See Dere Cedar Stumps

 

While recently pulling out spring weeds, I noticed some of the cedar stumps didn't have round, smooth perimeters as I'd expect. Turns out that all nine stumps looked different from typical cylindrical tree trunks of live oak and Spanish oaks. Interestingly, these cross sections also looked different from each other.

While poking around on the web, it turns out that these trees are also known as ashe juniper trees. (A long time ago, I was told that these trees were cedars.) I'm keeping the theme title, but keeping in mind that the tie-in to junipers is the foliage.

Cedars and Junipers

The following resources indicate that the cedar tree and stumps in the backyard to be ashe junipers.

"Cedar vs. Juniper: Why we call it ‘cedar fever’ when cedar isn’t to blame" focuses on "fever". The accompanying video provides good videocam panning of the trees. About 15 seconds into video, the tree resembles the lone remaining backyard "cedar" tree. Notable: "the tree was finally formally identified as ashe juniper in 1932."

"How Austin’s most hated tree benefits humans and the environment" states "Though not technically cedar, the Ashe Juniper trees have been referred to as cedar since the first settlers arrived in Texas, and the name stuck." The accompanying video shows several trees that resemble the ones in my yard from pre-arborgeddon in 2023.

"Ashe Juniper" shows a good image of tree bark, accompanied by description that suits the cut-off trees well.

The tree is easily recognized by its irregular shape, fluted, twisted trunk, and dark green foliage. ... Its bark is gray or reddish-brown often with white patches. ... Another identifying characteristic of the bark, especially on mature trees, is its shredding into long narrow strips.

"CEDAR 101" explains mountain cedar as "technically, it is Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei). The name 'mountain cedar' comes from its visual similarity to Eastern Red Cedar and its preponderance in the Hill Country, or Edwards Plateau ecoregion, of Texas." The image of stacked logs provides various looks of cross cut edges. The site describes how the lumber is sized and graded for selling.

"Numerous Juniperus, but Neither Were Cedar!" is longish and detailed. About 2:29 into the video, the narrator holds up a small branch and states "This is an ash(e) juniper. This is the most common tree in Austin."

"A Forest Grows Under Ashe Juniper" includes the phrase "Ashe juniper (commonly called cedar)" in the video description

"Ashe Juniper is Native to Central Texas" includes historical and current info about ashe junipers.

Some Juniper/Cedar Cross Section Views

Besides the stacked logs image at Cedar 101, you can view additional cross sections. Some are comparable to the stumps in my "See Dere Cedar Stumps" video.

• "1" - 2.5" Red Cedar Log Bundle, ..."
• "Eastern Red Cedar (Juniper) r/firewood"
• Etsy's "Cedar Stumps" has loads of images for viewing. I've pasted links to some of the more interesting specimens.
• "16" x 3" Red Cedar Cookie, Slab, ..."
• "Red Cedar Log 319"
• "Very large thick unique red cedar wood slice ..."
• "Red Cedar Stump ..."
• "Red Cedar wood cookie slice ..."
• "Need some advice on drying and preserving these large juniper tree rounds " is a non-etsy page showing a multi-lobed cross section.

Additional Localized Resources

"7 Types of Cedar Trees in Texas: Identification Guide (Chart, Pictures)" provides info on seven types of cedar trees. I initially thought that my cedars were alligator cedars. I changed my mind when I saw the bark resembled organized mosaic tiles. BTW, the rock cedar (Juniperus ashei) apparently is another name for ashe juniper.

"What Kind of Cedar Grows in Texas? | Cedar Tree ID | Brush Management" contrasts ashe juniper, redberry juniper, and Eastern red cedar trees.

Cruisin' with Cartoons

I thought about a dozen cartoons that have aired on "Toon In With Me" in the last few years. They are entertaining for having themes from even before WWII. Viewing them across generations provides different perspectives of childhood, parent-agehood, and oldsterhood. Despite mostly 2D looks, these animations are amazing in indicating movement, character looks consistency, and great imaginations for improbable realities.

