dec 31\u00a0 New Year’s Eve.\u00a0 Today was rather bland; just eating a little, cleaning off a few things, lots of emails, a couple phone calls, working with music to give out to the group tonight, and organizing music for later this week on Thursday.\u00a0 We decided to take only one car and turn up the radios loud in each end of the house hopefully to keep the dogs from hearing fireworks we knew would start after 9:00 p.m.\u00a0 We didn’t get home till 10:00 and all seemed well.\u00a0 Our ham was a huge hit, and everyone brought what they said, plus a few other things.\u00a0 Lots of good food and fellowship.\u00a0 19 people were there for dinner, and 2 more came for the jam session.\u00a0 It was a great evening.\u00a0 We brought only a small amount of ham home, and Rascal was pleased to have some.\u00a0 It didn’t get as cold as they were predicting.\u00a0 We will see what happens by 5:00 am.\u00a0 It stayed up, never going below 24\u00b0.\u00a0 That’s very nice.\u00a0 The problem was our neighbors shooting off fireworks, loud ones, after 11:30, and on for more than an hour.\u00a0 One of our dogs was particularly upset and we finally had to close her in a crate to calm her down.\u00a0 So, bedtime was very late, and we were not happy.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Jan 1\u00a0 HAPPY NEW YEAR!\u00a0 \u00a0Nancy slept in longer than John, but we got to see a lot of deer eating the bird seed on the side hill that the quail never found.\u00a0 John checked out the weather GOES image and found interesting fog in the valleys of WA.\u00a0 We are out of bread for toast, and need to finally make time to make some today.\u00a0 John did it all by himself, except for digging out dirty (dusty) pans I helped washed.\u00a0 We have misplaced our bread pans, not having used them in over 10 years.\u00a0 He mixed up and made 4 loaves of bread, nearly 6 pounds.\u00a0 We have had one piece each while still warm with butter. \u00a0I have worked on and off all day on the annual 2012 greetings and am making good progress.\u00a0 I only have 3 more links to finish, and they have been started.\u00a0 I expect it will get out on the web before Valentine’s Day!\u00a0 Tomorrow I have two events in town, so I hope I sleep well tonight.\u00a0 Foggy here, no rain or snow though.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Jan 2\u00a0 This morning I awoke to the 5 wild Merriam turkeys eating on the far hill where John put the seeds for the quail.\u00a0 Then we had some of his bread.\u00a0 I called some people about our exercise class today, and then took off for the Food Bank music and class after.\u00a0 The pasta company restaurant that usually provides the pasta dish for the noon meal every Wednesday at the soup kitchen was still on vacation, so the volunteer staff prepared baked\/fried chicken, veggies, garlic bread, salad, and opened a large cake for dessert.\u00a0 Went on to the last exercise class until our teacher returns Jan 23 from Germany.\u00a0 I have been leading the class in her absence, but it turns out because I am not a “certified” SAIL instructor (all-day class costing $175), I cannot do it because of a liability issue.\u00a0 If someone fell and got hurt or died, I (and the City) could be sued.\u00a0 I have no desire to become a certified instructor.\u00a0 I have just been filling in because I could and everyone appreciated my efforts.\u00a0 John made Brownies with chocolate chips and walnuts while I was away. \u00a0We froze most of the brownies after dinner.\u00a0 I also brought him 5 blueberry donuts from the Sr. Center.\u00a0 They are now frozen too.<\/p>\n

As I left this morning the five turkeys came and stayed most of the day eating the hill-side seeds.\u00a0 In today’s mail we got a birthday dinner free for him to use in Jan. at the Palace Cafe. \u00a0He has a choice of Angus fried steak, chicken Fettuccine (after 4), or up to $10 off any other meal.\u00a0 Not bad.\u00a0 Tonight, John gave me a choice of 3 things for dinner, and I picked a cheese\/ham\/onion omelet with a piece of his homemade bread toast.\u00a0 I was not in the mood for shrimp or pizza.<\/p>\n

