One of Ted’s Facebook friends posted a closed caption speech that I think is amusing–and pointed–enough to share here.
On December 10, 2024, Canadian Member of Parliament, Elizabeth May, let Trump know exactly how she feels about him suggesting that Canada become the 51st state. She called Trump’s language about the U.S. acquiring Canada “insulting,” and went on to suggest that some of the United States’ most left-leaning states join Canada, where their policies will be more welcome. The text of PM May’s speech below is in her words; the punctuation is mine. I did not fact check her speech.
Sorry, Mr. Trump. and I really also take offense to your idea that Pierre Poilievre wasn’t good enough to lead the Conservatives. Wayne Gretzky–I mean, he’s great; he is the Great One. He skates to where the puck is going, and it’s not going to MAGA. The puck is on the Canadian ice rink, and by the way, Mr. Trump, please, before making public pronouncements that Wayne Gretzky should run for Prime Minister, give yourself–or get yourself–a briefing on the nature of parliamentary democracy. [It is] a Westminster parliamentary system and a constitutional monarchy where no one runs for Prime Minister. We have elections for members of Parliament. We don’t get to pick and choose among our billionaire friends for who gets a seat at the cabinet table if they’re not elected a member of Parliament. Our system is different from that of the United States of America. I suggest that Mr. Trump find one of his grandchildrens’ schoolbooks and look at the year 1770, which may explain a few things to him about why our system of government is different.
I don’t want to belittle Mr. Trump, but on the other hand, hey, Donald, have we got a deal for you! You think we want to be the 51st state? Nah! But maybe California would like to be the 11th province. How about it, California? Oregon? Washington? We’ve got geography and common goals, and not only that, we’ve already got a carbon trading system between California and Quebec. We’ve got some strong alliances on our West Coast from British Columbia. There’ve been a lot of academic papers on the idea of Cascadia.
So, California Governor Newson, and Washington State Jay Inslee, and newly-elected governor of Oregon Tina Kotek, how about it? Want to put a referendum to your citizens?…This is what you get: free health care–universal free health care. No more one-year-olds who suddenly fall off the Medicaid list and their parents are in the news because they’re trying to do a GoFundMe so they can get their daughter to a doctor. Universal free health care.
And guess what–those gun laws that your Congress is too afraid to pass? Because of the National Gun Law lobby, we already got our strict gun laws. That’s why we have the safest streets around the world….By the way, [according to] the most recent stats, 5.9 out of every 10,000 people is killed in a fatal gun incident [in the United States], versus 0.88 per 10,000 in Canada. That’s because we have strict gun laws. California citizens, Oregon, Washington–safest streets here. We already have good gun laws and women have a right to an abortion under our universal health care system.
But, you know, we don’t have to stop here, Donald. Think about it. You could get rid of all these states that always vote Democratic. You know what else? We’ll take Bernie Sanders off your hands. [He can be a] proud new Canadian citizen of the great province of Vermont. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, we’d love to see you. Our Maritime provinces already have deep links and ties [with you].
Well, enough kidding around. But honestly, President Trump, get used to it: Canada is a sovereign nation full of guess what–proud Canadians. We’re not jingoistic. We don’t bow a lot. That’s one of the things that we kind of have in common with Jimmy Carter. We’re not a big nation for braggarts and bullies. We actually like to think we’re of service to the world. We could do better. We can always do better, but we love our country. And it’s a country. It’s a nation. And we do not aspire to be the 51st state.
Canadian MP, Elizabeth May
During an interview following her speech, MP May added, “If it was a joke, it was never funny and it ends now.” Other Canadian leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have also spoken out against Canada becoming the 51st state, saying, “There isn’t a snowballs’ chance in he** that Canada would become part of the United States.”
2024 was, physically, a long haul for me. First, I had a TKR (total knee replacement) in April. Then, in late July, when I was two weeks away from finishing physical therapy for my knee, I injured my ankle (same leg as the knee replacement) doing PT for my knee on a leg press machine. My ankle had significant, but not severe pain, so I bought an elastic sleeve and wore that to stabilize the joint. After two weeks, when the pain continued to increase, I made an appointment with my orthopedist.