What kind of improbable realities? How about characters that get totally destroyed in scenes, yet recover to perfect health and wholiness within seconds? Violations of laws of physics with backgrounds that snap out of rigidity and back to immovable state? How about constant uses of dynamite, TNT, office safes, anvils, and the like for attempted destruction between adversaries? Such cartoons and items include the following characters: Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny and adversaries (Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Tasmanian Devil, ...), Tom and Jerry, and Tweety and Sylvester.

Thinking of various gadgets WRT to Wile E, the devices from Acme always fail him. Ordering delivery of a chicken meal would be more effective, filling, and less harmful to his health. Expanding thoughts wider about cartoons, some specific ones come to mind, with or without the usual weapons of personal destruction that I've mentioned.

Note: Links for cartoons are for full versions. Most are from YouTube. Ones from Daily Motion have slightly different play and audio controls; be sure to click "unmute".

Spider and Fly Interaction, Fly Saved By WWII Regulation

For "Meatless Flyday", the spider has four arms, four legs. Gloved hands show three-fingers and thumb most of the times. Feet are shod. In one instance, his shoe is cut open, exposing five toes. He counts his now five-digit hands to confirm full counts. The fly has two arms (gloved fingers) and two legs (three toes per foot). Comically improbable--a horseshoe magnet strong enough to attract the fly with ingested buck shot AND kitchen knives.

Note that the spider's cut-open-toe shoe and hand digits around the 4:00 mark. Also noteworthy is WWII-type references to meatless day—"Meatless Monday Then and Now", and nighttime blackouts ("Blackout (wartime)").

Another cartoon with nod to WWII, "LOONEY TUNES (Looney Toons): A Tale of Two Kitties (1942) (Remastered) (HD 1080p)" shows a Victory Garden and lights-out policing. The cartoon includes destructive devices that only temporarily disable Catstello while annoying Babbit in their mission to capture a proto-Tweety. Violations of laws of physics are rampant, especially during the last few minutes.

The two cartoons I've described show loads of violence and little music. Several of the following cartoons engage in both music AND violence, but not sax and violins.

Hungarian Musical Presences in Cartoons

"Cartoons using Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" shows compiled snippets. "The Concerto Controversy | Plagiarism Accusations Between Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes" provides background to two very similar cartoons that feature Hungarian Rhapsody #2. Star piano players are Bugs Bunny and Tom Cat, respectively. The video also includes additional content about cartoons' cultural impacts.

"Brahms – Pigs in a Polka – Hungarian Dances 5, 7, 6, 17" provides details about Hungarian Dances music and order. The embedded cartoon link points to a YouTube video, but "LOONEY TUNES (Looney Toons): Pigs in a Polka (1943) (Remastered) (HD 1080p)" is more complete.

Three Pigs Segue to Jazz

"Three Little Bops (starring Joe Bezek)", from 1950s has loads of jazz from the three pigs and wolf. The story bears some resemblance to the familiar pigs and wolf story. No house constructions, but wolf blowing anyway.

Another Three Pigs Twist, Mashed Up with Little Red Riding Hood

"Bugs Bunny E078 The Windblown Hare" stars Bugs Bunny in a mashup of the three pigs with wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. The lesson is that defrauding Bugs results in consequences.

Little Red Riding Hood Variations

"Little Red Riding Rabbit" shows twist of Little Red Riding Hood ending up as the least sympathetic character. Both Bugs Bunny and the wolf ultimately leave her in dire straits. Apparently, several cartoons vary in their approaches to Little Red Riding Hood. Warner Brothers and Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker) have additional variations Of LRRH and wolf, fineable on the web.

Violations of Laws of Physics In Popeye Adventures

Oddly enough, Popeye cartoons, despite loads of violence, don't seem to resort to dynamite. Surroundings (roads, trains, ...) seem to become elastic in many stories. BTW, Olive has elasticity in spades. In instances, she twists like a corkscrew, spans chasms with skinny legs that rival Mr. Fantastic, and frequently moves her limbs spaghetti-ishly. An example of laws-of-physics violations is "Popeye 147 I'll be skiing you 1947". It starts out with ice skating, but transitions to skiing, with amazing Olive Oyl improbable flexibilities not seen in other cartoons. A St. Bernard rescues Popeye with spinach so he can rescue Olive from the ever-growing and downhill rolling snowball. Bluto gets kissed by a she-wolf on the slopes and Florida.

