A Curious Statistical Anomaly

The year 2009 is fast approaching.  Just a bit longer and the we’ll begin fresh with another year.  Of course this New Year’s Eve will be one second longer than the last several as a leap second is added to bring us back into synch with the Earth’s rotation around the sun.  It’s the time that people make merry and make lists of resolutions that they hope no one will remember so they don’t have to keep them.  Of course some people make resolutions that they do intend to keep — I hope all those who make resolutions with such intentions manage to follow through on their plans to improve their lives.

2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy. I ran across this bit of information on the Astronomy Photo of the Day site. They also had this beautiful video of some of the wonders you can find watching the sky.

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

So, why not make one of your resolutions for 2009 to take the time to look up at the stars. Wonder at the beauty of the universe and the fragility of our place within it. Learn to recognize some of the major constellations. The universe is grand and our solar system is such a tiny bit in a very large sea.

Me. My plans are to write more, read more, exercise, and enjoy every minute of every day with my full attention. Carpe Diem.

Today was a day of surprises. I woke up to find Hyperion already out and about. He heard me moving around and said to come out on the landing. I did. What did I see? The Christmas tree just infested with tigers holding signs.

You see, along with collecting bears, we also have a fair collection of tigers (most from the same company). Some friends also have collected animals and we often will put them in situations and take pictures and share them around. So, somehow the tigers managed to print off signage, climb the tree with their signs and then go teddy for the day. (You know that stuffed animals have to always stay put when in the presence of people; a state that is called “going teddy”. That’s why you have to take pictures of them when they do things like this — of course, we keep hoping we’ll catch them at it someday but so far tigers — lots of points,  and all us humans — zip.

We’re having a quiet Christmas watching Christmas movies, reading, talking and just enjoying each other’s company. Friends called earlier with good wishes. I sent out email wishes to friends today. My son just called — he’s also having a great day.

I hope that all of you reading this blog are having a great day of joy and laughter.

It’s finally here — Christmas Eve and I’m all a twitter with excitement. I love Christmas, it’s my favorite holiday. I also love the artwork of Mary Englebreit, it makes me think of loving people, small towns, knowing all your neighbors, watching out for those around you, and just being the way life should be — or the way we wish it was only with all the conveniences of now. Anyway, we now have this flag at the end of our driveway. We took down the other flag we had to put this one up. I’ve been looking for this particular flag for a couple of years and had just about given up. But, I found it in our local Home Depot when I decided to take another look in case there was something more to my liking than the usual snowmen, poinsettias, and pine trees decorated in the wild. I just spent about thirty minutes trying to find a website that sold this flag so I could point to it but could not find one — Amazon didn’t even have it (which explains why I looked for it for so long).

I love this visual because I believe. Yes, there is a Santa. If you doubt it, you should read (or reread) Francis Pharcellus Church’s answer to Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter to the editor of the New York Sun. Virginia’s question was:

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Church’s complete answer may be found here at the Newseum site. But the part that has always stayed with me and brings tears to my eyes whenever I read it is this paragraph:

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

I love Christmas not for the gifts, I don’t even care if I get any. I love it because it seems that, barring a few incidents (think Walmart stampede), Christmas is a time when people on the whole forget to be afraid of one another. People smile at you and nod a greeting when you walk on the sidewalk. The clerks in stores seems to actually recognize that there is a customer before them and make eye-contact and wish you a happy holiday. Everyone seems just a bit friendlier and kinder and more concerned for their fellow human than during the rest of the year. If only we could keep the good spirits of Christmas all year long this world would, in my opinion, be a lot better off.

So, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas or whatever flavor of this holiday season that you celebrate be it Hanaukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or some variation I’m not aware of. All of these holidays have the common believe that people should be kind to each other, families should gather to celebrate and give thanks for their blessings. So, blessing and best wishes for all.

And because I so enjoy tracking Santa’s progress during the evening on Christmas Eve, I thought that those of you with children (or who are young at heart) and who do celebrate Christmas may want to check out NORAD’s Tracks Santa 2008. (Remember to turn on scripts if you have them turned off). Enjoy your evening — I plan watch A Muppet Christmas Carol and other Christmas movies and spot check Santa’s progress.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a good night.

I’ve been interested in trying to live off the grid for many, many years.  But as our energy and economic crises get worse and worse it gets to be more important to start the process. I found this interesting article, “How to Unplug From the Grid” on New Scientist. The article seems pretty comprehensive in a general here’s what you have to consider way.

