12 Days of Christmas: 10th

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On the tenth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me....



Ten Cords a-keeping



Nine MD's lancing




8 knaves a-bilking



Seven Swamis sitting

Six beasts a-playing



Five olden beings



Four 'hauling' nerds




Three drenched men





Two fertile loves



...and a cartridge in a bare tree.

_________________________________

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..."

Well, maybe not frightful, but definitely problematic. A winter storm will be impacting holiday travel starting today and into the weekend up the mid-Atlantic. Here in NC, the temperatures at their coldest are running very close to 32 degrees, so the forecast is akin to walking a tightrope. One wobble one way or the other will make the difference between very little to a whole lot in the fluff department. Rain and sleet are supposed to mix in at times, so not a pretty simple snow. Not even close. Places like Blowing Rock could well get over a foot of snow by the time all is said and done.

The other interesting feature in the models is another similar storm coming in Christmas Eve...who doesn't dream of a white Christmas? Alas, my niece and nephew will be down from Boston, staying at mom's, so I don't want to have a really big travel issue, either. Still, I can't remember having a white Christmas in the past few decades. Wow, makes me feel ancient to say it like that!

11 Pipers Piping are up tomorrow...check back to see my modernized twist on this one...

12 Days of Christmas: 9th

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On the ninth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me....



Nine MD's lancing



8 knaves a-bilking



Seven Swamis sitting

Six beasts a-playing



Five olden beings



Four 'hauling' nerds




Three drenched men





Two fertile loves



...and a cartridge in a bare tree.

_________________________________

Too bad this Friday isn't next Friday...we could have a bona fide white Christmas! Incoming coastal system will have air just cold enough to make snowflakes, though sleet and rain should mix in later in the day as temps ever so slowly creep up a degree now and then through midnight. Even though we're riding the temperature rail right at 32, I'm definitely making sure I have provisions and things mailed and such...don't need to be out on the roads, sounds like.

Hard to believe Christmas is about a week away, the winter solstice, the gateway to winter just around the corner. Been lining up a good number of weather shifts at my former station, News 14 Carolina (for the GSO market), for January, as well I should. Dead time of year just ahead, and I'll welcome the hours after the 'thin' fall. I really am ever-hopeful that things will begin to turn around, economically....but I also know that coming out of such a deep well will take a lot of time and patience, who's kidding whom.

Later today I'm going to pop the top on a paint bottle to begin working on a Woodstock tribute flute for a friend...no, I'm not talking about the little yellow bird that is Snoopy's friend. Rather, this is a psychedelic rendition of 1969-esque graphics and colors on a bass C flute for a dear friend at her bequest. Rest assured pictures will be forthcoming! It's a fun project, to be sure....

Just a heads up, I will be foregoing the regular "Fried Fridays" blog posting to keep alive my "12 Days of Christmas" blog this week. Milk and bread, here I come!

12 Days of Christmas: 8th

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On the eighth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me....



8 knaves a-bilking



Seven Swamis sitting

Six beasts a-playing



Five olden beings



Four 'hauling' nerds




Three drenched men





Two fertile loves



...and a cartridge in a bare tree.

_________________________________

12 Days of Christmas: 7th

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On the seventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me....



Seven Swamis sitting

Six beasts a-playing



Five olden beings



Four 'hauling' nerds




Three drenched men





Two fertile loves



...and a cartridge in a bare tree.

_________________________________

Lovin' the mild temps, not lovin' the payback that surely isn't too far away. That was one bitterly cold, snowy, icy storm that pummeled the mid-section of the country last week, and it's not officially winter yet. Surely many metropolitan budgets are stretched to the max, and to dip into the coffers so early in the season doesn't bode well.

For me, there is a disconnect with what I see and hear on the macro scale, economically. The Dow Jones is well above 10,000, a good number of troubled investment funds have seen some healthy improvement...surely there is an impetus within the government and to a lesser extent the news industry to spin things in a positive light. The litmus test of litmus tests, though, is checking in with the common man, and I'm not talking about the 2 story home in a cushy subdivision with 2.3 children (even though I've always wondered what that o.3 one would look like).

Many banks aren't lending. Most companies aren't hiring. Health insurance costs are already going up, with plenty of company plans being diluted to basically catastrophic coverage and that's it. Actually, yours truly gets the double-whammy...

Being self-employed, I have my own policy with BCBS of NC. As luck would have it, there is a 4.6% rate increase for all health plans effective Jan. 1, but it gets better. My birthday is around the corner this month and I get to grab the half-century ring. Just so happens that also throws me into the next older tier which means an additional (read 'sizable') increase in my premiums, on top of the across the board adjustments. The bottom line is that I had to greatly increase my deductible and increase my co-pays just to keep my premium within $10-15 higher of where it has been. I have a good sense that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

This holiday season is noticeably different for millions. Money just isn't there for so many, and while this season isn't about money, holiday commercialism is slathered ad nauseum at every turn. I'm making a lot of my gifts, which is a better way to go, anyway, but I know of many who almost daily have to decide between a tank of gas or food for meals as they juggle they're withered incomes. By no means is the common person out of the woods from the worst of conditions, and I muse if we're even on anything more than a crude footpath as opposed to a highway as we make our way out of the thickets.

There were "8 maids a-milking", but tomorrow there will be...?
Kinda sorta inline with my diatribe above...

12 Days of Christmas: 6th

On the sixth day of Christmas,

My true love gave to me....

Six beasts a-playing



Five olden beings



Four 'hauling' nerds




Three drenched men





Two fertile loves



...and a cartridge in a bare tree.

_________________________________

I was going to use the photo below and call it "6 beasts a-laying" but the grammar police would have been all over me, so I'd written 'a-lying' earlier....but the one I chose to use is phonetically more in line with the song. Worth seeing the pups, even if they are laying themselves down!


I was up and out early this morning to watch some of the Gemenid meteor shower which peaked overnight. Pretty neat stuff. The brief bright flashes are from the debris of dead comet 3200 Phaeton hitting our atmosphere, most pieces being no bigger than a pea. Earth passes through that dust trail each December, and while the meteors can be see going just about any direction, it appears as if they start somewhere near the constellation Gemini, hence the naming of this particular event.

The "7 Swans a-swimming" posed one of the toughest challenges I had for my twisted "12 Days of Christmas"...check back tomorrow for the result!