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Good Morning all,

Well, today is the Wilnter Solstice, meaning that those of us who are weary of the long nights and short days can start looking forward to longer days again. One of our local papers had an interesting article about the Solstice. The Solstice is also known as Midwinter, the Solar New Year, the Longest Night, Yule, DongZhi, Soyal and many more names referring to the event. The word "solstice" comes from a Latin phrase that means "the sun stands still". After months of crossing lower and lower in the sky, the sun appears to stop before starting to get higher and higher in the sky as we march toward summer. Not that any of us stand there and watch it. But I'm sure we all have certain places around our homes, campgrounds etc. where we notice the sun rising and setting in a little different spot as time goes on. For me here, it is now setting over toward a neighbors garage and later on it will be out of sight to the side of mine as it crosses the sky. When I lived on the lake, you could watch it set in the southwest sky and gradually move till it set in the northwest sky. One of the festivals celebrated by the Germans was the Yule festival in which one burns a Yule log for good luck, hence the name Yule in some of our Christmas songs. Course now that we hit the shortest day of the year, the other side of the earth has hit their longest as they start their descent into winter. But no matter how it's celebrated or where you live, I'll take it.

So on my end, the house is cleaned, took the dogs for a walk over to the park yesterday and watched them work their way downhilll to the lake at the north end of the campground. Don't know what they found interesting, but they managed to get themselves down there and jumped off the seawall (about 3ft high) and were sniffing all over on the beach. Actually Sassy went out on the ice a ways despite my calling her back in off it. But I guess it's thick enough by now anyway as I heard that ice fishermen are staring to test it out.
They eventually decided it was time to rejoin me though and had to get themselves back as there were no stairs in this particular area. I was going to just walk along the path at the top till we got to the one a bit father down, but they somehow managed to get themselves back up over the seawall and came back uphill Now mind you, this is no gentle little hill. It's a bit steep and covered in brush, trees, limbs etc. But dogs will be dogs.

After we got home from our walk, a trip to the local PO to mail a card and a stop at the store down the road here, I cut and sanded the board down that I am going to use to make my sign on. Just gave it a light sanding to smooth it off but not enough to destroy the weathered wood look. Might work on it later today.

But for now, I am getting ready to head into town soon. Have some business with the bank and want to make one more round of the stores to pick up some stuff that's on sale and then stay away from them tomorrow and Saturday as I am sure that there will be a lot of people picking up last minute Christmas gifts and also shopping for last minute things for parties, dinners and what not this weekend.

We are also getting a bit of light snow, wet stuff but just enough to slick up the roads. Will be a White Christmas here although it will be a sparse white Christmas at best. Not enough snow to play in or ski in or run snowmobiles in etc. Oh well.

So time to be off and getting organized here. Have a wonderful day all.

Love the solstice stories. I was born on the summer solstice and my mother always said that it was the longest day of her life: her only girl, her biggest baby (10+ pounds) and 13 hours of labor. I need to find my link to the solar calendar we use here at Okefenokee Passtimes. Each day states the sunrise and sunset time and exactly how many hours and minutes of daylight will occur on that date. Pretty important stuff if you are putting a kayak in the water with gators and want to be sure you are off the water well before dark.

Also wanted to brag a little about the vet I took Gus to in Kingsland, GA. Gus was needed a nail trim and seemed to be having some stool problems. The tech was wonderful with him and after trimming his toenails expertly cleaned his anal glands all the while talking so softly to him that he didn't even jump when she did the unpleasant part of the visit. The vet came in and he allowed the guy to look in his ears but did growl (I think he only likes ladies to touch him). So after all that plus the exam of the stool sample my bill was $30.50. Yes, I even asked the lady at the front desk to check and be sure she had my whole bill. Wouldn't have been in the $100 range in Nashville and I'm not sure I would have had such a kind and patient vet tech which poor old Gus needs. You know he's almost 14 and nearly blind with bad hips (but good teeth for biting) so it takes patience for some things.

So he is healthy and I am happy and my pocketbook didn't get a big dent in it. It looks like a merry Christmas after all.

Oops, meant to say it would have been at least $100 in Nashville. The vet is at Integrity Animal Hospital on Highway 17 in Kingsland if you're ever in the area and need a vet. I'm off to work and then I think I have to work a while tomorrow then off for 3 days to visit big brother. Merry ho ho to you all!

Morning!

Spent yesterday with my DD and had fun. We managed to put together a puzzle and the picture on it was all decorated cupcakes. What's not to enjoy while working on that?!
We then played a game of Scrabble. She spanked me good after making two words worth 70 and 90 pts! She flew out this AM to join up with her family in AZ and they will all fly back on Christmas night. Then the next day is my time to be with them and open presents.

Sue, when you mentioned the sun tracking across the winter sky it reminded me of our time in Alaska. In the winter it came up shining in the lower left corner of our living room window, barely make it past the treetops and then set in the other corner. All on the same side of the house! Generally started around 10AM and was setting by 2PM. I don't miss those long dark days at all.

Got a phone call from one of my brothers, Eugene. So funny as most of our chat was about Dr visits. He just had skin cancer surgery on his face again, just in front of his ear. He's had his earlobe removed already, and now the Dr is concerned about a spot on his cheek. Please, please, please everyone. Wear you sunscreen and hats!

Ok, this ole gal needs some breakfast. Coffee refilled, too. Extra frostly AM here. Brrrrr!
Stay warm and safe!

GOOD MORNING SISTAHS!!!

BRRRRRR! It's colder than a well diggers XXX here. Or at least it feels that way to me. I've had some wicked bad cold chills this morning. Wunderground says it's 29.5f and gonna go down to 13f tonight GADS!!! It's 51.5f in Biddeford ME where I use to live. Something really wrong with that if you ask me!!

Nothing much planned here today. Need to dump the black tank and maybe a run into town after I dump and wash my hair. Maybe go to the lumber store and look at new ele heaters again. I really want that big one buy they only have one and by time I have the money saved to buy it? It'll be gone. Was looking at them online the night before last so might do it that way?? We shall see. If the one we use in the living/kitchen area gets any worse just might have to grab whatever one I can, Don't know why I couldn't have been born rich and beautiful? ~sigh~ Such is life.

Ok, off to read and catch up on the other postings. If your traveling and on the way to someplace special for X-mas please be extra, extra careful and be safe. If your hunkered down already? Have a great day.

Love to all

Sorry it is so cold where some of you are but it was a fantastic day here in Texas. It rained almost all night with a little thunder and lightning thrown in. When I woke up this morning it was sunny and the sky was blue. That is our normal weather but the last two to three weeks we've had cloudy gloomy skies with not nearly enough rain to show for it. Mostly just drizzle. So welcome back sun.

Changed my indoor plans to outdoor plans and drove out to Canyon Lake today and had lunch with Birdie. She fixed a couple of little steaks on the grill with baked white and sweet potatoes. We went for a walk and sat out in the sun. It got up to 70 degrees here in town which is my kind of winter weather! Whoohoo, keep it coming!

Colleen, your rain got here about 9:00 this morning. It didn't get too cold but it rained until this afternoon. We got 1 1/2 inches on Tuesday so it's really messy here now. I had to go to the dentist in Lafayette and I sure hate to go there when it's raining. And the Christmas traffic is crazy. I think I'm almost finished with what I have to get for Christmas and what I have left I can get at Wal-Mart. Would rather have spent the afternoon with you and Birdie.

Martha