He ordered an x-ray, diagnosed the injury as a “severe posterior tibial strain,” and provided me with what he called a “strappy”–a very firm elastic sleeve. In the photo below, my foot enters at the top, my heel protrudes from the sock-like portion of the strappy on the left, and my toes extend through the opening on the right. The straps wrap all the way under, over, and around my ankle in opposite directions. Together, the straps and the sock portion of the strappy provided three layers of very firm support around my ankle, in every direction of ankle movement.
I was instructed to wear the strappy for a month and then to try walking without it. I had only minor pain with the strappy in place, but there wasn’t much improvement in my original pain level when I took the strappy off, so the doctor ordered an MRI. That revealed a partial tear in the tendon near my heel (the posterior tibial tendon). The prescription for that was to completely immobilize my ankle by wearing a boot for a month. After a month, I saw some improvement, but there was still significant ankle pain, so I wore the boot for another month. (If you’ve ever worn a boot, you know how much fun that was, right?) By then, my ankle didn’t hurt, but it felt very fragile–as if exertion might re-tear the tendon, so I went back to the strappy for another month. (BTW, during all of this, my knee felt great!)
I experimentally took the strappy off on Christmas Day and kept my activities at a low level for a week to test my ankle. Five months after injuring it, my ankle feels healed, but it’s incredibly weak, so it tires quickly. After all, for five months, it did very little work, having been supported by a variety of devices for that entire time. When the big snowstorm arrived on January 5, I pushed the snowblower for an hour-and-a-half after the first part of the storm and for another hour-and-a-half after the backside of the storm without pain in my ankle–probably because my snow boots provided support for my ankle.
With the knee pain becoming severe in December 2023, then the TKR in April 2024, and then the July 2024 ankle injury that didn’t heal until December 2024, I’ve done minimal physical exercise for over a year! I don’t think I’ve ever been this weak or this out of shape in my life!
On January 1, I started walking for exercise again, and my ankle is becoming noticeably stronger. At this point, I can comfortably walk a mile outdoors before my ankle starts to protest with weak muscle pain. I’ve been told that: (1) a tendon tear does not heal to its original state; and (2) if my ankle was supported for 5 months, you add that time for the injury to heal–i.e., another 5 months. That will be Memorial Day.
Meanwhile I’ve also started doing Pilates again and I’m looking forward to biking when the weather gets a little warmer–two activities I had to give up a year ago because of my knee pain. My doctor, my physical therapist, and my Pilates instructor all say it will take 4-6 weeks to see obvious improvement in my overall strength and fitness, and 8-12 weeks to reach the level I’m accustomed to having. Twelve weeks will be March 31. I can’t wait!
It feels wonderful to be active and even better to be pain-free. Hurray for me!
Ted and Kari like to get together for an afternoon of Scrabble. Kari has time off from her organic farm work in January, and Kathy gave Ted a new Scrabble game for Christmas, so the two of them decided it was time to play Scrabble again.
Scrabble afternoons are a special father-daughter time.
Ted and I enjoyed the 1996 movie “Twister.” Of course, it was far from meteorologically accurate, but that outrageousness made it fun. When the loosely-described sequel, “Twisters,” was released in July 2024, we went to see it for more fun. Again, it was definitely not scientifically accurate, but it was an enjoyable two hours. Shortly after the release of “Twisters,” I saw this meme.
Former President Jimmy Carter (October 1, 1924-December 29, 2024) was generally unappreciated during his term as President of the United States–including by me. As time went on and Carter demonstrated his beliefs in countless humanitarian ways, I began to respect him more and more.
Until he died, when the news outlets reported the things he accomplished during his presidency, I didn’t realize what an impact Carter had quietly made on our country and on the world. In 1977, the first act of his presidency was to pardon Vietnam draft resisters; the Camp David Accords (1978) are the longest-standing peace agreements in the Middle East and are still in place today; the Salt II talks with President Brezhnev of the Soviet Union resulted in the nuclear arms reduction treaty. As President and throughout his life, he worked constantly for global human rights.
