New Year's Eve celebrations

Everybody does it differently. Individuals sometimes do it
differently from year to year. This year I'm doing it.....not
alone.....but without any human company. It feels like alone,
though. The cardinals and the blue jays, the goldfinches, the
solitary common redpoll, the downy and the red-bellied woodpeckers,
the tufted titmice, the juncos, and the omnipresent black-capped
chickadees are nearby (where would they go?) but they left the feeders
hours ago, before dark, to find safe and relatively snug places to sit
out the long cold night. Some of them won't be back tomorrow. The
thermometer out at the end of the elevated walkway to the driveway
reads -5. I don't trust it. The actual temperature could be as much
as ten degrees higher or lower. Personally, I think it's lower. But
it's better than the one stuck to the window. That one only reveals
the temperature of the window pane.....interesting, but not very
useful. Anyway, it doesn't matter much. It's COLD out there. The
only thing I can see moving by the light of the full moon is the smoke
coming out of the flue above the wood burning stove, and even it looks
listless in the chill and still air. Coyotes are singing off in the
distance but they sound especially mournful tonight. Maybe they don't
care much for the new year. Maybe they lament the passing of the
old. Maybe '09 was a very good year for them. Even the great horned
and the barred owls seem to have left off their courtship......haven't
heard so much as a single hoot out them since I arrived this morning.
Lately they've been quite active, getting ready to breed, build nests,
incubate eggs and start rearing their young. Even more surprising,
the gang of crows that usually harass the owls (the ruckus is a
clarion that sends us rushing out the doors to get a look at an owl
when it inevitably tries to escape its tormentors) are entirely
absent.....haven't seen or heard one all day.

Well, maybe they're all resting. Maybe their celebrations start late
and last into the wee hours. Perhaps, just this one night out of the
year, they go into the deep and dark places to do their animalian
things in private, far from the persistent and annoying eyes and ears
of the tourists who so regularly invade their space. If so, they've
certainly picked the right night for it. I'M not going out there to
find them. Too late, too cold, too comfortable here in the house with
the smell of wood smoke and coffee. Too many good books beckoning
from the shelves and from the tables and from the counters and from
the chairs and from places where you can't see them but you can hear
them whispering your name. Mostly, though, too late. It's almost
eleven and I don't have another wakeful hour in me.

Besides, I've been celebrating since I got up and hit the road at six
this morning. Celebrated all through the three hour drive, and every
minute since arrival. Celebrated getting back on the tractor to plow
through the fresh snow that has fallen since I left on Sunday.
Celebrated hauling wood from the pile behind the barn to the one
behind the house. Celebrated my hosts' company for a couple of hours
while they were here and then celebrated their departure when they
left for a dinner engagement in the city. Celebrated eating way too
much real authentic Wisconsin chili (tomato sauce with hamburger,
celery, kidney beans, maybe some onion, and a dash of some wretched
chili powder concoction. I put it on spaghetti. Tasted like home.

Sometime tomorrow Becky and her brother will be rolling in. Larry and
Gisela will be back. Who knows who else might show up? Larry has a
lot of friends. Pretty cold, though. Probably won't be many. That's
o.k. Celebrating can be pretty exhausting.

So, how are YOU celebrating New Year's Eve?

On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:13:11 -0800 (PST), Giles
wrote:

Everybody does it differently. Individuals sometimes do it
differently from year to year. This year I'm doing it.....not
alone.....but without any human company.

snipped

So, how are YOU celebrating New Year's Eve?


Drinking a Leinies and keeping a slug of Caol Ila scotch on deck for
the 12 strokes of midnight. And then to bed.

Happy New Year, Auld Acquaintance.

Geo. C.

On Dec 31, 11:13*pm, Giles wrote:

Tasted like home.

Sounds like a pretty good celebration.

-Dan

(Who's currently rocking the little guy back to sleep. Sure beats
watching the ball drop)

Just finished . . . celebrating a 30 years late wedding party for
friends. Its an older soccer/outdoors crowd, Filipino Farmers hall all
prettied up and a nite when I cannot avoid dancing. Year's travel
slides touting walls, some good wine, more white hair. Rain and muddy
parking lot. Kids fly out tomorrow.

