East Pole Journal Christmas Day 2019

Snowfall and birds

Snow started just about the time I put the Christmas Eve roast on the grill and it's still snowing 18 hours later, light fluffy stuff maybe 4 or 5 inches. For something to do I ran the snowmachine down to the main trail and back just to pack it down. Upon my return and all dressed up with no place to go I sat in the deck chair for a while and watched the chickadees at the feeder. This winter has been strange as far as birds are concerned. All chickadees except for a couple of magpies who show up every other day or so. No redpolls, no pine grosbeaks, maybe a boreal chickadee now and then, but mostly black-capped. Their flying still amazes me. They can fly full speed into a tangle of tiny branches on the climax birch tree just off the end of the deck. When a merlin came through a couple of years ago, that's where the chickadees headed, into the thick tiny branches where the larger predator couldn't fly. They take their seeds into those tangles too, to peck them open or to hide them somehow. When they fly into a spruce they go right next to the trunk, gaining the same protection from the thick spruce branches that stand guard for them. How they never seem to hit anything flying into those spaces might be something to study.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dinner went off without a hitch using the 48-year-old Weber grill.
Prime rib, mashed potatoes and thick gravy and a Jello no-bake double chocolate cheesecake. (Hoping my doctor isn't reading this or I'll get a lecture next time I go in for a checkup.) Leftovers today, soooo good.

Some new music in a couple of ways

Had a nice addition this year. Around the end of the boom box heyday, I bought a high-end Sony for the cabin. Being toward the extent of the boom-box development it had all of the enhancements made to that date and put out a wonderful sound that fills this little cabin. Good thing there are no close neighbors. Anyway I haven't used it much in the past few years. For one thing it devours batteries, I mean like, play six CDs and that's about it. Between that and the advent of new sources it hasn't been played at all in at least three or four years. So, a few days ago as my gaze bounced around the room it fell on it and, too, on one of the electrical receptacles I put in a couple years ago. One of those "holy crap" moments. I can plug it in. It only took three days of sporadic but intense searching to locate the power cord yesterday hidden among a tangle of other wires in a bottom desk drawer, but now I have a quality source of music again, as long as the genset is running. The Mormon soprano singing "Oh Holy Night" was magnificent.

And speaking of music I have added a new Christmas carol to the collection. I like to find something new every year and this year is no exception. But, bear with me. This one is a little sarcastic or at least tongue-in-cheek. Yesterday the local radio station (which is on in the cabin most of the time) played just about every Christmas song there is. There was an announcer, but I am not sure he listened to the music he was putting on the air. He said, "Here's 'Joy to the World,'" then announced "by Three Dog Night." What? I only had to hear the first four words to figure this one out: "Jeremiah was a bullfrog…" I really did laugh out loud. If you are tired of the usual music by this time, you might enjoy this one. So, anyway, here's my addition to the Christmas playlist for this year:

Don't complain. It's still better than Feliz Navidad. And with that, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
East Pole Journal