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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The Twelve Days

The Morning of the 29th of December
Sometime in the night I heard what sounded like a large truck going down the street. As I live on a cul-de-sac, it's unusual for large trucks to head up our street, then back down again. Unless it's a snow plow or sand/salt truck (normally one and the same in these parts). Sure enough, lo and behold, when Sasha, the alpha-feline, poked me to remind me that I had not fed her (and her sister) yet, I figured what the heck, might as well get up, to discover that I had heard a big truck. A truck which had apparently applied salt to our street because it had snowed. Snow which had turned to rain.

A very cold rain I might add.

For you see, as I threw on my gym shorts I also grabbed my camera. I figured that I would get some photos of the snow after feeding the felines.

While I did throw on a jacket, I was still wearing gym shorts. Stepping onto the deck, camera in hand, I felt the rain, on my hat-less noggin. That's why there's only three pictures. It was cold and wet this morning. At 0730 when I fed the cats, went outside, and then decided to get out of bed and start the day.

Normally I don't get up so early when I'm on vacation. Yes, you heard that right, vacation. My employer shuts down between Christmas and New Year's, we forego five regular holidays in order to do this. While missing a three day weekend five times a year is a bit painful, it is more than made up for by having this time of year off, without having to take one's "vacation" days. (That bit is in quotes because calling them vacation days is officially frowned upon. Don't ask why, it confuses me. But most things civilian confuse me. I ain't wired that way.)

So yes, I'm off for most of the twelve days of Christmas, which does indeed start on Christmas Day, which is the first day of Christmas, not the last. Don't buy into that commercial crap, I don't. It's not about the song either. Though I do like the song, it doesn't describe what those traditional Twelve Days of Christmas are really about. You can read about that here.

While I am enjoying my time off I am assiduously avoiding Facebook, television, numerous "news" websites, and the like for a number of reasons.

Politics, dissension, name calling, and spurious news items are everywhere and are getting more annoying by the day. I have Facebook friends who will express or pass along the most odd things which serve to annoy me no end. I don't run around threatening to "unfriend" anybody, I just won't read those posts. People are, after all, entitled to their opinions, I am not required to read them.

When I get back to work I'll start reading that stuff again. Maybe, probably. I do like knowing what folks are thinking about, just not when I'm celebrating the holidays.

So I will continue binge watching Homeland (a series which I never thought I would get into, but I did), playing my new computer games, reading, playing with the cats, enjoying the company of The Missus Herself, and generally taking it easy. I am sitting on the bank of the river and watching all the nonsense float downstream. I'll gird my loins and rejoin the fray next year, which ain't all that far off.

But until Epiphany, color me contemplative, non-combative, and trying to stay above it all. We'll see how that works out for me...



Cold today, but very lovely. In an Arctic kind of way...


12 comments:

  1. Saturday, the family and I had lunch on the patio of our favorite restaurant. 78 and sunny. Skies a brilliant blue. Gorgeous day. Sunday up predawn for church and the temp on the highly accurate car thermometer says 40, walk out of church an hour later and the thermometer says 35 and it's raining. By the time I got home it says 32, raining and windy and headed downhill from there. Fire in the fireplace and stayed home all day. You'd think it was December or something! Happy New Year to all.

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    Replies
    1. Among the big topics of conversation around the family hearth at Christmas were: how warm our winter was so far, how cold it was in California (relatively), and how cold it was supposed to be in Texas this winter. (Youngest brother lived in Texas for a while.) I guess that's what we New Englanders do, bitch about the weather, at the same time telling everyone how much we love having four seasons. Heh.

      Happy New Year, stay warm and dry.

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  2. The news here, talks about how warm it was also, unprecedented they say, but this is the dangerous season for cattle and heaters. One of the old stories was, go to school barefoot, and coatless and died of exposure on the way home in unprecedented blizzards. Ere, an hour away from big time flooding, ruining my fishing haunts. Durn.

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    Replies
    1. In New England you learn to bring what you need for any kind of weather. Though Christmas was mild, I had cold weather gear in the car, just in case...

      Sucks to hear of the ruination of one of your fishing haunts.

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  3. "...color me contemplative..."

    That's the word I was looking for the other day when I said I was reflecting.
    Oh well, means pretty much the same.
    Road trips alone will do that.

    I gotta thank Suldog for reminding me about the Twelve Days and that Christmas is only the beginning.

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    Replies
    1. Suldog is a kindred spirit for sure.

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    2. Thanksgiving does indeed come first. It's one of my favorite holidays.

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  4. Remember a grandfather's advice. "I don't care if you go naked, take all your clothes with you".

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  5. Man, your yard even looks incredible in the winter. Neighbor's dog bark at you for being out in shorts?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Hercules (the neighbor's dog) did bark at me as if to say, "What are you, nuts? Go back inside and put some clothes on!"

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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