Oi, Tōnatiuh! Up and at ’em!
I’ve been awake since 3:30. Four hours later Tōnatiuh still hasn’t shown his face above the Sandias.
Yet I am in a remarkably good mood. Why?
Because … more light soon come, Bubba; more light soon come.
The December solstice arrives at 2:48 p.m. Duck! City time, the Sun God’s advance scout galloping over the hill, herald of longer days and shorter nights.
Just think: If the Earth weren’t as crooked as some of the people who walk its surface, we would be denied this annual morsel of good news. Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere.
Mad Blog Media 
December 21, 2022 at 8:54 am |
My favorite day of the year. The day of the most darkness, to match my mood.
December 21, 2022 at 9:32 am |
Happy solstice all hosers! Nothing but more light starting tomorrow. Speaking of crooked things, there’s this. This should even cheer up Khal.
December 22, 2022 at 11:49 am |
More light? How about, more heat?!?!
This dude has had enough of -15°
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B10Gtue8VGtDuP8;3016CAD7-B2F3-4A81-8BB0-4C41B18B8774
December 21, 2022 at 9:33 am |
Duh.
December 21, 2022 at 10:03 am |
Pat this should help your mood 90 miles south of the Canadian Border we will still have 18 hours of darkness and tonight’s low will be -30 i.e. 62 degrees below the point where water freezes and approaching the point where Celsius and Fahrenheit scales converge. so think brandy and hell just warm it up.
December 21, 2022 at 10:06 am |
Why thank you POB! I’m guessing that you visit Ms. Tuttle’s videos to pick up cross picking tips.
The Solstice is always a nice thought, especially when the light is lost, down pleasantly shining in the land of Kiwis, Roos and wandering Alpacas. But it will be coming back, giving us longer and warmer days ahead. Just after all the lagging colder weather passes.
Here’s wishing you all stay warm enough in the coming days of arctic weather. And for those of you currently in the moody darkness, remember that there is always eleven.
December 21, 2022 at 11:13 am |
I wish Shawn, but I am just a chord strummer with some alternate bass note picking with thumb and fingers. My skill level is noted on my first and only personalized license plate, 145CAPO.
December 21, 2022 at 3:23 pm |
But, my Henriksen Bud amps do go to 11.
December 21, 2022 at 4:55 pm |
Mad Dog Amigos: Just think what global intellectual and enlightening exchanges could have occurred on this topic (Winter Solstice) and others “Way Back Then” (TM) had they had the “communication advances” we’ve created (Gutenberg, internet, etc.) over the past millennia.
And the present challenges (health, violence, homelessness, war, hunger, et al) that could have been minimized/prevented.
OR NOT!
Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”.
Best to all …. enjoy a safe, healthy, joyous Holiday Season …. hug the ones you love …. rubber side down ….Rule #1 is FUN!!
December 21, 2022 at 6:20 pm |
I did my last ride of the fall yesterday and it was nice, except for feeling that loss of air pressure in the rear tire as I was riding back to the house.
Tubeless, of course, and I saw the sealant drooling out of the puncture. I had barely enough air left to get to the house without hitting Rim on Pavement. Pumped it up, put the puncture at the low point to let sealant get into the wound, and golly, at that point, it held pressure overnight.
So today I put in another little bottle of liquid sealant, spun the wheel like mad on the Park workstand, and then took it out for a half hour test ride. So far, so good for the first day of winter. Thankfully, as I didn’t want to have to dismount the damn thing and deal with room size crowbars to dismount the tire as well as all the glop inside.
Happy Solstice, all!
December 21, 2022 at 7:02 pm |
Happy solstice indeed, to one and all.
Me, I went for a run. It was warm enough to ride, but for some reason I’m not much interested in the bike lately. Running is simple. Low-tech. For instance, I have yet to puncture a shoe and be forced into a trailside repair.
Also, the BTUs one generates are not so easily lost to wind chill.
December 21, 2022 at 7:53 pm |
I’m still recovering from yet a second repair of a torn tendon sheath in my right foot, so not sure I want to be running on it yet. Biking or hiking with the dog is safe enough.
December 22, 2022 at 6:47 am |
Yow. Take care of the landing gear, Hoss. First it’s the peg leg, then the eyepatch and parrot, and before you can say “Arrrr” you’re sailing, sailing over the bounding main.
December 21, 2022 at 7:03 pm |
Dance around the fire. Thor rises!
December 22, 2022 at 11:46 am |
Appropriate since today is Torsdag!!
December 21, 2022 at 7:44 pm |
May the coming season shower you and yours with the blessings of the goddess and god.
December 22, 2022 at 12:11 pm |
Someone check my math, but aphelion vs perihelion and conservation of angular momentum and all that, IIRC we’re currently buzzing around at 18.8 miles/sec, whereas we practically putz about at 18.2 miles/sec when summer solstice comes around. If you feel as though the days are going by too fast right now, well, they literally are.
December 22, 2022 at 12:53 pm |
Relative to what? Velocity is irrelevant if there is nothing it compares with. But with wisdom and assumption, I suspect your 18.2 / 18.8 is relative to the sun. Correct?
Right now I’m not heading anywhere and my velocity is zero -relative to the ass I’m sitting on.
December 22, 2022 at 12:55 pm |
Uh. Your numbers are rotational velocity I believe. Sorry. My solo-digit typing is faster than my frigid brain today.
December 22, 2022 at 2:51 pm |
I used to write “it’s all relative” on papers when I was stumped and hoping for one point of partial credit.
And then there’s that place where Darwin and Freud converge: it’s all your relatives!!
December 22, 2022 at 1:36 pm |
I’ve been missing summer, but taking relief in the knowledge that I wasn’t shoveling it yet. That illusion is currently being crushed under the reality of 6-8 hitting the deck as I type this. Oy…
December 22, 2022 at 2:11 pm |
I probably shouldn’t tell you that I just got back from a short ride under sunny skies in 40-something temps. Would it help if I added that half of it was into a ridiculous headwind that had me rocking single-digit mph on the flats?
December 22, 2022 at 2:54 pm |
Just two hours northeast of us, my wife’s folks got hammered with 8’ drifts, and it was the wrong density/temperature combo cuz the 50 mph winds turned it into cement and plastered all the doors. A neighbor got them groceries and passed the bags in through a window.
“The Inuits have 101 words for snow, but in Nebraska, we have one: Gawd Damn Snow.”
Grandpa Lloyd.
December 22, 2022 at 3:35 pm |
Jeezo. I can only remember a few snowstorms that even approached that sort of mess. The one that gave us such fits in Weirdcliffe on Thanksgiving 1998 was only a four-footer. But we were a mile and 430 vertical feet up a dirt bobsled run from the county road, which wasn’t in great shape even when there wasn’t four feet of snow on it. Town, such as it was, was another half-dozen miles west.
A couple smaller dumps in Bibleburg let us use side streets and parks for cross-country skiing. And the Safeway of the Living Dead was within easy walking distance.
December 22, 2022 at 6:38 pm |
I just finished up with a short jaunt on the bike. The temp is in the low teens and a light breeze is blowing. I didn’t dress quite warm enough and I burned a lot of calories staying warm. The fingers and toes required a few minutes of painful thawing when I finished up.
It sounds as though a whole lot of people around the country are and will be facing tough winter conditions. My wishes go out to them. The snow isn’t so bad when your young, strong and stupid, but add a few years and memories of moving a few tons of snow, the option of escaping to a parched Arizona doesn’t seem so bad. Well almost anyway.