Category: Winter

Between December 21st and March 22nd, most years.

Winter Is Coming So Help Build a Snowman

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The Lansing Community Library kicks off its first ever Winter Reading Program Saturday, November 19, 2016 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. There will be games and refreshments for the kick-off.  The theme for the Winter Reading Program is DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN?

The program provides challenges for all ages (two through adult), with a chance to qualify for prize drawings.  You’ll have until January 7, 2017 to complete all nine challenges in your age group. Patrons may sign up online (see detailed how-to instructions below) or at the library during the kickoff party.

Fun & Games

The kickoff party will feature several hands on games for children, including pin the nose on the snowman, building a snowman, magic color scratch snowmen and a story time.  Healthy snacks as well as a hot chocolate bar will round out the fun.

Tic-Tac-Toe

The Tic-Tac-Toe challenge sheets may be picked up at the library.  Each age group – 2-7 years, 8-12 years, 13-19 years and adults – may complete up to nine (9) challenges. Patrons who complete 1-2 challenges are entered into the drawing for a Freddy’s gift card. Complete 3-5 challenges to be entered into the drawing for a $25 AMC gift card. Complete 6-8 challenges to be entered into the drawing for a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card. Complete all nine (9) challenges to be eligible for the grand prize drawing for a Kindle e-Reader. There are additional drawings in two age groups (8-12 and 13-19 years) for LEGO kits.

20161112_133633 Continue reading “Winter Is Coming So Help Build a Snowman”

My Son Turns Thirty

I should have scheduled this post to publish just after two o’clock this afternoon, which would have been thirty years to the hour marking the birth of Derek Randall Moss.  But, I couldn’t wait that long to welcome my son to his third decade.

As you can surmise, this blog post will be a trip down memory lane for me.  And unfortunately I don’t have many photos of Derek from his first decade.  It was the age of film cameras and I owned a very cheap almost disposable 35 mm camera that I took a few snapshots with.  I later scanned a few of them to create digital copies, but many of them still languish in shoe boxes in the storage room.  Oddly, I have more video footage of both kids on old mini-VHS than I do still photos.  At least until we reach the mid-90s when digital photography really started taking off.

First Photo taken of Derek (9 Feb 1986)
First Photo taken of Derek (9 Feb 1986)

I won’t go into the gory details but some interesting trivia from the night before.  Continue reading “My Son Turns Thirty”

Vanishing Addendum of DVR Highlights

Continuing in the vein of my previous post, I haven’t completely neglected my DVR this January, although it is my last resort for entertainment (see my reference to inferior HD quality provided by satellite subscription).

This week brought back the formidable Agent Carter who is apparently carrying the investigative torch of the mysterious and ancient society obsessed with the portal stone most recently perplexing the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  This is another series Terry rolls his eyes at.  I accused him of not caring for it because it has such a strong female lead.  He protested that was not the case.  I just love period dramas – the costumes, cars, sets, locations, etc.  Besides, we final met Jarvis’ wife (rumor was last season that she was a figment of Jarvis’ imagination).

I’ve dragged Terry along watching the new Syfy original series The Expanse, based on the SF book series of the same name by James S.A. Corey.  Except for one small quibble, I really enjoyed the first book of that series, Leviathan Wakes, and I do plan to eventually continuing reading the books.  I’m enjoying watching the series because good SF television series are few and far between.

But enough science fiction.  How about some epic fantasy?  Enjoyed Terry Brook’s Shannara books, including the original 1977 Sword of Shannara?  Then tune in to MTV (yes I really did just type those three letters) to feast your eyes upon The Shannara Chronicles, which debuted this month.  I’m three episodes in and pretty much hooked.

That’s it for now.  Can’t remember if anything else is forthcoming that I’m interested in.  If you have a suggestion for a show I should try, please leave a comment.

Oh, and Phase I of my weekend work project completed successfully.  Now we wait … so time to watch another episode of Manhattan.

 

 

 

The Case of the Vanishing January

Today is the 22nd of January and of 2016.  I woke up this morning to a bitter cold Friday, to the prospect of working through most of the weekend.  Not the best way to start your day.  A huge project I’ve been involved with for many many moons is finally rolling out.  So while I’m stressed beyond belief, I’m excited to finally be able to put this project in the completed bin come Monday morning.  Then it’s on to the next “Big Thing,” er, project.

Stressful work-life aside, January wasn’t a complete loss for leisure.  I’ve read a space opera that I liked, listened to an audiobook for a book club that was interesting, read my first graphic novel for another book club and read an ebook novella (click here to see what I’ve read so far this year).  Continue reading “The Case of the Vanishing January”

Recipe Review: Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup (4 stars)

Traditionally, people tend to eat black eyed peas for good luck on New Year’s Day.  I bucked that trend (and to be honest I don’t actually remember ever having eaten black eyed peas) and decided to make, for the very first time, lentil soup.

