And speaking of aberrant behavior.....

....the much ballyhood "January thaw" didn't happen this year. Well,
near enough, anyway. Yes, "technically" it IS currently 32.5 degrees
(F......more or less) here at the tree farm right now.....and yes,
"technically" it IS still January....but COME ON people.....do will
live by technicalities?.....or is this still the Murrica we all grew
up in and learned to love with our mothers'
milk.....um.....eeeeewwwww!

In any case, it's been a weird winter.....so far. True, this MAY be
the result of a change in locale and consequently, entirely to be
expected, change in climatological conditions.....that's what "they"
would LIKE you to think.....but it's got a funny smell to it
regardless.

And what about the pileated woodpecker who keeps showing up in the
front yard and eating......APPLES!!? What the hell is THAT about? I
sweartadog, it (well, "he" technically) sits out there in the apple
tree pecking at frozen pomes. Sure, there COULD BE frozen larvae or
some such in there, but, come on, these guys are cavity carvers par
excellance.....they knock down entire trees for chrissakes! I mean,
what does this guy think he is, a freaking FRUCTIVORE or something!?

There's a five foot tall passiflora standing in the living
room.....and it's still growing.....in January.....in
Curdistan.....and it has a lean and hungry look about it. WTF?

This morning, after clearing all of the freshly fallen snow (about an
inch worth) off the drawbridge at about 5:30 am.....local time.....I
went out for a couple of hours to take care of urgent business. When
I came back there was a half inch diameter and about a foot long black
cherry (Prunus serotina) twig sitting smack in the middle of the
walkway......amid the freshly fallen (since I last cleared it a couple
of hours earlier.....see above) snow.....and nothing else in sight but
four birdy footprints, possibly blue jay or red-bellied woodpecker
judging by the size and recent local observations. Now, why would
either of these deposit a cherry twig in the middle of the
drawbridge.....and on a Thursday of all days? A message? An omen?
Or, looking at it from the other obvious angle, who could the culprit
have been? I mean, it's not as if there's a black cherry close enough
for the twig to have simply DROPPED there of its own volition, and,
yes, we are aware that gravity, sneaky and inexorable ******* that it
is, could have played a role, but it suffers from the same deficiency
as the birds......to whit, no serotina immediately at hand.

Where's Von Daniken (not yet dead, according to Wikipedia, but nowhere
in evidence for all that) when you really need him?

The much talked about "lunar eclipse" a month or so ago, actually
transpired (or transected or transvestited.....or whatever the hell
the correct "technical" term might be), according to the media and the
"experts".....but *I* didn't see it!

No northern lights, no snow buntings, no pine siskins (well, half a
dozen or so.....in EARLY NOVEMBER??!!), no snowy owls. Hm......

And I bought a four-wheel drive pickup truck???!!!!

AND new tires????!!!! What's up with THAT?!

Meanwhile, the plumbing is frozen (well, much of the time, anyway),
the shower doesn't work, and the toilet doesn't flush, and nobody
comes to visit anymore.....except for an addled 74 year old man, a
strapping (if not highly motivated) 15 year old boy, a large black rat
(or what appears to be anyway.....though its hair is kinda long) and a
nine year old princess.

Something is up. I can smell it.

giles
signs......portents.....hints and allegations.