A Valentine Story for Multiple Generations

"Don't Look Now (1936) (HD)" is a Valentine Day theme of Cupid and youngsterish devil with opposing goals upon arising. The story has something for youngsters and grownups. The cartoon sprinkles a few adult themes, such as planted "evidence" of infidelity among courting couples and false accusations of paternity.. Lots of music throughout.

A Couple of Single Working Women and Their Abodes

Betty Boop and Olive Oyl cartoons have shown them having their own careers, businesses, and residences. Some cartoons show them living in apartments or houses—no roommates, siblings, or parents. Betty does own Pudgy, her dog, which occasionally exhibits human mannerisms.

Couple of business examples:

• Olive and Popeye open a diner together as partners in "Popeye The Sailor Man - We aim to please".
• Betty Boop shows her auto repair business in "Betty Boop - So Does An Automobile 1939 // Colorized HD". Numerous autos are animated to display human movements and behaviors.

Rec'ed for Multiple Viewings

The following cartoons are great entertainment that invite multiple viewings, for absorbing details and also re-viewing fun stuff. They have great plot development, loads of music, and lots of innovations with devices and gadgets. Action-packed nearly throughout the adventures.

• "Betty Boop - Grampy's Indoor Outing (1936)"
• "Popeye the Sailor - Cartoons Ain't Human"
• "Rabbit Of Seville (1950)"

Generational Reaches

Whether you watch classic cartoons as first timer or old timer, favorites will form memories of happy entertainment. Oddly enough, some cartoons almost seem new if not viewed in many years.

Sycamore Tree Sight, Seed Pod Pickapart

For a few weeks this summer, my stemmed orb-like object lay on the floor. I wasn't sure what to expect if I were to poke and prod it. My video starts out showing showing a sycamore tree and leaves. The latter part shows my exploration and pickapart to fuzzy fibers and, eventually, snipped-apart center.

With poking around the web, I quickly concluded the item was not an acorn. Somehow, I was able to focus (grin) and conclude the object was a sycamore seed pod, aka sycamore seed ball, aka sycamore ball. I myself decided on "sycamore tree seed pod".

Sycamore Resources—Trees, Humongous Leaves, Orb-like Seed Pods

"Sycamore Tree" provides overall info and basic images for sycamore trees. The split-open seed pod shows a good view of the "fuzzy interior"."Sycamore, American" shows a picked-apart seed pod similar to mine. Compare the leaves that both sides use for emphasizing size. Note the white bark shots.

Leaves figure prominently in "Everybody hates sycamores?". The leaves look nice, but the video speaker describes their downsides.

"The Sycamore Squeeze", published February 2022 mentions that time period as good for squeezing a sycamore seed ball.

If a seed-ball isn’t ready, bring it inside a house for a day or so. Dry air hastens the squishable stage. When it gives, it’s ready to take.

Still pictures in the article and the accompanying 's video confirm the object to be a sycamore tree seed ball. FWIW, I had begun cutting into and prying stuff apart before I realized I could squeeze the fuzz off.

"Sycamore Tree seed pod explosion in slow motion" shows the crushing of a sycamore seed pod. The pre-crush object looks like my object, but not the separation of parts!

Portraits of Wildflowers, with Multiple Sycamore Items

Portraits of Wildflowers primarily provides flora content and macro pictures. To my delight, I did a sycamore search and found several articles and images that greatly helped me ID sycamore trees, leaves, and seed pods.

"Sycamore seed ball" described the seed pod process.

These start out hard and firm but eventually, in a way that’s reminiscent of cattails with seeds attached to fluff, they loosen to the point that a touch—be it of a hand or of the wind—causes them to unravel.

"Sycamore seed balls and drying leaf" and "Sycamore leaf and clouds" blog titles perfectly describe their accompanying images. (¡Mira! ¡Mira!)

"Whose woods these are I just don’t know*" is an intriguing blog title. The content itself provides a good description of sycamore tree characteristics to go with the image.

