New Year's Eve
Dec. 31st, 2005 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madshutterbugCame in with a Bang and will go out with Cheesy Piggie, or Blasphemous Dip. We sold a goat to a neighbor family, who will be enjoying goat for New Year's Eve and Day meals. If this bothers you, the gate's that way.
And Cheesy Piggie is doing it's thing in the crock pot for tonight's gathering(s) at other neighbors. This batch is a bit of experiment, as I found a "generic" equivalent from Publix of the processed cheese product used. It's lower in sodium, and I just had to try it. Much milder; I could probably of used a medium salsa, or both portions of sausage as spicy instead of mixing them. Ah well, that's what black and white pepper are for, as well as some other things I've yet to toss in. And yes, there are bagel bits to scoop the Cheesy Piggie with, making it the Blasphemous Dip.
New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New Years Resolutions, and One January.
I've read several comments about this, and in some ways I agree with them. In others, not so much. I mean, to me there's nothing particularly special about selecting One January as the start of a "New Year." Personally, I can count three dates, no, four, no wait, five, which also qualify. One January for sure, as it's pretty well an international convention. My birthday, and that's much more of a New Year Day than One January is, at least for me... I'll allow you yours in the same manner. Four January counts as well, as that's the day I started working at Hospital. Coincidence, really, that it corresponses so closely with One. Chinese New Year counts too, as does Rosh Hashanah.
No, I'm not Chinese, nor Jewish. This doesn't change the fact that both of those days qualify just as well for New Years Day as does One January. In fact, Rosh Hashanah is probably more qualified. And several cultures / nationalities exhibit much less of a "party" outlook about New Year (whichever date you select) than as a date to clear the books: settle all debts, clean the house both physically and psychically in preparation for another 365 days.
I mean, there are four celestial events that humans do tend to celebrate something around: two solstice, and two equinox. Do please note I didn't specify Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall for either of those listings. Sure, a lot of my friends consider the Winter Solstice to be the one that occurs in December. There are several more that consider that the Summer Solstice, living in both New Zealand and Australia. Likewise for either equinox, because the one people in near proximity to me currently will call them Spring(March/April) and Autumn (September/October), but those same friends mentioned reverse that order.
Rosh Hashanah falls fairly close if not on one of those equinox dates, and that being the start of a season certainly qualifies as a start of a new year better than a date a couple weeks into winter. I think either solstice qualifies better as well, representing as they do the furthest tilt of the planet's axis in either direction. My father died on the December solstice; he always was big on finishing something properly, and I figured he just didn't want to start another season he wouldn't be able to finish.
I don't make New Year's Resolutions. Never have, really. Any time is a good time to start working on something positive, it doesn't need to wait for One January. I suppose if I were to make one this year it would be to Make More Photographs, Take More Time to Smell the Roses. Or horses, or at least the horse shit. Now there's something constructive, though it doesn't seem so to most of my city-dwelling acquaintences, horse shit, cow shit, goat shit, pig shit. It helps make the grass green, even if the grass around here doesn't so much stay green at this time of the year.
Oh, we do have a specific event around this time of year which is big time meaningful for us on the Ranch. For many years now, we've taken the bigest portion of our income tax return, and purchased a Certificate of Deposit in the amount of our land taxes (rounded up to the nearest $100), which matures on Two January. Earns a tiny bit of interest income, and gaurantees we'll be able to pay the county so they won't auction off our Ranch, and it's just so terribly satisfying that the money used to pay our land taxes (tax deductable, don't you know) comes from our income tax return...
So here we are, past the middle of the day locally and on our way to Midnight. Friends in Great Britian are four hours away from Midnight, five hours closer than we are here in Baja Jorja. I'm done with long travel on the road, barring emergencies, until "next year."
On the other hand, any excuse for a party is a good excuse, and so tonight we will toddle of down the road to friends and neighbors and celebrate the earth turning on its axis for the 365th time since last December 31. Before then, I'm going for a tramp on our ranch with the Border Collie Bros, who seem to like doing that no matter what day it is. I think that's a good way to look at life. And on that note, all, Happy New Year.