For example:

The good news is that the energy you require is likely to be a fraction of what you presently use, says Tony Brown, head engineer at the UK’s Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth in Powys. The average UK household uses around 4500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, plus some 18,000 kWh of gas for cooking, hot water and domestic heating. In the US the figure varies considerably from region to region. For example, households in New York City use around 4700 kWh a year, whereas those in Dallas use 16,100 kWh: there are a lot of air conditioners in Texas. In chillier regions where people use gas for heating and cooking, on the other hand, they can burn up an extra 28,000 kWh or so per household.

We looked long and hard to find just those numbers when we first were starting to learn about the possibilities. However, just about everyone says the same thing. Before going jumping in with both feet, find out how much you can cut your consumption of power. Some of the best ways to reduce your power usage (from the article):

The biggest energy savings will come from properly insulating your home to minimise heat loss. That done, you’ll need to work out what is eating up the rest of the power you consume. The easiest way to do this is to buy an energy monitor that can provide a live display of your total energy consumption or that of individual appliances (see “What’s guzzling the juice?”). This will help you focus on reducing consumption to the bare minimum, not just by switching to low-energy light bulbs and energy-efficient white goods, but also by turning unused appliances right off rather than leaving them in standby mode. With a bit of effort and investment, you should be able to get by on a few hundred kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

We’ve started to do some of this. We’ve replaced as many of the light bulbs that we can reach with compact florescents or halogens (lower wattages — same brightness). We bought a door for the basement that was insulated and had insulated glass (double pane with gas between). We hope to take out the current lowest value allowed insulation in our basement and replace with the appropriate level soon — maybe this summer depending on whether we instead opt to replace our single pane windows with double or triple panes to reduce leakage.

We’ve got a long way to go before we’ve reduced what we’re currently using to reasonable levels but we’re working on it. From the article we can see that there’s more to think about and more to do.

What’s your favorite energy reduction strategies? I’m always interested in what others are doing.

And thus we see the real problem with saving energy … money. For years we’ve been able to waste energy left and right because it was cheap. Our entire infrastructure is built on the philosophy that it’s better to the burn extra power than to spend money to improve the system.  Now energy is getting more expensive, but our “cheap” infrastructure can’t just be easily made more efficient.  Then there’s the price of doing what’s right.  Gayle mentioned that we got a new door.  What she didn’t mention is that we asked about the most efficient door.  It would have been $9000 (needless to say we went with a less efficient door and a lower price we could afford).  Nine thousand for a freaking door?  It’s just a bunch of wood and glass with a bit a metal and gas tossed in.  Where does nine thousand dollars come from?  Well it comes from the fact that people that want to save the world tend to be the kind that will spend the cash to bring it about.  The others are cheap and just want a door that closes and locks.  So if people really want to save the planet, you might as well make some extra profit off of their activism.  It’s the American way, after all.  See a need, exploit a need.  Don’t stop squeezing until the pennies stop bleeding.  Okay, maybe that’s a bit pessimistic, but I’m going to be stubborn and stick with it.  So if we want to re-insulate the basement, or change out the windows, we’re going to have to be prepared to spend a good chunk of change to make it happen.  Some, but not all of these changes will pay for themselves over time with reduced energy costs.  Some won’t.  But if you don’t have the money to spare right now, you can’t save money over the long haul, and will end up spending a lot more in the end.  And meanwhile the DVD player keeps blinking 12:00 (not ours but others — but that’s a topic for another rant).

You’re probably wondering why I have a cup as the image for this post. Well, this is the new December coffee cup. There was a bit of an accident with the original December coffee cup. I was making bread and opened the cupboard to get out the measuring cups when the cupboard exploded. Well, it didn’t actually explode but it seemed like it to me as things just fell out of it shattering an heavy eight ounce glass and breaking my December mug into 6 pieces. The glass was the worse as it left splinters of glass all over the cupboard, the floor, and the small rug in front of the sink. Luckily, I had shoes on. But it took quite a while to get all the pieces and slivers (and cup/glass contents wiped up). But finally, it was a shoe free zone again — except I’d lost a cup I really, really liked. This weekend I found this cup and it seemed like a fair replacement to help me keep in the Christmas spirit.

We’ve had the tree up since December 1st. I thought I’d finally get a photo in of it. We found a nifty tin Santa tree topper (actually it’s a table topper). Hyperion and I have never been able to find a tree topper that we think is more than so-so and this was a compromise to replace our star ornament that we’ve been weaving over the upper branch to use as a tree topper for the last few years. This Santa is made of painted tin and is cone-shaped so it fits on the tree top. It also matches with most of our ornaments. We have lots of Santa ornaments interspersed with some ornaments Hyperion made as a child, some bear ornaments (of various types), and then the rest are sort of homespun/natural type ornaments. All of the ornaments are ones we’ve collected over the years and have meaning for us or made us smile, laugh, or giggle when we saw them.

