TROUTS LATEST PHOTOS

December, 2006 - Issue #67

Bob and Camille keeping the faith (that someday food will again begin to grow) mid-winter on the fortieth parallel.

 

45 YEARS AGO - NEW ORLEANS, 1961

Bob enjoys Christmas at home with his parents in the same way most of us did at his age - by playing with his presents under the Christmas tree.

 

GETTING THE FLOCK OUT

The geese don't fly south any more, they just move around from cornfield to pond.

 

DOES THIS LOOK COLD TO YOU?

Well, it was every bit as cold as it looks.  About 200 geese have moved onto the pond, home to the dozen ducks we routinely feed.

 

MORE THAN A DOZEN

 

Like little ice breakers, the ducks come when we call, following Junior who is big enough to break the ice.  July, the lone seagull flies off to the right.  We usually see a dozen ducks here but on this day I counted fourteen.

 

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

The larger ducks slip and slide on the ice as they lunge for their morning snack.  At this point in the season, any calories are good calories as long as the ducks don't exert more caloric energy than they gain.

 

BUT DON'T MAKE ME DO INTO DEBT

After falling several times, Junior plops down on the ice and waits for a treat to skitter his way.  Apparently, he has reached the point where the cost threatens to outweigh the benefits.

 

MORE SCENES FROM A WINTER

Sharon spotted this curtain of icicles.

 

A NEW PLAY PAL

Robin gave Camille the buckskin pony on the left.  Camille named him Clyde.  He and Trixi hit it off right away.

 

YARD ART

Sharon enjoys watching the reindeer reach into the chimney and pull Santa out.

 

MALFUNCTION

Our no frost freezer froze up, clogging the vents that let cold air from the freezer into the refrigerator.  On November 15, Bob measured the air temperature inside the refrigerator and it was 71 degrees.  Fortunately, our landlady sent a repairman over and he knew what to do.  He defrosted the freezer with a blow dryer and replaced the defective part.

 

OH DEAR!

  

Another day, another snowstorm.  Looks like our deer are about to become buried again.

 

WHAT TO DO?

Why cook, of course!  So Bob rigged up a dimmer bulb and made tempeh.  Tempah (Tem Pay) is fermented soybean cakes.  They are knit together by myceluim cultures which makes them more digestible.

And then, of course, eat it!  Fried and between fresh bread with mayonnaise and greens.

 

DECEMBER 2OTH BLIZZARD

It started to snow just before Bob walked to work.  By the time he left it was getting up a good head of steam.

 

Pretty soon it began to blow and drift.  This is the Biodiesel plant.

 

DON TO THE RESCUE

Chris's (Marilyn Monroe from October?) husband, Don began pulling people out of snow drifts later that afternoon. To find out how this storm progresses, go to Scenes from a Blizzard

 

MAKING TRACKS

On the day after Christmas, we made our way across the tracks to the plant to check on things.

 

WINTER GARDENS

The freezing temperatures had taken their toll on our garden but it was not completely finished.  The arugula on the left is stunted but alive, while the lettuce isn't looking too good.

This is a picture of our the lettuce in our garden on Maui Christmas Day, 2002.

 

ROB'S OFFICE

Not everyone has an office big enough for tanker trucks to drive through yet as cozy as this one.  Rob furnished his office with second hand furniture.  The love seat was a Thrift Store cast-off headed for the landfill.

 

ROUND TWO

Another snowstorm came our way on December 28.

The snow clung to the bikes outside the Thrift Shop.

And Bob chose to shovel the driveways by hand this time around.  This photo shows the beginning of that lengthy process.

THIS MONTH'S QUOTES:

"When there is a mismatch between the way you are living a life and the structure of meaning that tells you how to live a life ... it makes some sense to say that sometimes a person should be alienated. Given certain circumstances, alienation is the proper response." - Carl Elliott in his essay "Pursued by Happiness and Beaten Senseless: Prozac and the American Dream"

"The only real things in this world are things like God that you can't prove." - Pam Wolf

"I know fast food is always unhealthy, but it's quick and cheap. God, I hope I'm OK!" - Nidhi Trikha, Fast Food Consumer being interviewed at a Taco Bell regarding E Coli contaminated green onions.

"Vegetarianism is harmless enough though it is apt to fill a man with wind and self-righteousness." - Robert Hutchison to the British Medical Association in 1930:

Haven't gotten enough?  Check out our Blog, Plastic Farm Animals for more.

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