Carter was determined to put principles over politics, regardless of the political consequences of his actions. Political analysts believe this is most likely what cost him a second term as President. He wasn’t a great politician, because his goal was not to be politically correct, but to lead a life of purpose. The accolades made in his honor after his death reflect a person who achieved his goal and can only be described as an exceptionally fine human being.
The low temperature at our house during the extremely (for us) cold weather that followed our January 5 snowstorm was -2 degrees. Our high temperature last summer was 104 degrees. That’s a 106-degree range over the past six months! Neither the high nor the low temperature recorded on our thermometer is a record temperature, so our range is even greater. Ted and I like the variety in our weather, although I’m far more partial to warm weather.
During the last week of December, the St. Louis National Weather Service Office issued a special weather statement advising the area of an upcoming major winter storm, beginning January 5 and bringing the likelihood of freezing rain, sleet, snow, and even thunder snow, followed by a period of extremely cold weather, with temperatures 20-30 degrees below normal. One of the friends I saw that week knows that Ted worked as a lead forecaster for the NWS. After greeting each other, she said, “I’m so glad to see you. I want to know what Ted says about this storm they’re talking about.”
Well, usually Ted tells me it probably won’t be as bad as it sounds, and a week out is hard to forecast for specific areas because air currents can move a weather system north or south a few miles, making a huge difference in which area(s) will get rain, freezing rain, or snow. This time, I told my friend, Ted started major storm prep six days in advance of the forecast storm. (1) He started the snowblower to make sure it works. We haven’t used it for at least two years and, if it needed repair, there were a few days to get it fixed before the storm arrived. It worked fine, so (2) he filled two one-gallon containers with gas for the snowblower. (3) Then he filled the gas tanks on both cars. Our main supply of firewood is outdoors, but we keep a pile of firewood in the garage so it will stay dry and be ready to use in the fireplace. (4) Ted hauled in as much wood as we had room for in the garage so that we could (a) enjoy a fire on the cold evenings and/or (b) heat the family room with the fireplace and stay warm if freezing rain broke the power lines. (5) He and I planned menus and made up a grocery list; then (6) he offered to go to the grocery store to stock up before everyone else went on the weekend. (7) We dug out our boots, heaviest jackets, and thickest gloves, and then, . . . we waited.
Our first snowfall of the season (November 30) was pretty, but minor. Neither we nor our neighbors needed to shovel our driveways, because the ground was warm enough to melt the snow on them. We had an unusually warm November (23 days above 55 degrees) and December (10 days above 55 degrees). It was so warm that our daffodils sprouted and are about 3 inches tall. In the photo below, you can see that some of the trees on the far left and far right of the photo still have leaves on them, and the bushes growing at the edge of the woods across the street are still green. You can’t see the grass, but it was still green too.
On January 5, just as predicted, we had thunder snow, and the major weather event that inspired all of Ted’s prep work looked like this. We saw some lightning and heard some thunder, and the heavy snow fell rapidly.
The snow stopped falling by mid-afternoon, giving us a break before the back edge of the system circled around to hit us with another punch later. The smart people (only we and two other neighbors) took advantage of the break to clear Part 1 of the storm. The yardstick is hard to read, but it says 7.5 inches of snow. The photo looks like the snow slopes downward into a valley-like depression in the center, but it was level, just like it looks at the road across the upper center and in the foreground of the photo.
I enjoy using the snowblower, so I cleared the driveway. It took both of us to find it. Ted helped me identify the edges of the concrete and I pushed the snowblower as he directed. You can see my boundary paths on both sides of the driveway. Then I cleared the middle.
When I finished clearing the driveway, Ted took over with the snowblower and cleared the sidewalks and the patio, then used a shovel to clear the porches and the corners. When he finished, he told me he was still having fun (like a kid playing in the snow), so he cleared two neighbors’ driveways–first Claudia’s (our age, widowed, and doesn’t have a snowblower), then Peggy’s (93 years old). Peggy hasn’t driven for a number of years, so Ted cleared only one side of her driveway to allow her family–most of whom live nearby–to get to the house when they come to visit.
It was really hard for me to clear the driveway, especially on the upward slope going toward the road. My feet kept slipping while I pushed the snowblower, and I had to fight it to keep it moving in a straight line. This is the reason.