Reaching Way Back for Sycamore Tree Climber—Zacchaeus

My recollection of first hearing of "sycamore" was as a child singing about Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree to view Jesus. Google provides loads of info for "zacchaeus song", much of the info surrounding Zacchaeus himself.

Q/As are handy with summaries, such as who Zacchaeus was, why he climbed a sycamore tree, how short he was, why he changed his treatment of people WRT tax collection, moral lesson, etc. Google "zacchaeus in the bible" and "how did zacchaeus change after meeting jesus".

View YouTube results for "zacchaeus was a little man song" for several versions of the children's biblical song. ("Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man" is illustrated and includes a second verse.)

Sycamore Tree in Relatively Recent News

A recent news account of a sycamore tree chopping made news in September 2023. The article includes historical info about the locale and tree's age. From "Famous 'Sycamore Gap tree' in northern England found cut down overnight; 16-year-old arrested"

The tree, which is about 300 years old, was located next to Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans beginning in 122 A.D. to mark the northern limits of Roman Britannia.

In Closing, a Far-reaching Sycamore Resource

"Sycamore Trees: Leaves, Bark, Types – Identification Guide (Pictures)" has exhaustive content and images of sycamores, mostly about ones in some US states and Mexico. One item that particularly piqued me was the info and image comparison between a sycamore and maple leaf.

GIMP-adding Newest Saturn to 3-Saturn .xcf File

My previous topic, "2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings" inspiration came from my curiosity about Saturn's upcoming rings edge view, anticipated in March 2025. Because of Saturn's position behind the sun at that time, however, we won't be able to view or capture images of it then.

That article includes basic Saturn info and resources. The video "2-Saturn Composite Image, GIMP Revisit" shows numbered steps for creating the composite comparing Saturn images taken 9/2/2021 and 11/22/2023.

This time around, the topic is about having found a GIMP-editable (.xcf) 3-Saturn composite with images from 2015 and 2018 as well as 2021, then adding the image from November. The video shows the steps in using GIMP for the process. Main GIMP tools for setups and usage are layers, measurement, grid, move, and draw. Saving and exporting are must-do's for successful outcome.

2-Saturn Composite, Anticipating Future Edge-on Rings

We recently pic'd Saturn, then recalled another imaging session (from about 26 months before. I wanted to compare images, then create a composite. The 2-Saturn composite image shows Saturn on 9/2/2021 and 11/22/2023. The orientations differ, and the newer Saturn's set of rings angle narrower than the rings of the earlier Saturn. During the image creation process, I had became curious about when Saturn's rings might "flatten", maybe disappear from view.

I thought about the steps I used in my process. Having used GIMP recently, and PaintShopPro earlier, I decided to make a slide show of the steps.

 

Some Saturn Resources

To acquaint myself with my orb target, I ran across a few basic resources. NASA's "Saturn: Facts" provides good overview. EarthHOW's "7 Planet Saturn Facts: Beyond its Signature Rings [Infographic]" includes more details and tantalizing images, especially the infograph. "How long does it take Saturn to orbit the Sun?" states "approximately 29.46 Earth years, or 10,755.7 Earth days, to complete one orbit around the Sun". This site provides a nice list of q/a's. Saturn has an unusual feature besides its rings: NASA's "Saturn’s Strange Hexagon" explains "a bizarre six-sided hexagon feature encircling the entire north pole".

"Saturn’s Rings Will Temporarily Disappear From View in 2025" (published November 13, 2023) explained the rings' next "disappearing act".

In 2025, Saturn’s rings will be invisible from Earth for several months. ... Saturn’s rings are so thin that they seemingly vanish when viewed edge-on. And as Earth and Saturn travel around the sun on their respective orbital paths, our planet reaches this particular vantage point like clockwork, roughly every 13 to 16 years. ... the rings will disappear from sight in March 2025.

The following image represents three Saturn images, the existing duo, and a phantom representation for March 2025. The last image indicates planet tilt and edge-on rings. FWIW, Saturn is not in the night sky around that time frame, and the sun's angular alignment to Saturn WRT Earth's position endangers eyesight.

