Jan 1, 2022

 
Week: 1 Day: 1
Ave. Sky Cover:  40% Visibility: 10 miles Local Temp:   35°\ 19° Wind: 5mph\ Gusts: 10mph
Very Low risk of fire Active fire: 390mi. \ Lightning: 1476mi.
Jan Averages: 43°\17° (5 days w/moisture)

Today’s Quote

Monthly Observations

Adopt A Rescued Bird Month Link
Bath Safety Month
Be Kind to Food Servers Month
Birth Defects Month Link
Black Diamond Month Link
Book Blitz Month
California Dried Plum Digestive Month Link
Carnival Season: Jan. 6- March 1
Celebration of Life Month
Cervical Health Awareness Month Link
Children Impacted By Parent's Cancer Month
Clap 4 Health Month
Financial Wellness Month

Weekly Observations

26-1/1	Kwanzaa
1-7	Diet Resolution Week Silent Record Week
1-8	National Personal Trainer Awareness Week

 

Daily Observations

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Welcome to 2022

Living in the middle of a National Forest, I am used to fire, fire watches, and even some evacuations. The ferocious Marshall Fire near Boulder is devastation I have never seen. So many homes lost with only minutes to evacuate. One Focus Friend lives in Broomfield and they have some ashes on their lawn this morning. Several high school classmates in Westminster and Arvada posted they had received ‘prepare for evacuation’ and another marked ‘safe’ on the county website. The only bright note is that so far, there has been no loss of life.

The Putin-Biden call set up for more calls and warned of sanctions if either side escalates at the Ukraine border. Talking and diplomacy is good. Both leaders know this. 

Favorite Memes

 

A bit of Humor

Why is an engaged girl like a cell phone?

They both have rings.

Arizona Trivia

The amount of copper utilized to make the copper dome atop Arizona's Capitol building is equivalent to the amount used in 4.8 million pennies.

Near Yuma, the Colorado River's elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, making it the lowest point in the state.

The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.

You could pile four 1,300-foot skyscrapers on top of each other and they still would not reach the rim of the Grand Canyon.

 The hottest temperature recorded in Arizona was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994

The coldest temperature recorded in Arizona was 40 degrees below zero at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.

Historical Events

·        1808 – The United States banned the importation of slaves.

·        1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital was founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland.

·        1892 – Ellis Island began processing immigrants into the United States.

·        1958 – The European Economic Community (EEC) was established.

·        1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.

·        1980 – The Far Side, Comic Strip debuted

·        1995 – The World Trade Organization began.

Birthdays Today

·                      @91 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d, 2010)

·            @90 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (died in 1990)

·                    @84 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, credited with designing the US Flag (d. 1836)

·                @83 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)

80 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter, guitarist

79 – Don Novello, American comedian (Father Guido Sarducci)

·                @77 – J. Edgar Hoover, American civil servant, 1st director of FBI (d. 1972; heart attack)

·                    @71 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)

 

New Year's Eve

 

Week: 1 Day: 365
Ave. Sky Cover:  40% Visibility: 10 miles
Local Temp:   31°\ 26° Wind: 7mph\ Gusts: 14mph
Very Low risk of fire Active fire: 254mi. \ Lightning: 1306mi.
Dec Averages: 43°\17° (5 days w/moisture)

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

25-31	It's About Time Week
26-1/1	Kwanzaa

 Daily Observations

Favorite Memes

Have a laugh

What keys don't unlock any doors?

Keyboard keys, piano keys, donkey, hockey, jockey, monkey, and turkey.

 

Arizona Trivia

Roadrunners are not just in cartoons! In Arizona, you'll see them running up to 17-mph away from their enemies.

The Saguaro cactus is the largest cactus found in the U.S. It can grow as high as a five-story building and is native to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southern Arizona.

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.

The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.

The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.

The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

Sun is shining as I await the ‘big’ storm due tomorrow. I cleared off my vehicle and headed to Sam’s for gas before the storm. Picked up some fresh salad materials to begin the new year on a healthy note.

Every New Year’s Eve since 1999 an historic downtown hotel has dropped a huge lighted artificial pinecone at noon, 8pm, and of course midnight. Most times it is either cold, bitter cold, or snowing. Still the crowds come. They announced yesterday that it is cancelled for this year. They have a shortage of staff and of course concerns about Covid. I attend those on cold nights, but as I get older, the bitter cold ones happened without me. It will be available on the internet machine for Flagstaff residents to enjoy at home.

I’m looking for a better year in 2022. Of course, that is what I said last year and 2021 was not a great year. No travel, Covid, loss of friends and relatives from Covid. I got a new passport after the Trans-Siberian trip in 2019. So far, I have traveled with it to Mexico for two Christmases.