I broke up some of the icy bottom layer and examined a chunk of it. No wonder my feet kept slipping–I was walking on a layer of frozen rain topped with a layer of sleet! In NWS-speak, Ted would say, “The forecast verified.” That means it was right on the money. We had everything in the forecast: freezing rain, sleet, snow, and thunder snow, followed by extremely cold weather.
Everything is clear. Or as close as we can get to clear. It was time to go inside to wait for Part 2 of the storm.
Part 2 (the back side of the storm) arrived overnight and dropped another 4.5 inches of snow on us.
Because we had already cleared snow once, the snowbanks made it easier for us to see where the edges of the concrete were this time.
This storm dropped a total of 13 inches of freezing rain, sleet, and snow on our neighborhood. (If you’re doing the math from my measurements above, the “error” is because the yardstick didn’t penetrate the ice/sleet at the bottom, and I took this measurement in an area without that layer.)
I cleared our driveway again. It was much easier than yesterday with roughly half as much new snowfall. Ted cleared the sidewalks and the patio and shoveled out whatever the snowblower couldn’t do. Then he cleared Claudia’s driveway again. Someone else cleared Peggy’s.
As I said earlier, the smart people went outside during the break in the storm and cleared the first 7.5 inches of snow–plus some of the freezing rain and sleet. Unfortunately, two of our neighbors did not, and they both had a hard time trying to clear 13 inches of ice, sleet, and snow.
Kevin (foreground) doesn’t have a snowblower, so he was using a shovel. I noticed him struggling while I was working on our driveway, and Ted said while he (Ted) was clearing our sidewalks, Kevin was lifting and dumping a shovelful of snow, then stopping to catch his breath before lifting another load. Ted took our snowblower to Kevin and let him use it instead of his shovel. (I didn’t want to put boots on to go outside to take a picture. Pardon the window screen.)
When Kevin finished, he took our snowblower across the street and helped Larry (blue jacket) and Maxine (partially hidden by Larry’s blown snow) clear their driveway. We don’t get enough snow in our area to make it worth a super-size snowblower, so this storm was hard work for everyone. Even MoDOT is understaffed and has many new, inexperienced plow drivers. In spite of MoDOT employees working 12-hour shifts for 6 days, the road in front of our house wasn’t cleared until the third day after the storm started. Meanwhile, our snowblower cleared five driveways: ours (twice), Claudia’s (twice), and Peggy’s, as well as part of Kevin’s and part of Larry’s. It’s a trusty little machine!
Needless to say, countless businesses were closed for several days and schools were closed all week–Monday through Friday. We didn’t even have mail pick-up or delivery for 6 days–Monday through Saturday. I guess the USPS does stop for (freezing) rain, sleet, and snow! Maybe not for dark of night.
We had a few days of very cold weather and some sunshine before Storm #2 struck. Looking out of an upstairs window on one of those days, I saw these icicles.
While he was outdoors, Ted took a picture of more icicles.
I went outside too and couldn’t resist a photo of our fluffy-looking lawn furniture.
The weight of the ice, sleet, and snow really stretched our pool cover straps. When we close the pool for the winter, we drop the water level below the circulation jets–about 16-18 inches below the pool deck surface. A pool antifreeze is added to the remaining water when we close the pool. The pool cover sank under the weight of the ice, sleet, and snow. The dark splotches on it in the photo are ice, caused by unfrozen pool water that soaked through the sunken porous cover and froze in the cold air, adding more weight to the cover. The cover will spring up again when everything on it melts.
Storm #2 arrived on January 10, four days after Part 2 of Storm #1 left the area. If you compare this photo to the first one in this post, you’ll notice that all of the trees are now bare and the bushes at the edge of the woods are no longer green. The extremely cold, and sometimes windy, weather was too much for them to hold their fall leaves any longer.
Storm #2 didn’t bring much snow–only 2 inches. Still, we had 15 inches of snow in six days, an unusual occurrence in St. Louis. Interesting fact: Anchorage, Alaska has had only 2 inches of snow so far this winter.