Partial Annular Solar Eclipse Oct 14 2023, Austin

Our area (Austin) was fortunate enough to behold a partial solar eclipse, clear skies and all. Texans in San Antonio, about 100 miles to the south, got a fabulous annular eclipse because of that area being in the zone of annularity.

My video combines two views of the same image frames used. One portion shows the sun aligned, and the other portion shows the sun drifting south a little as the mount was not perfectly polar aligned. I used tweaked versions (stationary sun, sun/moon movement) to build the side-by-side version.

The actual eclipse lasted over three hours. The resulting videos were each about 36 seconds. Over 900 frames made up each video segment. It was a learning process to prep and compile. Methodology for aligning the sun images using GIMP, my graphics editor, evolved over a few days. I used grids, circumscribed squares, circles, squares and circles, disk shapes.

I aligned using edges, then picking different edges as the moon advanced along its route.

Eclipse Resources

"What Is a Solar Eclipse?" and What Is an Annular Eclipse?" illustrate and simply explain solar and annular eclipses:

For an overview of the two main types of solar eclipses, Schreiner University's Eclipse Path site provides overall info about solar eclipse paths for October 14 2023 and April 8 2024. The NASA composite and Schreiner's video simulations for the two featured eclipses are view worthy. Nice to also see a short section about eclipse viewing safety.

"Types of Solar Eclipses" succinctly contrasts the three kinds of solar eclipses:

A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. People located in the center of the Moon’s shadow ...

An annular solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, but when it is at or near its farthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, ...

A partial solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth but the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up. Only a part of the Sun will appear to be covered, giving it a crescent shape.

Reaching Back to the August 21 2017 Solar Eclipse

"Eclipse Map — August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse" shows the path of totality as far away from our area, thus, why our eclipse image showed a crescent-moonish sun.

Box Cereal Eatins--Dry 'N' Milked

Boxed cereal consumers! Do you always consume yours with milk? Do you also consume some cereals dry, like they're munchies? I've done lots of dry munching on sweetish, often chocolatey cereals. I've tapered off on the grazing for a few years, but am not totally immune to the temptations.

The other day of store trek got me to thinking about cereals I'd loved to munch on but supplies indicate discontinuation or inconsistent availabilities at my supermarket.

• "Post® Shredded Wheat Spoon Size® Honey Nut Cereal" are available at WalMart, apparently. I might need to trek there to get my longtime yearning met.
• "French Toast Crunch", which has come and gone and come and gone.
• "OREO O's® cereal", thankfully made a comeback a few months ago after being gone for maybe a year or two.

HEB has stocked various lines of "Filled Squares", knockoffs of Kellogg's Krave cereals. Before Krave, HEB stocked a Mexican filled-square cereal that was delish and inexpensive. And better stuffed than Krave. Back to HEB's Filled Squares, the flavor I really craved was caramel-filled. Disappeared. Dang! In any case, I'm hoping to run into "H‑E‑B Sweet Creamy Filled Squares" some time soon.

My thoughts meandered to the entire stocked cereal cupboard (9 separate brands). Some are healthful with high amount of fiber, for the sensible grown-up focus. Others appeal to the palate (sugar!) despite little fiber.

 

The lineup in my video shows stagings of current cereals and some empty cereal boxes that represent a few recent consumptions. FWIW, the visuals could nudge you to think about the angel and devil that tug you to consume healthful but kinda boring cereal vs. yummy appeal-to-taste buds cereals that are less healthy to eat.

Frequently Used Kitchen Items--Vintage, Newer

 

I've taken a trip down memory lane for kitchen items that I blogged about in mid-2015. I still use a goodly number of them. "Ancient" ones include a Tupperware measuring pitcher, a Wearever air popcorn popper, and an Osterizer blender, I've replaced some items that broke or have improved capabilities or both reasons. I've accumulated a few newer gadgets since the 2015 articles.

Several kitchen items have shown up in various articles and YouTube videos I've produced over the years, mostly WRT to baking cookies or cakes. The star of my YouTube videos is my Osterizer blender, which is approaching 45,000 after being up since mid-2016. ("Stuck Blender Blade?" shows diagnosing and unsticking my blender blade assy, then reassembling and testing it.)

