Good morning everyone. Here, radio guy Bubba-Bo is still trying to close out his overnight drive-time show. Yes, it’s early.

Having said that, I can hear our Mr. Coffee machine working hard trying to complete its perk cycle; it’s making that sputtering sound. I’m looking forward to that first sip.

This week fall finished as cold north winds blew through – along with an inch or two of snow. Even the beautiful yellow leaves of the Ginkgo tree called it quits. Ginkgo trees have a secret communication code. Right about when the full Beaver moon appears, overnight, in one fell swoop, every ginkgo tree in town drops its leaves, all of them; all together now, one, two, three – GO! And so the annual great Ginkgo-Tree leaf dump of 2019 was done.

On the prettier of my walking trails the route takes me through streets lined with probably a dozen or so Ginkgo. Yesterday I noted that they’re all bare branched, but each with a bright yellow ‘apron’ around its trunk. Nature really is amazing!

“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year..” ~ Backseat Goodbye

Shifting Sands – watching lead player Schiff (Congressman Adam Schiff, D-CA) lead us in some elaborately staged Kabuki Theater. This is where what you thought you were watching was cleverly changed (morphed) into something else. Then, just when you began to grasp it, realized it had already changed again.

This week, being the good ‘doobie’ that I am (also one with no life), I watched/listened dutifully. I was appalled. But rather than get into a rant about something which will go nowhere anyway, I’m giving you a different tack.

What is with these Congressional folk addressing unelected bureaucrats with; “thank you for your service to country.” What? These bureaucrats are people who sit behind a lovely desk, make better than average wages, have more perks than the average Joe, and a grand retirement package early enough to start a second career. Where does this “Thank you for your service” bit stop? Am I expected to greet my BMV clerk in similar fashion? The IRS worker auditing my income tax?

It’s become a bit like tipping, where, there too I get confused. Restaurant wait-staff OK, barber also OK, same with the hotel room service folk. But then, what about a super-efficient checkout cashier, or the ticket taker at a Theater? How about the Priest who sat patiently listening to your gang-buster confession? The whole ‘Service to Country” and tipping scenario gets on my nerves – it’s probably me, being the one who doesn’t grasp all the intricacies and rules.

A Game – It’s difficult to be reading some current news and not catch wind that straws are a serious issue. Why, even Presidential candidates bloviate on the horrors of these small appliances.

So, here are two pictures both dealing with the subject of ‘straws’. One is the latest stainless-steel carry with you 24/7 variety, the other a possible fun use. Your job? Guess which originated in coastal areas and which in ‘fly-over’ country.

Grand Solar Minimum – The Global warming discussions are beginning to be much more than the simplistic, “it’s the CO2 stupid,” and is not settled. There is a massive range of data entering the equation, Earth’s path around the sun, Earth’s tilt, to name a couple. And currently entering the discussion is the Grand Solar Minimum. This is much more than the 11-year Solar Minimum cycle by the sun. A Grand Solar Minimum occurs when several solar cycles exhibit lesser than average activity for decades or centuries. A new study suggests that a ‘Grand’ Minimum to be what we’ll be living with between the years 2020 – 2053.

We can trace two previous Grand Solar Minimum cycles, the Maunder Minimum which coincided with the Little Ice Age (c. 1500–1850) and the Spörer Minimum from (c. 1460 – 1550). As a FYI, during the ‘Maunder’ the Thames River in England froze over and Viking settlers abandoned Greenland. Sit tight folks. I just hope that this next season at Northern Comfort will not be another summer-that-wasn’t.

Craft Beer – is no longer a three guys and a keg operation. Craft beer has taken over from the ‘dishwater’ beers the big boys have foisted on us for years. However, the ‘craft’ sub-set portion of the business has grown; to what degree I had no idea. That was until yesterday when Marcia and I were stuck in traffic immediately behind a massive Rhinegeist craft beer 18-wheeler. Sitting there it dawned on me that it’s become a real business.

Fini – I happened across an electric Scooter hearse. Never knew what happens to these little things which seem to spring up all over – from nowhere.

Vili is our little science wizard and builder of things. This is the soccer game he made. And it works! I just knew there’d be a use for these old timey clothes pins.

Marcia wanted to head over to the local Weavers Guild. Always amazing what folk can make from a little thread.

This month Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in 1867. This colorized photo of her was taken in her laboratory – notice the difference in just a measly 150 years. Oh, I do love history.

This time of year the sun is lower. This means that at the right time it shines into our sunroom, it’s light ray separates there, pours through the glass in the doorway and projects across the living room onto the wall. During the year I tend to forget and then get all surprised when it occurs again.

Till next week, make it a great one.
Dirk