Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A New President; No Snow
Gimpy is sitting in the chair on the patio and eating dry-roasted un-salted peanuts. There are 10 birds at the feeders; Banichi is lurking outside somewhere, while Lovey is curled up in my lap. The patio door is cracked open, even though it's in the mid-30s - I have to get Banichi back inside. The storm swept over us and to the north, so while we cooled down considerably, we did not get any snow. Chain laws are in effect for the mountains; snow is falling in the high country, with fog, slick roads and, later today, blowing snow advisories.
I know my husband would have been extremely happy with the results of yesterday's election. To have a man such as Barack Obama as President-Elect is a wonderful, earth-changing, historic moment. - It makes me think of yesterday, when I arrived at my voting precinct early, and a young blonde student asked if I would take a photo of her standing outside the precinct doors, because she wanted to document her first time voting in a Presidential election - and I told her after I took her photo that she needed to remove her Obama button before going inside to actually cast her vote. She had gotten so used to wearing it that she had forgotten she had it on.-
I totally enjoyed Obama's speech - and, being me, have only one question: What kind of puppy are his daughters going to get?
I know my husband would have been extremely happy with the results of yesterday's election. To have a man such as Barack Obama as President-Elect is a wonderful, earth-changing, historic moment. - It makes me think of yesterday, when I arrived at my voting precinct early, and a young blonde student asked if I would take a photo of her standing outside the precinct doors, because she wanted to document her first time voting in a Presidential election - and I told her after I took her photo that she needed to remove her Obama button before going inside to actually cast her vote. She had gotten so used to wearing it that she had forgotten she had it on.-
I totally enjoyed Obama's speech - and, being me, have only one question: What kind of puppy are his daughters going to get?
"A Penny for the Guy"
Until recently, a common sight in English streets, in the weeks leading up to November 5, was of youngsters standing beside home-made effigies of Guy Fawkes, demanding, "A penny for the Guy!" Bonfire night was a children's festival, when boys and girls built their own bonfires and set off fireworks.
The guy may have worn a home-made beard and a tall black hat, or a cardboard Guy Fawkes mask bought from a shop. Often a guy was little more then a stuffed jumper with a ball of newspaper for a head. There is a long tradition of strange-looking guys. Writing in 1825, William Hone remarked, "It is not to be expected that poor boys should be well informed as to the Guy's history, or be particular about the costume." Guys were also placed on prams and push-chairs and wheeled through the streets. The better the quality of the guy, the more likely adults were to give money.
The children were often not clear about why Bonfire Night was celebrated. Richmal Crompton, in her Just William stories, has this exchange between William and one of his gang:
"So... why d'we celebrate that he didn't blow somefin' up, by blowin' things up?" William thought for a moment. "Well... maybe people were just let down that they never got to see it. I mean, the Houses of Parliament blowin' up into the air like that..."
In The Lore And Language Of Schoolchildren, their classic 1959 study of children's customs, Iona and Peter Opie recorded rhymes used by children as they begged for money or burned their guys on bonfires. The commonest was this verse which goes back to the 18th century:
Please to remember
The fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
The Opies found that children also composed their own variations on these rhymes. In Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, they chanted:
Please to remember
The fifth of November,
The poor old guy
With a hole in his stocking
A hole in his shoe
A hole in his hat where his hair comes through.
The phrase "poor old guy" shows that he was often viewed with affection. However, there were also violent verses, such as this one, chanted in Northampton:
Guy Fawkes, Guy
Hit him in the eye,
Hang him from the lamp-post
And leave him there to die.
Umbrella down the cellar,
There I saw a naked fella
Burn his body, save his soul,
There I saw a lump of coal;
If a lump of coal won't do,
Please give me a ha'penny.
The money collected with the guys was used to buy fireworks, such as bangers, sparklers, and jumping jacks.
Children also spent weeks collecting wood for big bonfires, where the guy would be placed on top. Rival gangs of children built their own bonfires, and would steal wood from each other's piles. In Yorkshire, this was known as "chumping", while in other places it was called "wooding". One girl told the Opies, "In our village, we have started collecting wood for the bonfire already (October 14) and we have competitions between ourselves to see who gets the biggest bonfire". Another girl described the fire: "The boys light the bonfire at about half past six in the evening. It is always lovely when the fire is blazing, the sparks fly and the sky turns a lovely orange colour... We make a ring and dance around the fire. We see who can collect the most used fireworks. We put potatoes on sticks and cook them in the embers."