My composite pic in "Frequently Used Non-electrical Long-time Kitchen" l shows non-electrical implements and gadgets.

 My composite pic in "Frequently Used Electrical Long-time Kitchen Items" shows mostly small electrical appliances.

 Back in 2015, I used a still-images Kodak camera (1760 x 1168 resolution shrinkable to 640 x 425). In contrast, my more compact Canon takes varieties of stills and videos that surpass the Kodak, which broke after over 10 years of use. My video shows hands-on handling of the kitchen items, something of a show-and-tell session. Some viewers might actually recognize or have some of the same objects. Interestingly, some show up on the web with "vintage" in descriptions.

From "Vintage vs. Antique vs. Collectible | What’s the difference?"

Antiques have to be at least 100 years in age. That is what makes a true antique according to respectable dealers. Vintage can be anything from 20-99 years old and generally capture a sense of nostalgia that’s relevant to the culture in some way.

I've identified the items in the video. In case you don't recognize any or had anything similar, ask someone who's older if they owned such an object. Maybe they still have theirs!

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Frequently Used Non-electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (June 2015)
Frequently Used Electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (July 2015)
Frequently Used Kitchen Items--Vintage, Newer (article, video)

Rebirth: Year-end 2009 Same Song Titles

This article is a tweaked version "Year-end Fun-AT-tix and More Same Song Titles" that Blogger pulled in May because of some citation links that had been ok in late 2009. In reviewing my copy of my article, I could see Blogger's reasoning. I decided to improve the article by revising the citations, but also inserted YouTube hyperlinks to artists' videos.

Fun-AT-tix was my wordplay on phonetics, but I also used the base syllable "phon-" to talk about homophones. (I wrote about homophones in a previous article.). I wanted to use "fun@tix", but I have a feeling that Blogger/Blogspot might have an issue with the "@" sign in the article title.

Holiday Songs of Same Titles, Different Songs

The first part of this article is about homophones in year-end holiday songs and/or their lyrics. (Well, the words completely or closely approach homophones anyway.) I think a lot of songs are probably so popular and ingrained in many of us that we don't consider the possibilities of different spellings of words. I've listed some songs below for rumination.

Note: People who are poor spellers or ESLers might consider NOT looking to this article as a learning tool for correct spelling. :-)

• Santa Claws Is Cumin to Town (Sandy Claws has been done to death.)
• Gin Gull Bells
• Sy Lent Knight
• O Holey Knight (also spellable as O Wholly Knight)
• O Little Town of Beth La Hem
• A Way in a Manger
• Hark the Harold Angels Sing (The actual title makes me think of Shelly Fabares' Johnny Angel from 1962.)
• Rudolph the Red Knows Rain, Dear
• Angels We Have Herd on High
• Joy to the Whirled

One holiday song that has long mystified me for title strangeness has been Angels We Have Heard on High. The title appears ONCE in the entire song, yet "Gloria" is sung repeatedly, extendedly (glo, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, ree-yuh) and often. In talking about "Gloria", I'm now revisiting songs with same titles but are different songs--"Same Song Titles, Different Songs", an October 2009 article. In keeping with the holiday theme for now, the following songs fulfill both holiday and non-holiday categories:

Gloria

Gloria by Van Morrison/Them (1963) is actually titled rationally; there is no doubt who or what the main thought is—"Glo-ree-a. G-L-O-R-I-A, …" and on and on and on. Laura Brannigan's version (1982) has "Gloria" throughout the song, also leaving no doubt as to the topic name. As for Angels We Have Heard on High, "Gloria" gets a lot more air time than the actual song title's words. I say rename the song to Gloria and really confuse people!

Joy to the World

Joy to the World by Three Dog Night (1971) dominated the rock and roll airwaves and took over JTTW consciousness for awhile. In one Christmas special I saw many years ago, a group of elderly people were introduced to sing Joy to the World. Instead of the religious version, they launched into "JER-I-MY-AH WAS A BULL-FROG, WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE, …", etc. Wish I could remember what the show was or could easily find it on YouTube. Hilarious and entertaining!