I’ve had great luck with recipes from Alton Brown’s kitchen so when I found this Lentil Soup one, I decided to give it a try.

All of the ingredients I used were organic, which the exception of the spices.  And speaking of spices, I had to skip the ground Grains of Paradise as I could not find that spice at my local grocers.   I will have to special order that spice for the next time I make this recipe.  And there will be a next time.

This was super (or should I say ‘souper’) easy to make.  And it didn’t take me as long as his recipe stated to prep.  Probably just 15-20 minutes instead of thirty minutes.  I sweated the vegetables a little longer than his recipe stated because I used my new crockpot and not a dutch oven.

Terry and I both had two bowls of the lentil soup for supper.  Very good.  We have enough left over to freeze and/or eat again later this week.

Happy New Year!

Full Moon Merry Christmas

Tomorrow, just after six o’clock in the morning and just as the sun is rising, we’ll experience the first full moon to occur on Christmas Day since 1977.  I wasn’t even in high school yet in 1977 (although my husband was already in college by then).  If you miss opening this Christmas present, you won’t get another chance until 2034 (by which time I should be retired).

Other astronomical items of note this holiday week include:

  • On the 4th day of Christmas (Monday that is), Mercury reaches its peak distance from the sun 30 minutes after sunset in the southwest.
  • On the 5th day of Christmas (Tuesday), Saturn continues its return from behind the Sun.  Look to the southeast in the pre-dawn morning time.
  • On the 6th day of Christmas (Wednesday), look up and south to spy the Seven Sisters (aka as the Pleiades)
  • On the 8th day of Christmas (Happy New Year!), use binoculars to find Comet Catalina rising close to Arcturus (a very bright star) around midnight and continue to rise high in the southeast until dawn twilight.
  • On the 9th day of Christmas (Saturday, January 2, 2016) the Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun (at the start of Winter no less)
  • On the last day of Christmas (Twelfth Night) at 10 p.m. EST, Pluto hides behind the Sun.

Comet Catalina

For more interesting astronomical events and items, please visit Astronomy magazine’s The Sky This Week: December 25, 2015 – January 10, 2016 web page.

May the brightest star guide you in your search for Peace, Love and Joy.

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

A Deer in the Headlights

It’s not bad enough that my Texas trip was cancelled at the last minute.  Or that I haven’t seen the sun since before Thanksgiving and that Kansas City is experiencing it’s fifth consecutive day of rain and drizzle (more rain today as it’s slightly above freezing).  Or that I gave up my day off to voluntarily drive the vanpool to work because I believed both my back drivers had requested this Monday after Thanksgiving off.  Surprise!  Both of them rode in the van this morning.

Nope, it couldn’t possibly get any worse, right?  Until I remembered as I got off the parking garage elevator and walked to the building elevators and saw this:

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Continue reading “A Deer in the Headlights”

More Than a Quarter of Porthos

Yesterday marked the four-month anniversary of our adoption of Porthos.  We survived the winter with a rambunctious adolescent Rottweiler.  Our house and specifically the trash can fared slightly worse.  He’s gradually adapting to confinement in the backyard when we leave to watch a movie or go grocery shopping, but he does not like to be crated when the weather is bad.  It’s sad that Terry and I, empty nesters, have to ‘babysit’ our dog and can’t trust him to behave himself when we leave the house.

We took him to the dog park for the first time on Sunday the 22nd.  For this first visit, I kept him close to me with the leash at the ready.  If Porthos decides to take off after another dog or person, there’s no way I could catch him.  He’s very agile and very fast, with powerful almost instant acceleration.  I got him to run through the tube at the park a couple of times and pose for a photo:

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Once Spring arrived, I started walking each dog every other evening. Porthos is a joy to walk and I get good exercise trying to keep up with him. Lexy takes her time and needs to be coaxed to walk farther than a couple of blocks from home. I haven’t been brave enough to walk both of them at the same time. Maybe in a month or so.

Look West After Sunset Tomorrow Evening

I probably won’t get to see this.  Snow is forecast for this afternoon in the KC metro area and continuing cloud cover for the next couple of days.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed and my eyes on the western horizon as I drive home tomorrow night.

For those of you with clear skies, enjoy a triple conjunction of the bright planet Venus, the red planet Mars and the two-old new Moon.

Whatever you do, just start watching the western twilight sky. Set a reminder on your phone if need be. The planets and moon won’t be up for long after sunset. And the views will be spectacular from now through Saturday night!

Earthsky, “Venus, Mars, moon after sunset February 19“