Today, children are no longer allowed to buy fireworks or light their own bonfires. The Fireworks Act of 2003 prohibited people under the age of 18 from carrying fireworks in public. Bonfire night is now strictly controlled by grown-ups. Due to the influence of the US, Halloween has replaced Bonfire Night as children's big autumn festival. Even the cardboard Guy Fawkes masks have disappeared from most of our shops, to be replaced by Halloween masks and skulls. But some children do still build guys and go out to collect pennies.
The guy may have worn a home-made beard and a tall black hat, or a cardboard Guy Fawkes mask bought from a shop. Often a guy was little more then a stuffed jumper with a ball of newspaper for a head. There is a long tradition of strange-looking guys. Writing in 1825, William Hone remarked, "It is not to be expected that poor boys should be well informed as to the Guy's history, or be particular about the costume." Guys were also placed on prams and push-chairs and wheeled through the streets. The better the quality of the guy, the more likely adults were to give money.
The children were often not clear about why Bonfire Night was celebrated. Richmal Crompton, in her Just William stories, has this exchange between William and one of his gang:
"So... why d'we celebrate that he didn't blow somefin' up, by blowin' things up?" William thought for a moment. "Well... maybe people were just let down that they never got to see it. I mean, the Houses of Parliament blowin' up into the air like that..."
In The Lore And Language Of Schoolchildren, their classic 1959 study of children's customs, Iona and Peter Opie recorded rhymes used by children as they begged for money or burned their guys on bonfires. The commonest was this verse which goes back to the 18th century:
Please to remember
The fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
The Opies found that children also composed their own variations on these rhymes. In Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, they chanted:
Please to remember
The fifth of November,
The poor old guy
With a hole in his stocking
A hole in his shoe
A hole in his hat where his hair comes through.
The phrase "poor old guy" shows that he was often viewed with affection. However, there were also violent verses, such as this one, chanted in Northampton:
Guy Fawkes, Guy
Hit him in the eye,
Hang him from the lamp-post
And leave him there to die.
Umbrella down the cellar,
There I saw a naked fella
Burn his body, save his soul,
There I saw a lump of coal;
If a lump of coal won't do,
Please give me a ha'penny.
The money collected with the guys was used to buy fireworks, such as bangers, sparklers, and jumping jacks.
Children also spent weeks collecting wood for big bonfires, where the guy would be placed on top. Rival gangs of children built their own bonfires, and would steal wood from each other's piles. In Yorkshire, this was known as "chumping", while in other places it was called "wooding". One girl told the Opies, "In our village, we have started collecting wood for the bonfire already (October 14) and we have competitions between ourselves to see who gets the biggest bonfire". Another girl described the fire: "The boys light the bonfire at about half past six in the evening. It is always lovely when the fire is blazing, the sparks fly and the sky turns a lovely orange colour... We make a ring and dance around the fire. We see who can collect the most used fireworks. We put potatoes on sticks and cook them in the embers."
Today, children are no longer allowed to buy fireworks or light their own bonfires. The Fireworks Act of 2003 prohibited people under the age of 18 from carrying fireworks in public. Bonfire night is now strictly controlled by grown-ups. Due to the influence of the US, Halloween has replaced Bonfire Night as children's big autumn festival. Even the cardboard Guy Fawkes masks have disappeared from most of our shops, to be replaced by Halloween masks and skulls. But some children do still build guys and go out to collect pennies.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Snow Now Forecast Overnight
Kathy Sabine, our esteemed meterologist, once a vet student and always an animal lover, has just come on the air and said that Boulder is expecting 1 to 6 inches of snow by 6 a.m. - but that most of that snow will melt early because it did get up to 65 degrees today. Winter cometh!
Poll Checker Report
I went to Precinct 101 prepared to be inundated with voters - expecting most of them to be students and unsure of where they needed to vote. I was scheduled for 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., and was ready to work longer, if needed.
In the 3 hours I covered my Precinct, there were 35 voters. There were 3 Elections Judges inside; the Poll Watcher (attorney) left at 8:30 a.m.; the Republican Poll Checker left at 11 a.m. and had no replacement show up when I left at 1:20; and my replacement was a very pleasant lady, who showed up at precisely 1 p.m. We sent 5 people to the Clerk's Office because they had moved out of the precinct and they didn't want to file a provisional ballot. There were 7 other provisional ballots cast. (The daily total, when I left, was 77 total voters, with 7 of them casting provisional ballots.)