Auld Lang Syne/Same Old Lang Syne

Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg (1980) is a bittersweet song that actually contains a pastiche of Auld Lang Syne as delivered by most bands on New Year's Day (popularized by Guy Lombardo).

Non-holiday Songs of Same Titles, Different Songs

Candy Man/Candyman

For people who hear the song and pay less attention to whether it is one word or two, aurally, it's three sound memes—can-dee-man. The notable versions are from Roy Orbison (1961), Sammy Davis, Jr. (1972, song used in original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Christina Aguilera (2007), and Aqua (1997, song AKA Lollipop, not to be confused with the Chordettes' Lollipop from 1958 or Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop from 1964).

Cherish

Both the Association's version (1966) and Kool and the Gang's version (1985) are slow, with love and devotion lyrics. The Association version indicates a silent sufferer, however, contrasted to KATG's version of public pronouncements.

Sunny

Neil Sedaka (1965) and Bobby Hebb (1966) both sing of rain and pain, then of love. Two very different styles for similar themes, Neil's is very melodic and Bobby's has jazzy arrangements.

Color My World

Two songs with the same song title could hardly be more different from each other. Petula Clark's peppy, horns-laden version from 1967 contrasts with Chicago's slow, flutey version from 1970.

Fever

Peggy Lee (1958) might have the best-known version, also popularized by the McCoys (1966) and Rita Coolidge (1973). More recently, Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert separately recorded and released Lady Gaga's version.

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"Rebirth: Year-end 2009 Same Song Titles"
"Same Song Titles, Different Songs"

Soda Pop Layer Cake Followup

In mid-May, I made my first-ever soda pop layer cake, which uses only cake mix and soda pop. Most recipes I'd spotted showed cupcakes or sheet cakes as end results. My layer cake came out rich and tasty, but low height. It tended to be more crumbly than cakes that call for cakes. Nevertheless, it was yummy!

My followup soda pop layer cake is as low-height and delish as the previous one. BTW, a little goes a long way. Despite the low profile because of less cake volume, the flavor is more concentrated. A twelfth serving of the soda pop cake seems as satisfying as a tenth serving of a standard cake mix cake that calls for eggs, oil, and water.

This time around, to lessen time and effort for sifting the cake mix powder and stirring/dispensing the ingredients, I used more efficient implements.

Calories and Sodium

The ingredients are same as the previous cake. The soda pop, despite a different label, is the same.

Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites (51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C), and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec: Indulge with the sugary stuff.

Future Followup Soda Pop Cakes?

I might pass on trying my Tupperware sifter for future cake, as the capacity is only one cup. I'd need to reload the gadget maybe up to four times. BTW, I became curious about the cake mix powder texture WRT sugar. Ingredients don't elaborate, but I suspect the sugar is a finer granularity than packaged granulated sugar.

My other consideration for followup soda pop layer cake might be trying the Betty Crocker mixer method of 30 seconds low followed by 2 minutes medium. Rather than doing a video/blog project, I'd add a dated section to this article comparing results for machine mixing vs. whisk stirring.

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Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum
Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Hmm
Video: Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich

Soda Pop Layer Cake Followup (article, video)

Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Hmm

This article emphasizes post-recipe thoughts and additional soda pop cake musings. Read "Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum" for resources and refs. View the video for step-by-step recipe.

Post-recipe Thoughts

I perused and collected some comments from two Betty Crocker sites after the cake bake.

"Cake Baking with Soda Pop" confirmed my guess about less cake result with soda pop cake recipe. Additional excerpted comments follow.

[Q] Why when we made this batter did we only get 1 cupcake tin? When we make the batter the normal way we get 2 cupcake tins of cupcakes.

[A]Because you have less batter. When you add eggs,oil, water etc you have a larger volume of batter. So more cupcakes.

[regular soda vs. diet comment] Regular soda did not make it too sweet. Diet soda is sweeter to me as far as taste."

[Q] Does the 1 [to] 2 minutes of beating not beat out the CO2? When making beer bread, it’s just stir gently until we’ll mixed.

[A] In this case, the batter will still hold enough gas to rise.

[Q] Can you make a sheet cake or layers with this method?

[A] we did not test this recipe with a pan or with a sheet cake method, therefore, we recommend using the [cupcake] cake tin.

