(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . New Year's Resolutions: Food, Skies, Cats, and 2025 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-30 Every year I have the standard resolutions — lose weight, exercise more, be a better person, and so on. I usually manage at least partially to achieve some of them, at least until the fall and winter kick in. But I want to be thoughtful this year, and if I write these down (maybe someone will read them, but if I state them publicly, maybe it will help with achieving these things). My attempts have already started (it is close to the beginning of the year and I can start any time, so why not in advance?). I have already donated to Democrats running in special elections in Virginia. A restaurant advertisement in Cairo — I don’t think I could bring myself to eat there, no matter that I adore fried chicken. This is just a bit too close to home for me to feel comfortable with it. Of course, ice cream (gelato) doesn’t have any calories at all! Always perfectly healthy. Locally-produced eggs. I have already made soup and eaten mostly vegetables since I got home from holiday excursions, rather than slurping up heavy meat stews or just ordering through Door Dash, both of which are comforting experiences in the midst of winter. Today I filled out the paperwork that is required to move my draft board participation from Missouri to Kansas. Why am I volunteering to serve on the SSS (Selective Service System) Draft Board? It goes back to a discussion from the very beginning of my DKos participation, where someone was writing about why he was on the draft board of his county; it boiled down to “Who do you want to make the decisions about who gets excused — do you trust yourself to be honest and fair?” Having become politically aware during the time of the draft for Vietnam, and knowing how unfair it could be (not pointing any fingers right now), I thought about it and decided yes, I internalized the honor code at my college and have tried to live by it since, and I could be honest and fair, even in such extreme circumstances. I hope I never have to go beyond the training, and if the draft is ever restarted there will be a lot of questions about its application (should/can women be drafted, for example). But there is an argument periodically about starting a required year or two of service, whether in the armed forces or not, and that is something I figure will be organized through the SSS. But there are other things I want to do; on my list might be some things you share as goals. Feel free to ask me about any goals, or the draft board, or which candidates I continue to contribute to even after the election. And I hope you add your ideas and resolutions or just goals for the next year in the comments. There are pictures (ones I took) below the fold, too. I will increase the number and amounts of charitable donations I make. This is separate from political ones, although I think I will donate to some that may be sort of on the edge of political — the Church of Satan, the ACLU, etc. I will wake up (occasionally) in time to admire the sunrise. I already spend time with the sunset any evening it is not raining or snowing or just socked in with clouds. I will continue to look up. These are pictures of the sun this year — sunset on the Nile and midday in Russellville, Arkansas. The sun is magnificent and well worth taking deep breaths and appreciating. There is a wind that comes as the sun sets. It is the breath of the earth as it moves on its axis. I am told this is my imagination, but I have felt the wind as day changes to night. The National Cathedral, Washington, DC. I will look look up at ceilings as well. While many ceilings are elaborately decorated, even simple ones can be interesting. Shadows from sunlight or from unevenness in the construction can be beautiful. Little things can be just as worth looking at as the big spectacular star we orbit. I will also look down, as what is beneath my feel is important too. There is beauty in the cities, where art springs up on pavement and even industrial necessities may be spectacular, even walked upon by thousands of feet over a hundred years. Then there is the dirt. I will plant more native plants, which in Kansas means sunflowers. They have the added benefit of adding to the diet of native birds as they go to seed and bees and butterflies as they bloom. Washington, DC. Art on the paving in front of the pavilion with the local native plant sale. I will continue to buy and plant more milkweed and bee balm, butterfly bush and black-eyed susans. They are beautiful but attract all sorts of flying creatures, particularly monarchs which I very much admire. I will plant more ground cover that is not fancy grass. Creeping thyme, chamomile, clover, and creeping phlox are all good and grow in Kansas. These plants apparently aren’t as sturdy as grass, but I don’t walk around my back yard that much as I really don’t like mosquitoes and chiggers. I am paranoid that if I enjoy walking around my back yard with bare feet or even with shoes, my lower limbs will be covered with infernal bites. I will pay attention to what plants and mushrooms set themselves up naturally. I have a fairy ring of mushrooms in front of my house under the elm tree. I have stinkhorns in the triangle garden plot in which I am planting the milkweed and other plants that can stand partial shade (mostly shade) during the heat of summer. The “fairy ring” in the front yard. I will plant herbs again (there is no point to tomatoes as the squirrels eat them all before I get to them). And I will buy my other vegetables locally and get eggs from local farmers who raise chickens on organic feed and let them roam outside to enjoy the wild seeds, the grubs, and sunlight. Whadya want, doll? I will continue to feed birds during the summer as well as the winter, both because it is entertaining for my (indoor only) cats to watch and for me to watch them watching the birds, but also because the low feeder also attracts other creatures such as the ubiquitous grey squirrels as well as a pair of chipmunks that lives under the triangle and an occasional opossum. There are lots of sparrows and cardinals, of course, but occasionally an eastern bluebird. In the winter the sparrows go nowhere, but I also have bluejays, chickadees, Carolina wrens, and various woodpeckers. I have a Birdbuddy feeder and sometimes I get really fun pictures, such as this one with a hard-charging gumshoes chomping on his cigar (well, the end of a bit of seed, but I think he looks like a 1920s/1930s stereotypical big city editor from the movies, or Humphrey Bogart. Just a delightful photograph, I think. Not at the birdfeeder, but living in the neighborhood, are a pair of red-shouldered hawks. They usually are circling in the mid-morning, watching below for their chance at a meal. I did startle one with a squirrel in its talons on the front sidewalk. The hawk took off, leaving its prey behind, but watched me intently from my neighbor’s maple tree. I decided to go on my way, and I would throw it away if it still was lying there when I came back from my errand. It wasn’t, and I was glad I let nature follow its own path. Eastern Kansas in late May I will listen to hear the barred owls again. They are in the area, but some years I do and some not. I don’t know if it is because I don’t listen regularly enough, or they are very irregular visitors to the neighborhood, but I will spend more evenings outside in twilight and listen for them. I will go out into the countryside, It isn’t far from where I live to get into truly rural parts of the state. There you can pull over by the side of the road and just admire the sky and the clouds. The smells are different and the quiet is amazing. Kansas skies. And then you have the spectacular clouds. I want to see more of those! It is more an ideal than a resolution. I never would wish for a storm because around here they can be deadly. But they are beautiful. Meryt (left, back) and Senby. I will be a good “mother” for my cats. The oldest, the last surviving of the triplets some of you might remember from the later oughts, is almost 17 years old and has been on insulin for almost two years. Meryt is the one with long fur (her kitten photo is my avatar on this page). She is the back one on the photo of two oranges on the couch. Senby is the one at the front. He is 3 ½ years old. Medjed, the two year old I “hired” this year to keep Senby company (and get him to exercise a bit more), is still a bit timid, but he is a very loving cat to me. All three are wonderful and I want them to live a lot longer so I will take good care of them, petting and brushing them, taking them to the vet for shots or when I have concerns. And just loving loving loving them. To the stars through difficulty. And I will stop and take time to note all the small and delightful things I encounter at unexpected moments. May your 2025 be filled with unexpected delights. 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