Dave

"Giles" wrote in message
...
Everybody does it differently. Individuals sometimes do it
differently from year to year. This year I'm doing it.....not
alone.....but without any human company. It feels like alone,
though. The cardinals and the blue jays, the goldfinches, the
solitary common redpoll, the downy and the red-bellied woodpeckers,
the tufted titmice, the juncos, and the omnipresent black-capped
chickadees are nearby (where would they go?) but they left the feeders
hours ago, before dark, to find safe and relatively snug places to sit
out the long cold night. Some of them won't be back tomorrow. The
thermometer out at the end of the elevated walkway to the driveway
reads -5. I don't trust it. The actual temperature could be as much
as ten degrees higher or lower. Personally, I think it's lower. But
it's better than the one stuck to the window. That one only reveals
the temperature of the window pane.....interesting, but not very
useful. Anyway, it doesn't matter much. It's COLD out there. The
only thing I can see moving by the light of the full moon is the smoke
coming out of the flue above the wood burning stove, and even it looks
listless in the chill and still air. Coyotes are singing off in the
distance but they sound especially mournful tonight. Maybe they don't
care much for the new year. Maybe they lament the passing of the
old. Maybe '09 was a very good year for them. Even the great horned
and the barred owls seem to have left off their courtship......haven't
heard so much as a single hoot out them since I arrived this morning.
Lately they've been quite active, getting ready to breed, build nests,
incubate eggs and start rearing their young. Even more surprising,
the gang of crows that usually harass the owls (the ruckus is a
clarion that sends us rushing out the doors to get a look at an owl
when it inevitably tries to escape its tormentors) are entirely
absent.....haven't seen or heard one all day.

Well, maybe they're all resting. Maybe their celebrations start late
and last into the wee hours. Perhaps, just this one night out of the
year, they go into the deep and dark places to do their animalian
things in private, far from the persistent and annoying eyes and ears
of the tourists who so regularly invade their space. If so, they've
certainly picked the right night for it. I'M not going out there to
find them. Too late, too cold, too comfortable here in the house with
the smell of wood smoke and coffee. Too many good books beckoning
from the shelves and from the tables and from the counters and from
the chairs and from places where you can't see them but you can hear
them whispering your name. Mostly, though, too late. It's almost
eleven and I don't have another wakeful hour in me.

Besides, I've been celebrating since I got up and hit the road at six
this morning. Celebrated all through the three hour drive, and every
minute since arrival. Celebrated getting back on the tractor to plow
through the fresh snow that has fallen since I left on Sunday.
Celebrated hauling wood from the pile behind the barn to the one
behind the house. Celebrated my hosts' company for a couple of hours
while they were here and then celebrated their departure when they
left for a dinner engagement in the city. Celebrated eating way too
much real authentic Wisconsin chili (tomato sauce with hamburger,
celery, kidney beans, maybe some onion, and a dash of some wretched
chili powder concoction. I put it on spaghetti. Tasted like home.

Sometime tomorrow Becky and her brother will be rolling in. Larry and
Gisela will be back. Who knows who else might show up? Larry has a
lot of friends. Pretty cold, though. Probably won't be many. That's
o.k. Celebrating can be pretty exhausting.

So, how are YOU celebrating New Year's Eve?

Witha headache and I didn't drink a thing beyond Pepsi last night?

Op

With the grandkids as we have done for the past 5 years wife says next
year is our turn to do something dinner and a drive maybe........Happy
New Year all

never really cared much about the traditional holidays, except as they
freed me from other obligations and allowed for new adventures or sloth.
doing a lot more of the sloth stuff nowadays...but, this new year's
festivity was spent mainly basking in the warmth of my life-mate's
giggles and conversation, watching ken burns' national parks documentary
again(a xmas gift from my son), and receiving more lessons about the
human condition from my four-legged professor, gia.

glad to be around for the start of another year, with the promise of
more time wandering about in remote places chasing the great mystery.

jeff (it's a chilly 52 here just now...damn rain clouds obscure the sun
and chill the air unbearably! G)

