Rare Phenomenon

I would like to introduce my siblings pictured above. I find this photo appropriate because these people are phenomenal according to the dictionary.

Beginning from the left is my sister Deb and her husband Rex. Deb is our second youngest sibling. Next to Rex is our brother Dennis, second to the oldest. On the far right is our brother Mike, he is the youngest and next to him, laughing, is our oldest sibling Donna. You would find me in between these two groups. To me these people are very remarkable. They all have faced serious health problems during their lives but they never give up. They just keep on enjoying life. I think of them as rare as I rarely get to see them. They live in northern mid-central states while I reside in Washington. I miss these people. We all miss our two siblings; Carol, third from the oldest and Ken third from the youngest, both of whom have gone home. All I can say is cherish your families and enjoy each other as often as you can.

A couple of days ago I experience a rare phenomenon of a different sort. At 4:30am I was startled awake by the sound of very hard balls being dropped on a wooden floor. “What the heck?” I thought I must have been dreaming. At 5:30am while making morning coffee I heard the same sound. Unbelievable loud pops that seemed to be traveling across my roof in a northwestern direction. It was frightening. After much research I found these pops to have been made by Frost Quakes. I had never heard of Frost Quakes before. They’re caused by rapidly freezing temperatures & expanding ice. They are shallow, don’t release much energy, and are not associated with fault lines. They also don’t register on the Richter scale. While they may sound scary, there’s no need to be concerned.” Generally they occur in the very surface of the ground but can also occur in foundations and roofs of buildings. I heard them again this morning. When temperatures drop rapidly and there is no or little snow cover on the ground the moisture in the surface soil freezes and then cracks or splits apart. The stress can move through buildings and the popping sound is the releasing of the built up stress, or so the experts say. Apparently winter weather conditions are such this year that these popping sounds are being heard all over the country, but particularly in Missouri for some reason.

During winter my two cats get bored with the rain and cold. I build them phenomenal forts to occupy their time. Use of the word phenomenal is a definite stretch in this case.

Welcome to February, which I find to be an interesting month. Yesterday was Groundhog Day and a crowd of over 40,000 waited for the weather report before Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow predicting 6 more weeks of winter during the 139th annual Groundhog Day festivities. The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, where a badger or sacred bear was used instead of a groundhog. For early Christians in Europe, Candlemas was a day to bless and distribute candles. It was at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  Early Christians decided that clear skies on Candlemas Day meant a longer winter was ahead, while a cloudy day foreshadowed the end of winter. The medieval age English had a little saying about it.

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

In the middle of February we celebrate Valentine’s Day. No one is quite sure where Valentine’s Day comes from. The holiday, as we know it today, contains a blend of practices inherited from a pagan Roman festival, fifth-century Christianity, and the Middle Ages. Somewhere along the line the church began to celebrate a feast in February commemorating the death of Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr. However, one of the difficulties with pinpointing the patron saint of the holiday is that there were legends of three men named Valentine being executed in the first few centuries of Christianity. Valentine’s Day is one of my favorites, although I rarely get a Valentine myself. Be that as it may, I still love the joy and excitement it brings, especially to children sharing their love with family and friends.

Then comes President’s Day. I find this to be an interesting and confusing one. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as President’s Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day, while not officially named that way, is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.

February is a busy one for me this year. I have my taxes organized and ready to file on the 25th of this month. On the 19th I have been assigned jury duty which means a trip to Goldendale which is 60 miles from here. In my Sunday school class we are learning about how to go to confession but are now starting the second unit on what the Holy Eucharist is all about. This is a time of transition in my lesson planning, which I take seriously.

Have a Fantastic February