Bear-Making Part two:
When last you saw the bear I was making it was the various parts — flat. I’ve now got them all sewed together: arms are arms, legs are legs, and the body is one piece. I’ve also stuffed the body/head and limbs. The seams are still open in the arms and legs so I can add in the large buttons that I use for joints.

What’s left to do now is to sculpt the bears face, add the buttons into the interior on the arms and legs and connect to the bear for joints so that it can sit or stand or be positioned. The button go inside so that the child can’t pull them off and eat them. I also use large buttons so that IF for some weird reason they get out of the arms or legs they’re too big to swallow and choke on.

Hopefully, I’ll get to the face sculpting and connecting the arms and legs sometime soon. Meanwhile, this little proto-bear sits there looking forlorn and a bit lost.

Baby sweater:
Last time you saw this project it was on the needles and only down to just below the arms. I’ve got it finished except for blocking. I crocheted around the edges and added a crochet tie. I like ties rather than buttons on baby sweaters whenever possible so the baby can’t pull the buttons off. Okay, okay — so I have a tiny bit of a problem with baby safety issues. These ties, since their in one piece with the edging that goes all along the outside edge of the sweater, can’t be just pulled free and swallowed by baby. (PS: I think the mom-to-be reads my blog so pretend it’s a surprise when this shows up at some point as a gift. Okay?)

So, I’m now on a roll with finishing things off. I’ve still got some green fleece to spin, three sweaters on the needles, a lace scarf on the needles, a pair of socks, and a pair of mittens (which I might give up on). So, it’s a toss up when I’ll find the time but I’m trying to fit the knitting into the spaces where I have wait time (usually for downloads). However, I finally found my wire book holder so I can knit and read at the same time. But, it only really works well for hardcovers and trade paperbacks. So, I read all those first this month, and now I’m into the paperbacks so the knitting is on hold again.

Anyway, after the excitement of exploding cupboards and smashed cups, several very bad fibromyalgia days (where I could barely move), I think I’m back to being mostly normal and may be back to posting again.

It’s cold outside. Well, cold for Maryland. Yesterday there was a lot of wind as well, but today it’s just a calm, cold, cold, day.

I miss the seasons. I grew up in Maine in a small town called Mexico. Yeah, I know. It’s on the famous Maine sign at the Tourist Information Center just after you cross the bridge into Maine and get on the Turnpike. Mexico is not that far from So. Paris, Norway, and Sweden. But the point is that I grew up with seasons. There was Spring, Mud, Summer, Fall, Mud, and Winter. Yes, there were two seasons of Mud if it was rainy enough.  And if Mud season was bad enough we had an additional season of mosquitos and black flies, but we had those anyway no matter what season (except Winter).

The Christmas Holiday season always meant snow. I think that during my childhood we only had one year when it didn’t snow (to stick on the ground) until Christmas Eve. That’s become more frequent over the years. But, here in Maryland, there’s has seldom been snow during the Winter; at least during the ten+ years we’ve lived here. People tell us they used to always have snow for Christmas but not anymore, or at least in our part of the state. Last Friday, we had a few bits of white falling from the sky but it was gone the minute it touched down. Even Maine doesn’t have snow except in the mountains and ski areas — and I think they make most of their snow in the ski areas now because the winters aren’t what they used to be.

I talked to my mom, who still lives in Maine, and she said it snowed the other day but then it rained and it was all gone or mostly all gone as far as she could see. She lives in town, but still — it’s December and there’s still no snow yet back in my home town in Maine.

So, here it is sixteen days until Christmas and once again it’s still Fall here in Maryland. The leaves have fallen and piled up where we haven’t done anything to get rid of them. They’re beautiful in their own way — orange, yellow, and some reds along with the dead browns. The trees are bare against the sky which today is a clear, cold blue of water ice.

It is beautiful but I miss the white drifts of snow that always meant Christmas is coming when I was a child. My husband just says I should be very glad we don’t have to shovel six feet of the stuff off our quarter-mile driveway. He’s right but I still miss the Winter season of snow.  [Hyperion: That’s because she’s not the one that had to shovel it.  I like snow too but, I’m just saying, there needs to be priorities :-)]

Guess I’m just feeling nostalgic today. Home with the tree lights on and a mystery to read (Bones of Betrayal by Jefferson Bass) which I’ll be reviewing for Gumshoe Review’s January issue. The story takes place in the cold. So, guess I’ll just go back to sipping my warm coffee with it’s Mocha Peppermint creamer and visit the world of the body farm and stop thinking about the snow that isn’t outside my window.

I got bored the other day and found a new time sink. I needed to finish a sweater I was working on and stuff a bear or two — so I wanted something to watch. But, I didn’t want to go to the TV. YouTube videos are usually short. Someone had told me about Hulu.com earlier and I’d checked it out. So, I thought this is perfect.