Giles wrote:
Everybody does it differently. Individuals sometimes do it
differently from year to year. This year I'm doing it.....not
alone.....but without any human company. It feels like alone,
though. The cardinals and the blue jays, the goldfinches, the
solitary common redpoll, the downy and the red-bellied woodpeckers,
the tufted titmice, the juncos, and the omnipresent black-capped
chickadees are nearby (where would they go?) but they left the feeders
hours ago, before dark, to find safe and relatively snug places to sit
out the long cold night. Some of them won't be back tomorrow. The
thermometer out at the end of the elevated walkway to the driveway
reads -5. I don't trust it. The actual temperature could be as much
as ten degrees higher or lower. Personally, I think it's lower. But
it's better than the one stuck to the window. That one only reveals
the temperature of the window pane.....interesting, but not very
useful. Anyway, it doesn't matter much. It's COLD out there. The
only thing I can see moving by the light of the full moon is the smoke
coming out of the flue above the wood burning stove, and even it looks
listless in the chill and still air. Coyotes are singing off in the
distance but they sound especially mournful tonight. Maybe they don't
care much for the new year. Maybe they lament the passing of the
old. Maybe '09 was a very good year for them. Even the great horned
and the barred owls seem to have left off their courtship......haven't
heard so much as a single hoot out them since I arrived this morning.
Lately they've been quite active, getting ready to breed, build nests,
incubate eggs and start rearing their young. Even more surprising,
the gang of crows that usually harass the owls (the ruckus is a
clarion that sends us rushing out the doors to get a look at an owl
when it inevitably tries to escape its tormentors) are entirely
absent.....haven't seen or heard one all day.

Well, maybe they're all resting. Maybe their celebrations start late
and last into the wee hours. Perhaps, just this one night out of the
year, they go into the deep and dark places to do their animalian
things in private, far from the persistent and annoying eyes and ears
of the tourists who so regularly invade their space. If so, they've
certainly picked the right night for it. I'M not going out there to
find them. Too late, too cold, too comfortable here in the house with
the smell of wood smoke and coffee. Too many good books beckoning
from the shelves and from the tables and from the counters and from
the chairs and from places where you can't see them but you can hear
them whispering your name. Mostly, though, too late. It's almost
eleven and I don't have another wakeful hour in me.

Besides, I've been celebrating since I got up and hit the road at six
this morning. Celebrated all through the three hour drive, and every
minute since arrival. Celebrated getting back on the tractor to plow
through the fresh snow that has fallen since I left on Sunday.
Celebrated hauling wood from the pile behind the barn to the one
behind the house. Celebrated my hosts' company for a couple of hours
while they were here and then celebrated their departure when they
left for a dinner engagement in the city. Celebrated eating way too
much real authentic Wisconsin chili (tomato sauce with hamburger,
celery, kidney beans, maybe some onion, and a dash of some wretched
chili powder concoction. I put it on spaghetti. Tasted like home.

Sometime tomorrow Becky and her brother will be rolling in. Larry and
Gisela will be back. Who knows who else might show up? Larry has a
lot of friends. Pretty cold, though. Probably won't be many. That's
o.k. Celebrating can be pretty exhausting.

So, how are YOU celebrating New Year's Eve?

"Mike" wrote in message
...
With the grandkids as we have done for the past 5 years wife says next
year is our turn to do something dinner and a drive maybe........Happy
New Year all

Happy New Year to you and yours as well Mike!

Op

"Giles" wrote in message
...



We went to a movie. Blindside. Good movie. Even better that it is based
on a true story. Then ended up at Macaroni Grill as the 2 other places we
were going to have dinner at were closed early for New Years. Watched the
ball drop and then went to bed. Nice evening. Oh I had Mama's Trio. Wife
had pizza. We were discussing how life changes. In our 20's, we as a group
hired a hall and a band and had large New Years Celebrations.

On Jan 1, 9:29*am, Mike wrote:
With the grandkids as we have done for the past 5 years wife says next
year is our turn to do something dinner and a drive maybe........Happy
New Year all.
Hey, Mike. How you feeling? Hope all is well. Happy New Year. Go
Bruins!
Frank Reid