Well, Happy New Year.

Or happy fucking new year.

The cynic in me is grumpy because I’m overworked, underpaid, and had a shitload of animal deaths in 2015. If I were a Christian, I’d be asking god why this happened and why is he punishing me.  Instead, I ask Tyr why this is happening and why this feels like I’m being punished.

See the difference?

No, well, some days I don’t either.  And having been raised in the Christian tradition, I sometimes forget that bad things just happen.  So, I whine and complain.

On the other hand, I did save one of my very sick critters — no thanks to the vet who came out here. It took my powers of deduction and research to figure it out and treat the problems. I would’ve saved my animals if my vets had been more on the ball.  But no.

Enough Whining and Onto the New Year

The end of the year always feels like the end of things to me. I have actually referred to it as the bottom of the year because the days are shorter, life slows, and the life cycle awaits the sun for rejuvenation. Here in the Northern latitudes, the loss of light and gaining of light is far more pronounced. We have afterglow from the sun for up to an hour longer in the evening, which you don’t see in more southerly states, but we lose a lot of light fast as we trek toward Yule. Once the solstice has passed, we gain light at a frenetic rate as well.

The New Year is Always a Surprise

Oddly enough, the new year always catches me by surprise.  I suddenly realize there are things I must do now that December is over and I feel like such a slacker. At the same time, I’m still getting stuff done that I should’ve gotten done in December, had it not been for the holidays. December I was getting stuff done that should’ve been done during hunting season. And so on.  I realize that every season I have things to do. Soon, it will be kidding season, assuming any of breedings took hold with my goats.

Ah, the joys of a new year.  May you have a better new year than last year.  I’m hoping for it.