Hulu has movies and TV shows for free. The catch is that they have commercials but so does TV so what’s the difference. I have a pretty fast connection so thought I’d give it a try. Mostly, I wanted to check out the TV shows. Our TV is in the basement — the very, very cold basement so we don’t watch it much (actually, we don’t watch it at all during the winter). So, I watched Bones. I’d never seen it so started with season one. Luckily, that was the only season they had other than season four, I think. I’m now thinking I’ll need to put the season boxed sets on my Amazon list. I loved them. I’ve scoped out some more shows that I want to watch so I’ll be coming back to Hulu.

Oh, I did finish the sweater and the stuffing. Photos tomorrow probably.

We’d tried to watch the NetFlix online on my husbands computer but the sound was horrible. NetFlix also requires that you use IE (and I hate IE with a passion). Eventually, after several disastrous listening experiences with NetFlix, we desperately wanted to watch something and found my laptop had better sound. Of course, I had to update IE first but finally, NetFlix’s Watch Now works on my laptop with decent sound. So, guess that will be a secondary time sink when I need to find something for my eyes and ears when my hands are busy.

I’ve tried reading and doing crafts but if it’s not a simple ribbing or stockinette stitch, I can’t read. I need to watch something or I get antsy and nervous feeling like I’m cheating by just doing one thing. In fact, I can’t just sit and watch a movie anyway, I have to do something with my hands so socks are a good small project for movie watching.

Anyway, check out Hulu and see what you think. But you have to have a connection fast enough for streaming video. If you can’t do YouTube, you probably can’t do Hulu either.

I seem to be in a nesting mood lately. Maybe it’s because Christmas is this month and that brings to mind hearth and home, family, and love. Today I made bread and soup for supper.

I also worked on the baby sweater for a friend’s impending family member. I’d gotten a copy of 101 Luxury One-Skein Wonders. It seemed like a good way to use up some yarn that I bought just because I loved the feel of it. Most of the time these single skeins are not enough for anything big but they felt so wonderful to the touch that I succumbed to purchasing the one skein that I could afford. The problem is those single skeins just go into protective baggies and sit until I go through my stash and take the time to touch and pet them all over again. It’s not like you can put a wonderful skein of yarn on display under glass and have visitors not think your just a few degrees off plumb — so they sit in the stash unseen and unappreciated except my me.

101 Luxury One-Skein Wonders seemed like a good way to actually use some of these yarns, turning them into useful items to be worn and and displayed in more socially acceptable manners. However there are some limitations to the book.

There are a few shawls but mostly the projects are ones that can be made using the yardage in one skein. Of course that yardage changes depending on the yarn weight: lace weight 217 – 1662 yards; superfine weight 164 – 875 yards, fine weight 55 – 315 yards; light weight 54560 yards; medium weight 77 – 650 yards; bulky weight 65 – 478 yards.

The book is set up with the photos in the front. A couple of the photos are of the same item with different weight yarns. All the photos are in color and clearly show the product, but you only have the single view. So, you can’t see what the back of the item looks like or what it would look like open or displayed differently.

Next the patterns are listed by yarn weight with a notation as to what page to find the photo on. None of the patterns have a schematic of the item (this isn’t important except for sweaters, usually baby sizes). Directions list Size/Measurements, Yarn requirements, Needles needed, Gauge, and any other supplies you might need. Stitch patterns are usually text though there are some charts. (I wish everything had charts as well as text but then I’ve gotten fairly good at turning text to charts on my own.) The instructions seem clear for the patterns that I read through. I started the Baby Bamboo-Merino Sweater and so far the instructions are clear and easy to follow.

The book also has an Appendix with a list of all the designers with a short bio for each one; sizing guidelines that would be extremely useful for any knitter; a list of the abbreviations used in the book, a Guide to Yarn Weights, a Glossary with illustrations for some of the words/techniques, and an Index of patterns.

The sweater that I started is made from Naturally Country (75% Microdenier Acrylic 25% Merino Wool, 3 Ounces/85 Grams, 185 Yards/170 Meters, Color: Sunshine). I loved the feel of it in the store. It’s washable and dry-able, so good for a baby and very, very soft. The only problem I’ve had is that it splits fairly easily at least with my needles (sharp points). I did have two skeins so I could leave the body on the circulars and knit the sleeves separately. But I, just this afternoon, finished the body and now just have to do the crochet all along the edge. So, I think two skeins are needed for this but then the pattern said it needed 265 yards anyway so that looks about right.

I can’t seem to find my crochet hooks so I’ll probably do a big search tomorrow and post a picture when I’m done.

But, it looks like the book is a keeper and will be useful for some of those other single skeins that I have.