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Happy HogWatch & Solstice — Why Now?
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Happy HogWatch & Solstice

snowflakeAt 4:28 PM CST the winter solstice occurs marking the longest night of the year. If everyone has been good, the days start getting longer tomorrow. Locally, the sun will rise at 6:40AM and set at 4:50PM for a total of 10 hours and 10 minutes of daylight, but tomorrow will be a whole 1 second longer.

This also marks HogsWatch, so don’t forget to put out the turnips.

10 comments

1 Kryten42 { 12.23.18 at 12:35 pm }

Happy Hogswatch & Xmas Bryan & all! I hope you are able to take some time for yourself & relax. I also hope that 2019 is a much better year for us all! 🥳😊👍🏾

2 Bryan { 12.23.18 at 8:00 pm }

And a Happy Hogswatch, Christmas, and Boxing day {known as Sales & Returns Day in the US} Don’t get sunburned if you make it to a beach. It is still odd to me that you might get sunburned on the same day I could get frostbitten again. Instead of a sleigh and reindeer, you could get a surf board towed by wombats, or something… 🙂

3 Kryten42 { 12.24.18 at 2:23 am }

No beach for me any more! I’m landlocked. (Nth-East part of Vic.) I once lived 1 street away from the Beach in Vic. (twice actually, near freshwater beach in Sydney too). I do miss that! *shrug* We all have things we miss. The price of living I suppose. 😉 😀

Luckily, I have mostly Mediterranean genes! Med-dark skin. I tan easily, never been sunburned even though Aus. has a higher UV rating than most of the USA. I have had frostbite during winter survival training! It wasn’t fun. Almost lost a couple fingers, I was lucky.

Anyway, you take care and take it easy for a bit at least. You’re not a spring chook any more! 😉 😆

4 Bryan { 12.24.18 at 10:47 am }

It looks like you are in for a heat wave at the same time I’m getting a cold front. All this while the sled dog season looks like it may be a series of cancellations for no snow in Alaska and the Yukon.

My genes are mostly from the Baltic and the sun was something they saw occasionally. I burn under 100-watt light bulbs.

A lot of the tenants are off bothering their families, so I expect things to be quiet locally, but Dog knows what foolishness the Federal government is going to get up to. 😉

5 Kryten42 { 12.25.18 at 5:55 am }

Well, I survived Xmas day (though I may be a bit premature as I still have 1 hr 25 min’s to go! 😆 I just had my special Xmas treat for myself… A Milkshake! But not just any ordinary milkshake (of course)! I made a pot of cold brewed iced coffee last night (takes 12-16 hours to brew properly), added some Bailey’s Irish Cream, real vanilla-bean ice-cream & fresh milk free of every additive from a local dairy I got at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday (they always have a big one before Xmas)! I added a shot (2 actually) of my Glenmorangie 18 yo Highland Single Malt Scotch for good measure. I am comfortably numb! Not much of the Glenmorangie left (I got it as a self Xmas gift 2 Xmas’s ago). Best ‘shake on the planet!👍🏾

I truly hope you enjoy your day, however you plan to spend it. Thanks for being here Bryan! You’ve saved my sanity often. Be well, be safe, be happy my friend.🤗

6 Bryan { 12.25.18 at 11:44 am }

That is one hell of a milk shake 😀

There was a time …. but I gave up booze because I was starting to like it a little too much as well as using it for self-medication. Now I have cats.

Things are quiet, and that is good.

I’m glad your day went well, now can get immersed in Boxing Day sports 😉

7 Kryten42 { 12.26.18 at 2:00 am }

It was! I don’t drink much at all now, but I was never a big alcoholic drinker anyway. It’s taken 3 yrs to finish the Glenmorangie. But as it was over AU$300, I only used it for special occasions. I had a couple of much cheaper 12 yo bottles that I used to help me sleep on some nights. Good quality Scotch has no side effects, unless you take it to excess of course. But that’s true of everything, even water! 😉 😀

This shake was something I enjoyed @ Xmas with Mom. So, I continue it as my only *tradition*, in memory. It was her favorite drink I created for her many years ago. 🙂

Grandad had a good scotch every night before bed, it helped him sleep. Only alcohol he ever drank. He lost a lung in WW1 & a leg in WW2. He always said excess & stress kills most people quicker than anything else. He was right. And he smoked his pipe once a day, with pure tobacco. He said cigarette’s were just poison in a paper tube. Seems he was right about that too.

There are few *real* sports nowadays worth watching. Most are just excessively paid actors & pretenders. Though, I have been enjoying the Women’s cricket, Aussie rules football & soccer the past year! They play for real! It’s good to see true athletes play their heart’s out!

It was great to see Ada Hegerberg, a winning striker for the Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais, win the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or. Though, the ceremony was marred by a stupid “joke” by host Martin Solveig. Typical.

Glad you have some peace & quiet, and yes, that is certainly good! 😀

Oh! Seems we officially have a heatwave! Yayy.

Australia extreme heatwave forecast to break weather records through to new year

8 Bryan { 12.26.18 at 5:59 pm }

Moderation in all things is common wisdom that is rarely understood or embraced, especially by people who have gained a little power. Apparently the common sense to appreciate common wisdom is the rarest thing on the planet. That’s why we keep electing people who aren’t qualified to wash dishes or take out the trash to head up our countries.

Well, there is a bit of acting in top level fussball/football/soccer, but that is usually in the prestige leagues. If you try it in the lower level the fans will bury you under a mountain of whatever they can find to throw. I find the Women’s World Cup to be a better class of play than the Men’s. Your Sam Kerr is always fun to watch.

Cricket is definitely an acquired taste. Like baseball, it takes to long.

I saw the Ballon d’Or video and wondered if she was going to kick over the net. She would have been justified.

Yep, I have been watching the heat wave build. My temperatures have moderated a bit.

9 Kryten42 { 12.27.18 at 12:10 am }

The Test Cricket matches are mostly boring, especially the past decade. But the 20-20 (or Twenty-20, T20) games are more exciting. They are limited to 20 overs for each team & a game typically last’s about 3 hours (with breaks). The Women’s T20 is a lot more exciting than the men’s! Hell, some of the Aussie women can outplay most of the Aussie men in all areas, bowling, batting, fielding etc. Here’s a good YT vid of the highlights of a recent game. I love the direct long throw at the stump’s by a fielder! been awhile since the men did that. 😆 I like the commentary by the team on the vid. 😀

Priest, Kaur leave Adelaide thunderstruck | Rebel WBBL|04

The Aussie Women’s team have won 4 International matches. The men… don’t ask!

Australia win record 4th ICC Women’s World T20 beating England by 8 wickets

Yep! Sam Kerr is an awesome striker too! I’d love to see a game with Sam & Ada. I’d almost pity the misogynist moron that tries to treat either of them like nothing! They’d never be able to breathe after getting their balls kicked out their ears… Though, that would be a good thing IMNSHO! 😈😏

10 Bryan { 12.27.18 at 8:19 pm }

Norway vs Australia in the WWC would test defense. The US Women have been better than the US men for over a decade.

The electronic wickets are a definite improvement over the matches I watched around Oxford in the 1960s when there was an obvious hit but nothing fell [a sticky wicket, I presume]. Yeah, T20 might be worth watching, but not the version requiring meal breaks that lasts days.

Well, sandpapering the ball wasn’t the best idea anyone ever had. Especially when you do it on camera.