Putin requested a conference call with Biden for today. The news machine is wondering why a am I.

What a way to end this crazy year: Marjorie Taylor Greene has suggested ‘a national divorce’. In her great mind she believes that anyone moving from a blue state to a red state should not be allowed to vote for an extended time.  Her example was a liberal from CA moving to FL they should not be allowed to vote as they might vote for a liberal in a red state. Craziness.

 

Historical Events

·        1600 – The British East India Company was chartered. At one point it had a hand in 50% of the whole world’s trade and business.

·        1907 – The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan.

          1983 – AT&T ‘Ma Bell’ telephone system monopoly was broken up by the United States Government.

·        On December 31, 1999, Albert Einstein was chosen as person of the century by Time.

 

Birthdays Today

·        84 – Anthony Hopkins, actor

• @84 – Henri Matisse, French artist (d. 1954)

·        78 – Ben Kingsley, English actor

• @77 – Odetta (Holmes), American singer-songwriter, actress (d. 2008; heart disease)

·        74 – Tim Matheson, American actor

• @63 – Donna Summer, American singer (d, 2012; lung cancer)

·        63 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress, and dancer

·        62 – Val Kilmer, American actor

• @53 – John Denver, singer (d. 1997; plane crash)

·        44 – Donald Trump, Jr., American businessman

·        26 – Gabby Douglas, American gymnast

 

Dec 30

 

Week: 1 Day: 364

Ave. Sky Cover:  90%Visibility: 10 miles

Local Temp:   27°\ 21° Wind: 10mph\ Gusts: 17mph

Very Low risk of fire Active fire: 254mi. \ Lightning: 1047mi.

Dec Averages: 43°\17° (5 days w/moisture)

Today’s Quote

Weekly Observations

25-31	It's About Time Week
26-1/1	Kwanzaa

Daily Observations

Favorite Memes

 

Have a laugh

Did you hear about the ATM that got addicted to money?

It suffered from withdrawal

 

Arizona Trivia

Built by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America's largest deposits of petrified wood.

Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.

Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.

Rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains.

Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state's highest mountain.

 

My Sometimes-Long-Winded Thoughts

I woke up to 3” of newly fallen snow. The snow crew was here before 7:30 to clear the sidewalks. It was a sweltering 25° at that time. Nice.

We lost two icons yesterday. Retired Senator Harry Reid at 82. NFLer John Madden at 85.

I kept getting popups on my iPhone that I needed more storage space. I hadn’t moved the 2019 Trans-Siberian Rail trip to my computer. This morning I found a new app that does it easily. Like all technology it took about 30 minutes to set it up and then it moved over 500 photos in about 30 seconds. Amazing.

I’m also doing 2 loads of laundry from my trip and finding places for my Christmas gifts. The second activity is always fun, the first activity, not so much.

I was watching a news segment on the horrific killing of the 14-year-old girl in LA. A retired police officer was commenting on the piece. He reminded me from my gun safety class in Boy Scouts, that the first thing to remember when firing a gun…’Look carefully to see what is behind your target and know where your bullet will go.’ Too bad the officer forgot that lesson. He also pointed out that the bodycam video did not show a need for lethal force at the time of the incident. So sad.

Historical Events

1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois killed at least 605 people.

1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by a group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was found in a Moscow river three days later.

1995 Lowest ever UK temperature recorded of -27.2°C iat Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands, equaling the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on February 11, 1895 and January 10, 1982

2012 The opening of Line 6 of the Beijing subway makes it the longest metro network in the world at 442km

 

Birthdays Today

84 – Paul Stookey, American singer-songwriter (Peter, Paul, & Mary)

@79 – Bo Diddley [Ellas Otha Bates], American singer-songwriter, guitarist (d. 2008)

@78 – Michael Nesmith, American singer-songwriter, Monkee (d. 2021; heart failure)

@77 – Bert Parks, American actor, beauty pageant host (d. 1992; lung cancer)

@73 – Simon Guggenheim, American businessman (died in 1941)

@72 – Skeeter Davis, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004; cancer)

@70 – Rudyard Kipling, Indian-English author (d.1936; perforated ulcer)

68 – Meredith Vieira, American journalist

@66 – Davy Jones, English singer-songwriter, actor, Monkee (d. 2012; heart attack)

62 – Tracey Ullman, English American actress

60 – Sean Hannity, American radio, television host

@55 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter (d. 1990; suicide)

48 – Jason Behr, American actor

46 – Tiger Woods, American golfer

37– LeBron James, NBA star

35 – Caity Lotz, American actress

29 – Carson Wentz, American football player