And Cheesy Piggie is doing it's thing in the crock pot for tonight's gathering(s) at other neighbors. This batch is a bit of experiment, as I found a "generic" equivalent from Publix of the processed cheese product used. It's lower in sodium, and I just had to try it. Much milder; I could probably of used a medium salsa, or both portions of sausage as spicy instead of mixing them. Ah well, that's what black and white pepper are for, as well as some other things I've yet to toss in. And yes, there are bagel bits to scoop the Cheesy Piggie with, making it the Blasphemous Dip.
New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New Years Resolutions, and One January.
I've read several comments about this, and in some ways I agree with them. In others, not so much. I mean, to me there's nothing particularly special about selecting One January as the start of a "New Year." Personally, I can count three dates, no, four, no wait, five, which also qualify. One January for sure, as it's pretty well an international convention. My birthday, and that's much more of a New Year Day than One January is, at least for me... I'll allow you yours in the same manner. Four January counts as well, as that's the day I started working at Hospital. Coincidence, really, that it corresponses so closely with One. Chinese New Year counts too, as does Rosh Hashanah.
No, I'm not Chinese, nor Jewish. This doesn't change the fact that both of those days qualify just as well for New Years Day as does One January. In fact, Rosh Hashanah is probably more qualified. And several cultures / nationalities exhibit much less of a "party" outlook about New Year (whichever date you select) than as a date to clear the books: settle all debts, clean the house both physically and psychically in preparation for another 365 days.
I mean, there are four celestial events that humans do tend to celebrate something around: two solstice, and two equinox. Do please note I didn't specify Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall for either of those listings. Sure, a lot of my friends consider the Winter Solstice to be the one that occurs in December. There are several more that consider that the Summer Solstice, living in both New Zealand and Australia. Likewise for either equinox, because the one people in near proximity to me currently will call them Spring(March/April) and Autumn (September/October), but those same friends mentioned reverse that order.
Rosh Hashanah falls fairly close if not on one of those equinox dates, and that being the start of a season certainly qualifies as a start of a new year better than a date a couple weeks into winter. I think either solstice qualifies better as well, representing as they do the furthest tilt of the planet's axis in either direction. My father died on the December solstice; he always was big on finishing something properly, and I figured he just didn't want to start another season he wouldn't be able to finish.
I don't make New Year's Resolutions. Never have, really. Any time is a good time to start working on something positive, it doesn't need to wait for One January. I suppose if I were to make one this year it would be to Make More Photographs, Take More Time to Smell the Roses. Or horses, or at least the horse shit. Now there's something constructive, though it doesn't seem so to most of my city-dwelling acquaintences, horse shit, cow shit, goat shit, pig shit. It helps make the grass green, even if the grass around here doesn't so much stay green at this time of the year.
Oh, we do have a specific event around this time of year which is big time meaningful for us on the Ranch. For many years now, we've taken the bigest portion of our income tax return, and purchased a Certificate of Deposit in the amount of our land taxes (rounded up to the nearest $100), which matures on Two January. Earns a tiny bit of interest income, and gaurantees we'll be able to pay the county so they won't auction off our Ranch, and it's just so terribly satisfying that the money used to pay our land taxes (tax deductable, don't you know) comes from our income tax return...
So here we are, past the middle of the day locally and on our way to Midnight. Friends in Great Britian are four hours away from Midnight, five hours closer than we are here in Baja Jorja. I'm done with long travel on the road, barring emergencies, until "next year."
On the other hand, any excuse for a party is a good excuse, and so tonight we will toddle of down the road to friends and neighbors and celebrate the earth turning on its axis for the 365th time since last December 31. Before then, I'm going for a tramp on our ranch with the Border Collie Bros, who seem to like doing that no matter what day it is. I think that's a good way to look at life. And on that note, all, Happy New Year.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 10:23 pm (UTC)Now that is a fabulous idea. Given the uncertainty of our income, I think I'm going to start doing the same thing, just as a backup plan. If we make enough money to pay the taxes, it can just roll over to another CD.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 03:29 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly. In fact, one year we did that. Otherwise, we've gone ahead and used it, then with the next tax return, set up the next one. It relieves a great burden of wondering if the property taxes will be paid, because they will.
Hope you had a good evening; ours was quiet. We enjoyed that.