Our friend (the chair of Geog for 12 years of my sojourn here) and from whom we buy hay, called to wish John a happy birthday (saw it in the local paper) and to invite us to dinner over a bottle of Merlot.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we already had plans to go to another birthday party.\u00a0 We took a raincheck.\u00a0 His birthday is coming in a couple weeks, so perhaps we can celebrate both then.\u00a0 (Turns out that will happen Jan 18th)<\/p>\n

Thursday, Jan 3\u00a0 Awoke to 4 of the wild turkeys eating black sunflower seeds on the back hill.\u00a0 Later, the 5th one (big guy) joined them.\u00a0 We still cannot tell if there is just one guy with his harem, or if there are two toms.\u00a0 They stayed much of the day.\u00a0 I left after 1:15 to be at a 2:00 Royal Vista session.\u00a0 Eight of us made it there, and while a small audience, they were appreciative.\u00a0 We all were served cookies at the end of music.\u00a0 After visiting a few of the folks, I drove by CWU to pick up my mail at Geography (including some pocket calendars from the CWU Credit Union) and to visit with the secretary (since 1997).\u00a0 Dinner tonight was tasty grilled cheese and ham sandwiches on English muffin bread.<\/p>\n

Friday, Jan 4\u00a0 John’s birthday is today.\u00a0 I got him a Red Velvet cake but he decided to freeze it for another day with more people.\u00a0 We are invited to \u00a0a friend’s 90th, for a party at Rodeo City BBQ.\u00a0 Turkeys were back in the driveway this morning grabbing seeds meant for the quail.\u00a0 John has not yet put out any more seeds on the side hill from yesterday.\u00a0 I saw only one there early morning.\u00a0 We went to town in the car with the block heater so other than having to unplug it and turn it around, it was warm and cozy.\u00a0 It needed gasoline and we wanted to stop at a new German Baptist bakery in town — Daily Bread and Mercantile.\u00a0 It’s a neat little place with all sorts of pastry making supplies and also cheeses from Ohio and meats.\u00a0 We bought a blueberry Kolache, some lemon\/poppy bread, and a raspberry cream cheese scone to take along tomorrow to our friends for the Raclette<\/em>.\u00a0 We may stop and pick up a birthday cake our neighbor baked for John today.\u00a0 Tonight we were gone when she called.\u00a0 We both had a ton to eat tonight so will not need any breakfast.\u00a0 They served tri tip (sirloin steak) slices with BBQ sauce, corn muffin, with a choice of two of the following:\u00a0 baked potato, cottage cheese, beans, and sweet potato fries.\u00a0 We split our portions of the last four.\u00a0 Came home to several birthday wish phone calls and received several cards, yesterday and today.\u00a0 Tonight at the restaurant they put single candles in front of John and the honored guest, Paul, and the rest of us sang happy birthday to the two of them.\u00a0 Both have surpassed the life expectancy given for their birth years according to this table:
\nhttp:\/\/www.infoplease.com\/ipa\/A0005148.html<\/a><\/p>\n

John says this is both good news and bad news.\u00a0 It is like having a full glass but with more wine in the bottle.\u00a0 Oh, wait. \u00a0Hmmm!<\/p>\n

Saturday, Jan 5\u00a0 We are leaving to be at White Heron by 11:00 a.m. \u00a0This will be a Raclette<\/em> for the families of the volunteer vine pruners last spring.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Raclette#Dish<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope week #1 of 2013 was great.<\/p>\n

Nancy and John<\/p>\n

Still on the Naneum Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word perihelion stems from the Greek words “peri” (meaning “near”) and “helios” (meaning “the Greek god of the sun”). http:\/\/blog.chron.com\/sciguy\/2013\/01\/happy-perihelion-and-why-winter-is-shorter-than-summer\/ Saturday, Dec 29\u00a0 Stayed home today and it snowed much of the day.\u00a0 John did his normal stuff, but added taking some bird seed for the quail out to the back of our property … Continue reading “Happy Perihelion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-id","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}