We did have 3 weeks of mail-in voting and 2 1/2 weeks of early voting.... I hope that the folks at the precinct don't get hammered by a huge turnout late this evening... but students are procrastinators!
In the 3 hours I covered my Precinct, there were 35 voters. There were 3 Elections Judges inside; the Poll Watcher (attorney) left at 8:30 a.m.; the Republican Poll Checker left at 11 a.m. and had no replacement show up when I left at 1:20; and my replacement was a very pleasant lady, who showed up at precisely 1 p.m. We sent 5 people to the Clerk's Office because they had moved out of the precinct and they didn't want to file a provisional ballot. There were 7 other provisional ballots cast. (The daily total, when I left, was 77 total voters, with 7 of them casting provisional ballots.)
We did have 3 weeks of mail-in voting and 2 1/2 weeks of early voting.... I hope that the folks at the precinct don't get hammered by a huge turnout late this evening... but students are procrastinators!
"Castle" Krzysztopor
Built in the early 17th Century, and located in central Poland, this castle was still built as a fortress (its name means 'battle axe') but was meant to show the grandeur of its owner, the rich magnate Ossolinski. Following the era's interest in astronomy, it featured 365 windows, 52 rooms and 12 ballrooms. However, the castle was intact only for a few years and started to decay after Swedish troops overran it in 1656.
National Election Day
Knowing that I'll be standing from 9:30 to 1:30 today, I only walked 3 miles this morning. It was 42 degrees outside when I got back home, carrying a warm fresh apple danish. I had fed the kits before I left, so upon my return, I opened the patio door, swept the patio and filled the critter feeders. Then I had breakfast and looked at the weather forecast and looked at the reports of early morning voting turn-out.
One of the ladies who works in the bakery made the comment that someone in her apartment complex had posted where the local precinct is located, along with an arrow for direction and the info that it was only two blocks down the street. She said she thought that was a super idea, because she hadn't known where she needed to go to vote, and she wanted to thank whoever it was who lived there. I said, "You're welcome." She blinked, then laughed, then said she should have known it was my door.
While I was doing research yesterday, I heard a very angry squirrel outside and looked to see "Momma" sitting in the peanut chair beside my desk cussing out Banichi. Momma started coming for food about a week after the little baby squirrels showed up - and her underbelly looks like she's still nursing... Banichi was just sitting there, about two feet away from her, but he was eyeing her rather intently. I knocked on the window and said his name - he heaved a big sigh and wandered back inside - I think he was enjoying listening to Momma chew him out.
Having spent 7 hours in the last two weeks in classes on how to be a Poll Watcher (and then learning the named was being changed to a Poll Checker, because a Poll Watcher was going to be a duly appointed lawyer), including a one-hour soiree last night, I will be blogging more when I return from my precinct - just so I can write about what's going on today.
Oh, and we're under a Winter Weather Advisory starting at 6 pm tonight - expecting a mixture of rain and snow Wednesday afternoon/evening. Western slope areas are expecting 4 to 18 inches of snow by Thursday morning. Looks like fall is here!
One of the ladies who works in the bakery made the comment that someone in her apartment complex had posted where the local precinct is located, along with an arrow for direction and the info that it was only two blocks down the street. She said she thought that was a super idea, because she hadn't known where she needed to go to vote, and she wanted to thank whoever it was who lived there. I said, "You're welcome." She blinked, then laughed, then said she should have known it was my door.
While I was doing research yesterday, I heard a very angry squirrel outside and looked to see "Momma" sitting in the peanut chair beside my desk cussing out Banichi. Momma started coming for food about a week after the little baby squirrels showed up - and her underbelly looks like she's still nursing... Banichi was just sitting there, about two feet away from her, but he was eyeing her rather intently. I knocked on the window and said his name - he heaved a big sigh and wandered back inside - I think he was enjoying listening to Momma chew him out.
Having spent 7 hours in the last two weeks in classes on how to be a Poll Watcher (and then learning the named was being changed to a Poll Checker, because a Poll Watcher was going to be a duly appointed lawyer), including a one-hour soiree last night, I will be blogging more when I return from my precinct - just so I can write about what's going on today.
Oh, and we're under a Winter Weather Advisory starting at 6 pm tonight - expecting a mixture of rain and snow Wednesday afternoon/evening. Western slope areas are expecting 4 to 18 inches of snow by Thursday morning. Looks like fall is here!
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