22 December 2009 Strange light appears in the sky

That strange illumination, unseen for nearly a week, is daylight, a product of the mysterious yellow orb which appeared this morning from behind the eastern valley wall. The older residents refer to the yellow orb as “the sun.”

Whatever it might be called, it does produce a brilliant reflection when the so-called day light meets the creek’s splashing water.

The current temperature, 44°F, is resulting in considerable snow melt. The layers of snow on the roof have been surrendering to gravity and shedding large blocks of snow that can no longer stick to the angled roof. The heavy wet “thud” alerts the dog, who barks each time some falls.


Resumed the hike with Mike today. Vague malaise and concern about road safety led me to opt out yesterday. Today confirmed the wisdom of that choice.

It is about 0.1 mile from our driveway to Mikes. The road curves sharply to the right while descending about 30 vertical feet. Normal pedestrian safety suggests walking so that one faces oncoming traffic. I always do. That put me on the outside of the curve in the road with black ice underfoot at the beginning of the hike. I slipped about four times in that short segment. The sun had not yet topped the ridge so the ice underfoot was relatively dry. We walked carefully on the downhill leg, black ice present at many locations. There was little vehicular traffic but we stepped off the road to avoid as much risk as possible. By the time we turned for the return, uphill leg, the sun was melting the surface of any ice on the road and increasing the slickness by an order of magnitude.

We’ve been enjoying a new feature on our land line; a buzz or static-like sound that is evident on all the handsets and is present whether we initiate or receive the call. Yesterday I called our provider, Century Link. After wading through the auto menu I reached Ulysses and initiated a trouble report. This morning, two vans with phone company logos prominently displayed passed us as we gingerly made our way back to Mike’s. By the time I made it up to our drive they were already parked and working. It appears that the boxlike structure that is on the line had seemed the appropriate place for some small animal to build a nest or at least shelter and leave fur behind. They cleaned it up, called our number to see if that solved the problem, and went on about their day. We’re content with the response time and the repair. Now we get to deal with the robo-calls asking us to input a number from one to five telling someone, somewhere, how pleased or not pleased we are with a, b, c, d, e, f, ad infintum. The last request was for me to tell them, in less than one minute’s time, why I would or would not recommend them to a friend.

Land line carriers are franchises awarded by a locality, a city, or some unit. The consumer has no choice which carrier he/she will use any more than they can pick a power company, water source, or other municipal utility. For that reason, alone, I wouldn’t recommend any utility.

And speaking of strange lights in the sky, the Senate is going to have to work on Christmas Eve. Good!

The current bunch of Senators, along with their partners in polarization in the House do not deserve any time off for any holiday. They’ve, collectively spent the last year doing very little for the nation but quite a lot for the insurance companies, energy companies, financiers, bankers, and lobbyists. While unemployment puts people onto the street, the GOP tries to obstruct any legislation being completed. While the Democrats have sufficient majority to actually do something that might benefit our citizens, they are too busy arguing about abortion to actually do what they are supposed to do.

Abortion is legal. No one is being forced to perform one or have one. Nothing else needs to be debated. People do not get to have a say in how the government spends tax monies. There are many things the government spends for that annoy or bother me. There are also things it does not spend for that annoy or bother me. But I don’t have the authority, and should not have, to dictate how tax monies are disbursed.

If the various churches want to meddle in politics then it is perfectly fine; so long as they immediately register as a political party and begin paying taxes on every cent that they collect. But since that is unlikely to happen, it is time to remind all churches that they have no right to lobby about legislation on immigration, citizenship, healthcare, or abortion.

It is time that we stop shutting down our government for Christmas and Easter. They are religious celebrations and have no more to do with American government offices than do Pesach or Yom Kippur. If Congress wants to establish a winter holiday week or a spring break that have no religious ties, I’ll support it. That could be an interesting letter to write. I’d be more than willing to bet that it would not be selected for publication in the local newspaper.