Sometimes, we can leave 2 inches of snow on the ground and let the sun melt it in a day or two. This time, it was so cold that the snow wasn’t going to disappear any time soon; it would just get packed down by the cars and freeze. Ted used the snowblower to clear our concrete for a third time in less than a week. This is not typical of St. Louis snowfall!
With a clear driveway, and clear roads at last, Ted made a quick run to the grocery store for a few items. We didn’t need bread (remember that we stocked up a week ago as part of storm prep), but it looks like a lot of other people did.
After all our work clearing snow, we had time to relax indoors. While the temperatures dropped, we spent every evening with a cozy fire in the fireplace.
Here’s the good news for those like me who look forward to spring: March 20, the first day of astronomical spring, will be here in just 56 days. Meterological spring (March 1) will arrive in only 37 days. Come on, Spring!
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Note: The heavy snow and cold weather prevented the snow from melting as quickly as usual. We had at least one inch of snow on the ground for a consecutive 16 days, the 16th-highest number of days on record.
St. Louis’ all-time record for at least one inch of snow on the ground is 66 days in January-March 1978. At that time, the NWS gave daily live weather reports as a service to KMOX radio. When Ted’s boss gave one of those reports in February, he was asked how long the cold and snow were going to last. His answer was, “I hate to say it will be awhile before it warms up, but five of our forecasters went to Florida this week.” Our family included one of those five forecasters. We were vacationing at Disney World during the kids’ cycle break from their year-round school schedule.
For Christmas, Ted and I decided to give ourselves the gift of the Missouri Botanical Garden Glow followed by dinner at a restaurant. Just as we didn’t have time to walk and admire the holiday lights and decorations on Historic Main Street before Christmas, we didn’t have time to attend Glow before Christmas either. Like Historic Main Street, Glow opens on Thanksgiving Day (timed tickets required for this event) but remains open through the first weekend after New Year’s Day.
Here’s the entrance to Glow.
The grounds’ 79 acres were covered with light displays. At an ambling and admiring pace, it took us about an hour-and-a-half to walk the entire path on a clear, calm winter evening with temperatures in the mid-30s. A variety of large St. Louis area corporations sponsored many of the light displays.
I couldn’t help wondering how the decorators managed to cover the trees in the picture above so thoroughly with lights. The trunks and bases of the trees looked very authentic, and the display title included the word “oak” in its name. The leaves were oak-shaped, but the trees were not. Curious minds want to know, so I took a close look at the branches to see how the lights were attached. That made it obvious that the trees were not actually rooted in the garden, which led me to wonder how the installers transported and stored the “trees.” I looked even closer and now I know. Check the assembly lines indicated by my arrows in the two photos below. The trunk is comprised of two pieces, the large branches attach to it, and the smaller branches attach to the larger ones. Some assembly required. 🙂
Artificial or not, the little patch of trees was a pretty display. Maybe we should buy one or two of these for our own holiday lighting.
I remember this display from our Glow visit in 2023, but I still like it. The tree is one of three set in an emptied reflecting pool, and the multiple layers of lights over it create an illusion of water below. (The illusion probably disappears in daylight when you can see the web of the lights’ electrical wires in the empty pool.)
Some of the displays are static; others are not. This one (another photo of the blue tree above) is not. I took a short video to capture some of the lighting changes. A variety of holiday music plays throughout the park. Turn on your audio if you want to hear some of it.
Here’s another light display.
I didn’t think a still photo did justice to this display, so I took another short video. Again, you can listen to the music if you want to. It’s easy to see why we chose Glow as our Christmas gift.
When we reached this point, we were nearly back at the main entrance where our walk began.
We decided to have our Christmas gift dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in the Chesterfield Valley–about halfway between the Botanical Garden and our house. By the time we arrived, the crowd had thinned, our server was very nice, the pasta was delicious, and we finished our meal with the Factory’s signature spumoni ice cream.
Now our 2024 winter holiday season is over. We went to the International Women’s Brass Conference concert, celebrated with our family, spent time with friends, enjoyed the holiday lights on Historic Main Street, and had a beautiful evening at the Garden Glow. It was a nice way to end 2024 and to begin 2025. Happy new year!
