Sidetracked Charley

Blue moons are either the second full moon in a calendar month or, as Farmer's Almanac defines it, an extra full moon in a season. Historically this extra full moon was called a betrayer moo n because it could set off the timing of Lent and ergo Easter. And it betrays the naming of the twelve moons because suddenly there is this extra one but my calendar for 2009 calls this the Full Long Nights Moon . And the next full moon - Sun Has Not Strength to Thaw Moon - will be January 30th. There is no heavy astrological significance of a blue or betrayer moon other than the usual "lunacy" that occurs around a full moon. My sister, who is a nurse, is not fond of full moons because of the havoc they create in emergency wards. There has been some recent research which says this long held belief is myth but ask any police officer or hospital employee. To add a full moon, blue or otherwise, to New Year's Eve does not bode well. Can you imagine what a full Moon will do to alr...

I guess you could say this was a wonderful Christmas for me. First spending the day with friends and playing in her jewelry studio and then yesterday, Boxing Day, an unexpected invitation to go to Taos and see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I am a long time fan of Sherlock Holmes. I even have read the collections of stories put out. And the BBC has done a very "faithful" job of putting them to film. Nor can one fault the acting. But less face it girls, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are a lot better to look at for nearly three hours. And I love Robert Downey Jr. and Judd Law. So naturally I just had to see it though to be entirely frank I had my reservations. I generally am not fond of re-do's of movies or shows I was already fond of. But even if it didn't measure up I would get to look at Downey and Law for three hours. How can you go wrong? And as it turned out I loved it. Apologies to Sir Conan Doyle but I never quite understood why Watson put up with Holm...

I was talking with a friend yesterday about the winter solstice. She quoted the ABC weatherman at the local channel saying that the day before had been the last day of autumn and the 21st the transition to winter. That would make today the first full day of winter. Something in me just rejected all that. Think back to your weather on the 20th if you live in the northern hemisphere. Did it seem at all like autumn to you? I told her I really believed that winter solstice was more like the middle of winter. Or at least approaching that point rapidly. With freezes in September slowing plant growth and snows coming in October I find it really hard to believe fall continues to December 20th. So I did what I usually do when challenging information I have received - I Googled. And wound up on Wiki as per usual. While it seems it is a cultural difference as to what solstice is called there is much historical basis for Midwinter over first day of winter. The Celts believed winter began No...

There is a short story featuring Sherlock Holmes titled "Silver Blaze" which has become known for the dog that didn't bark in the night. Gregory ( Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." Holmes: "That was the curious incident." This scene was the inspiration for the title of the 2003 book   The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon .) All which is beside the point because my dogs did bark in the night-time last night. Well, very early this morning. If you are an owner of a canine fur kid you do know they have different barks (well, unless it is one of those foofoo tiny things that are merely pretenders to the throne of dog) for different occasions. And living in the country as I do I have discerned the difference between their bark ...

No, not ten more shopping days til Christmas. Ten more waiting days until after Christmas sales. A trip to Santa Fe last year after Christmas netted me some great bargains on holiday ornaments, etc. This year I am going to try to score myself an LCD TV screen and/or a new DeWalt battery powered drill. Pre-holiday prices are looking good but early reports are that sales are down some 50% from last year and we know how bad a Christmas shopping season that was. Besides I am entirely too busy to do anything before Christmas. And my sister is working through Christmas anyway. And because of the wonderful planning of the state and when I bought my van a few years ago practically everything is due in December from van insurance and registration to property taxes and insurance. Who thought that up in state government? The good news is all of that is paid. The bad news is it doesn't feel a lot like Christmas. Even the long range forecast is looking dismal for a white Christmas and I l...

I used to be a Franklin-Covey Day Planner person. A subscriber to 7 Basic Habits for Highly Effective People. I carried the day planner into my life after corporate America. Every year about this time I would be buying the yearly fillers for my book. And on particularly nice years a new binder that said success. Then I tried Palm Pilot. And calendars on line. I came to the conclusion I am a paper person. I have to write (not key) things down. So in 2008 due to finances I went with the engagement calendar instead of the Day Planner. The fact that I chose the Old Farmer's Almanac Engagement Calendar says a great deal about my life these days. It lays flat on my computer desk - generally right in front of the screen - and it includes all sorts of little wives' tales trivia, tips and quotes, as well as the phases of the moon. It allows two inches for each day for notes. I clearly no longer have a life style that requires two pages for each day. Nor does it need to be broken do...

Shades of Little House on the Prairie First let me say I was rather disappointed to discover that Little House on the Prairie was written about the Dakotas. I always thought it was Kansas. But the fact I had been marooned with my parents in a blizzard in Kansas while going home to Kansas City, Missouri for Christmas may have tainted my memory. Second let me mention that I am not a snow hater. I just love it more when it falls straight to the ground and stays there until it melts. I prefer it when it melts within a couple of days. Third, this is not our first snow of the "winter season." We even had a rather serious 7 inches early on. This does seem, however, to be the first one the weather prognosticators have gotten right. Damn! I have been spending my physic energy to turn it south. That part of the state is having a drought of some length and they would really love this. I even tried to get it to Phoenix. They want to steal all the water out of the Colorado River so...

First let me say this is not a picture of me, my cat or my swood burning stove. I do have a huge old iron wood burning stove. And mornings are likely to find me stoking up the remaining embers to take the chill off the room. And it is also highly likely that my cats will be close. So will the dogs. On chilly mornings and evenings the whole fur kid population and me are likely to be close to my formed iron stove. Last winter's electric bill for heating my modest home, coupled with the increased attention to global warming has made me look long and hard at our habits in winter. Why, for instance, do people want to warm their entire house to hotter than then cool it off to in the summer? And central heat is so wasteful. I remember when my father installed central heat in our house on Bellamah Avenue. There were no longer those radiators we could stand in front of to get dressed on chilly mornings. And there was this constant breeze blowing through vents. My current abode has base...

I was sure that December was the coldest month. It is the darkest because of the Winter Solstice falling this year on the morning of December 21st. But when I went to Google and confirm my facts before posting I found the following information: January is the coldest month... Because water retains heat. Between 70 percent and 75 percent of the Earth's surface is covered in oceans, rivers, and lakes. (There's even more water vaporized in the air or stored in the ground.) During seasons of longer days and more sunlight, these geographical features are able to store up and retain heat over long periods of time, before emitting it as the days get shorter. A body of water is far more effective as a space heater than, say, a big field of rocks: The water holds on to five times as much heat per gram . Since I have lived in the mountains of northern New Mexico my feelings run counter to this information. In my memory we often get about ten days every January where night temperature...