Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Salute to December ~ 2015

~ A Mosaic of Musings and Ramblings ~

Christmas Wish:
It doesn't seem like Christmas, no snow to make things white.
And according to the forecast, it's rain storms for the night.
So, how will Santa get here?  He sure can't use a sled.
So, if the rain keeps coming down, he'll need a boat instead. 

The reindeer will just hate it, they get seasick as you know.
They're standing in their stables just praying it will snow.
And what about the presents, all soaked with ocean spray?
The children won't like soggy toys to play with Christmas Day.

So I've thought about another plan to get Old Santa here;
We'll have to hold our Christmas at another time of year.
Then he could ride on sunbeams and land in f ields of green. 
Why, everyone could be outdoors to watch him make the scene.

But no, that wouldn't be the same; I'm sure we all would grieve
If we didn't hear those little bells so late on Christmas Eve.
We'll close our eyes real tight, get on our knees and pray.
I"m sure they will be answered:  There'll be snow on Christmas Day!

A special Christmas poem written by: Phyllis Ham, Resident of Stephenson House.

Distracted Driving: Fines have increased to $490 and accompanied by '3-demerit points'. Novice drivers under Ontario's Graduated Licensing System will face an immediate 30-day suspension on a first offence.
Zit's Cartoon: Jeremy is driving his parents to a 'shelter'...his mother, in the front passenger seat, remarks, “It think it's wonderful that we're volunteering at the shelter for the day.” Father, sitting in the back seat is alarmed as Jeremy comments, “Yeah, I think it's gonna be cool.” Mother states, “We all need to get out of our comfort zones occasionally.” Dad, scared 'out of his wits' due to his son's driving, exclaims, “Those of us in the back seat are there already!!!”

Fire Warning: $25,000 Damage in west Burlington balcony fire. No one was injured when a fire broke out on an apartment-unit balcony. On arrival, firefighters located a small fire on an upper floor. The suspected cause of the fire is improperly discarded smoking materials. The Fire Department strongly advises, “Do not extinguish cigarettes in a plant pot, which often contains a mixture of peat moss, shredded wood and bark that can easily ingnite. Empty ashes into a metal container (not a garbage can) and place it outside.”

ISIS: A Denver-area store called Isis Books and Gifts wants the world to know its name comes from the Egyptian 'Goddess of Healing and Motherhood'...and it isn't a retail store run by terrorists. The co-owner states his suburban Denver store has been vandalized five times in the past year, probably by people who mistake the name for ISIS, one of the acronyms for the Islamic terrorist group.

John Lennon's Guitar Sells for $2.4 Million at Auction: It was an acoustic-electric guitar that he used to record and write, “Love Me Do” , “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and other hit songs. The guitar was one of only two of its type flown from the United States to England in 1962 for Lennon and George Harrison.

Lights on Christmas Tree Sets World Record: An Australian set his third Christmas-themed world record in as many years Friday, by illuminating a tree in downtown Canberra with 518,838 twinkling lights. Guiness World Records confirmed that David Richards had broken the record for the most lights on an artificial Christmas tree that had been held for five years by Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. Richards, a Canberra lawyer and businessman and his team a team erected the dazzling display.

Notable Dates: December 3 (Thursday) ~ “Franklin Expedition” ***
                          December 6 (Sunday) ~ Hanukkah begins
                          December 24 (Thursday) ~ Christmas Eve
                          December 25 (Friday) ~ Christmas Day
                          December 26 (Saturday) ~ Boxing Day
                          December 31 (Thursday) ~ New Year's Eve
*** The Rotary Club of Dundas Speakers Series features Scott Youngblut, the 2014 Fisheries and Oceans Canada expedition's hydrograph in charge of leading the multidisciplinary Arctic mapping mission. Event is 6:30 pm at the Dundas Museum and Archives. For more info, call 905-379-7353.

Wildlife: A Pilot Project in Prince Edward Island will determine if 'remotely-controlled-aerial drones' can deter ducks from eating so-called seed mussels. The P.E.I Aquaculture Alliance wants to replace the noisy cannons that are now used to keep the birds away...leaving tourists and residents aggravated by the noise that can travel more than a kilometre.
Ohio Rhino Travels to Asia on a Mission to Mate! The last Sumatran rhinocerous in the Western Hemisphere is on the way to its ancestral southeast Asian homeland to help preserve the critically endangered species. A Cincinnati Zoo official said the 8-year-old male can mate with at least one of the three females in an Indonesian sanctuary.
Pair of Orphaned Polar Bear Cubs Find New Home at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. The 11-month old males are too young to live on their own. How happy they will be!
Common Redpoll Birds can survive winter temperatives to -53 degrees C. During winter months, it is known they'll tunnel deep into the snow at night to stay warm ~ these tunnels are burrowed 10 cm deeply into the snow and can be more than 30 cm long.

Winter Solstice: December 21 is considered the shortest day of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, here on Planet Earth, this date is the day the tilt...the leaning-over-of-the-Earth's axis is pointing as far away from the sun as it can or will. All over Earth, this time of year, winter holidays celebrate light, sunlight and the warmth that will return as Earth's orbit continues and that 'tilt-away' will point back toward the 'life-giving-sun'!

Compiled by Merle Baird-Kerr...November 28, 2015
Comments are welcome: email inezkate@gmail.com or mbairdkerr@cogeco.ca

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