❮❮prevnext❯❯

So, in Nyack or thereabouts for Family Christmas. (It's where my mom lives (in Salvation Army parlance "is currently stationed") but not really our hometown.)

This wind and rain is something else! I'm worried about an ice-slick future, but I'm grateful this wasn't some kind of major blizzard.

My mom's place has a sump pump which has been working overtime, sounding like a garage door opening every few minutes. Turns out the output of the sump pump probably isn't set far enough away from the house and it's likely repumping much of the same water over and over.

It's kind of tragic heroic in its own futile way, the Sisyphus of Sump.

---

Scandalized Childhood of the Moment

mouse over to pull string

This is a Santa Advent Calendar my family got when I was a kid, little scenes under the 24 windows. You pull the string and Santa does a little leap. My parents rehung it every year, even though obviously all the doors had been opened. For years I thought it was just a cute family tradition, but I was shocked, SHOCKED to find out that my parents fondness for it was based on their amusment on the idea of "pull Santa's dingdong and he jumps".

When I found out, I felt so dirty! But now my former shock is just part of the tradition. And through the magic of Javascript I can share it with you. Move the mouse over Santa to pull his dingle!