Daylight Portion Of Each 24 Hours Grows Shorter In Wisconsin

It's approaching 6:30 a.m. as I write this and it's still pitch black outside.  We are off daylight savings time.  The Sun won't rise according to the US Naval Observatory website until 7:03 a.m. and it will set at 4:19 p.m.

This is quite a contrast to conditions on summer solstice during the third week of June when it is already getting light by 4:30 a.m. here in America's Dairyland and the sky remains light until after 8:00 p.m.

In about three weeks we will be at winter solstice which will give us the least daylight during its 24 hours but also marks the beginning of the march toward summer solstice and the return of long Sun visibility above the horizon.

Everything is just the opposite in the southern hemisphere where residents are enjoying lengthening days are they move toward summer solstice.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Giving Thanks For Rational Human Thought

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We thank you rational human thought

For the benefits of your uncountable products

For the smiling babies your medicines have saved

For the relief of pain provided by your analgesics

For your efficacious treatment of disease

And for tripling life expectancy since the Dark Ages.

We thank you rational human thought

For feeding billions of our kind

For warning of storms, eruptions, and other calamities

For the shelters you have designed and built

For heating in winter and cooling in summer

And for transporting our species even to the moon.

We thank you rational human thought

For magnifying every sense bestowed upon us by nature

For unraveling the mysteries of the universe

For your appreciation of infinity within and without

For helping us express ourselves in love

And for your war against superstition.

We thank you rational human thought

And hope you will continually improve

Our ability to use your products wisely.

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©2009 Ted Schaar

Wild In the 'Burbs

This was the view out my office window last week.  Three does munching on Pam's roses.  (Click for a larger image.)

Brookfield, which is about ten miles west of Lake Michigan, has an abundance of creatures such as deer, coyotes, foxes, hawks, and turkeys...

They are fun to see but sadly no match for the cars and trucks that outnumber them greatly.

Cat Scratch Training

Training a cat to claw where you want her or him to and nowhere else is quite a satisfying accomplishment. With many cats, it happens very quickly because, for whatever reason, they are able to understand that Natural Scratch is just for them and is the one place they can scratch with abandon and with the hearty approval of their human companions.

I don't think coming to this realization is a matter of intelligence. Two of our three current cats--Twinkles and Gemini--were immediate Natural Scratch clawers and haven't scratched anything else in years. The third, Leo, is probably smarter than the other two but he was harder to train.

It wasn't because he didn't understand what Natural Scratch was for or that he didn't like clawing it. What bugged him was being restricted to just one approved target. Leo wanted to scratch anywhere, anytime. To him, Natural Scratch was fine but so was the corner of the futon.

Nevertheless, through a combination of rewards for clawing Natural Scratch and negative conditioning--cat jail--for targeting anything else, we were able to train his bad scratching habits out of him. If you have a cat like Leo, Natural Scratch and its easy-to-use training method is just what the doctor ordered.

Citizen Kane

Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, has an old movie theater named Rosebud that sometimes plays classic movies such as *Casablanca* and *The Wizard of Oz*.  Yesterday, it played *Citizen Kane*, the film that gave it its name.

I've seen it before but never on a standard-size movie screen.  It's a great movie, certainly among the top 50 ever made.

It always hits home because as a grade schooler, I lived not even a block from the best sledding, tobogganing, and skiing hill in my hometown.

With many friends, I spent just about every winter Saturday and Sunday there for years and had no end of fun.

At death's door, Kane couldn't find anything more memorable to think about than simple boyhood times on a snowy slope.

Cat Scratch Posts And Other Good Things

Please visit naturalscratch.com for an array of products designed to help you redirect your cat's or cats' natural need to exercise and sharpen their claws.

These posts, planks, and slabs have helped many cat lovers and they can you, too.

My website features more than 100 testimonial comments from happy customers and each one makes my heart "soar like a hawk" to borrow a line from the Dustin Hoffman movie Little Big Man.