From "Two-Ingredient Soda Pop Cupcakes"

[comment] We made the recipe exactly as it was written and made sure to use the electric mixer as directed.

[comment] The carbonation is required for this recipe and we do not recommend using flat soda."

Additional Soda Pop Cake Musings

The cartoon host advocated that both cake mix powder and soda pop be room-temperature. Over time, I've observed that warmer soda bubbles up more violently and longer than cold soda. As I keep cake mix in the pantry, powder temperature is no problem.

Numerous recipes I'd read or viewed show cake mix powder poured directly into a bowl, unsifted, before pouring the soda pop in. In one case, the baker might have improved her process by sifting first, as she bemoaned needing to squash powder lumps during the stirring.

I've occasionally run across recipes that call for sifting. I've sifted when I want to divide powder portions before weighing, such as for zebra or marble cakes. I've noticed bits of small particles trapped at the bottom of the strainer.

I've seen mixing processes range from gently stirring for 30 seconds or less to hand mixer for 1 minute low followed by 2 minutes medium to tilt-head KitchenAid mixing (speed and duration not easily determined). I intend to try electric mixing, but maybe after i try making a followup cake by shortening both the sifting and mixing process.

Musing Followup Cake

For a followup soda pop cake, I want to shorten the sifting and stirring processes.

Sifting took more time and effort than I expected. Planning to try a different strainer and larger spoon. Stirring was also more time-consuming. Planning to try a French/piano whisk instead of flat whisk. My Tupperware measuring pitcher (8 cups, 2 liters) would be helpful mostly for the pour/dispense stage, as I'd easily eyeball batter amount for each pan. Still likely to also use digital scale.

Alternative sifter (Tupperware tubular with crank handle), which I haven't used in many years. It's worth a shot for another soda pop cake iteration. I see online availability, several missing parts. An eye-catcher, for $24.99.

After making the followup cake, I might try using a mixer. Fingers crossed that I don't wind up with pancake-height layers!

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Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum
Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Hmm
Video: Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich

Soda Pop Layer Cake Followup (article, video)

Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum

A few months ago, cost of eggs had nearly doubled the cost of making cake mix cake, not counting cost of frosting. The egg costs have come down, but I haven't quite recovered from the sticker shock. Recently, I made a soda pop layer cake (eggless!). Yum!

My video shows how to make the cake using a box of white cake mix and non-diet lemon lime soda (room temperature), with canned vanilla frosting. (Anything goes for flavors you want to use.) Although loads of such recipes are findable on the web, mine is for making a 9" diameter layer cake. (Just about all the other recipes aim for cupcakes or 9" x 13" sheet cakes.)

The cake turned out lower height than I expected. Noteworthy: The soda pop weighs less than usual-recipe eggs/egg whites, oil and water. Noteworthy: Batter amount is about 3/4 as much as for full-recipe cake.

I had originally run across soda pop cake when I encountered 2-ingredient recipes. At least one was pizza dough. A few were 2-ingredient cakes, several eggless. Some of the cakes called for flax seed, some for yogurt. The eggless, soda-pop cakes intrigued me the most.

Betty Crocker-centric

Betty Crocker's "Learn About Cake Baking with Soda Pop" explains carbonation WRT soda pop and leavenings in baked goods.

The carbon dioxide bubbles in soda pop act as a leavening agent — the element that makes baked goods rise and makes them light and fluffy. ...Kitchen staple leaveners — like baking soda and baking powder — use a chemical reaction to create carbon dioxide bubbles.

"Cake Baking with Soda Pop" is eye-opening for calling for 1) only one cupcake pan and for 2) the mixing time using an electric mixer. View the video there or on YouTube.

beat (1) dry cake mix and (1) soda pop with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape the side of the bowl, then mix on a medium speed for 2 minutes.

Oddly, the Betty Crocker "Two-Ingredient Soda Pop Cupcakes" says "24 regular-size muffin cups". FWIW, this recipe specifies 16.25 oz for cake mix weight; the other recipe omits the weight.

Duncan Hines-centric

"Soda Pop cake" is succinct, indicating that the baker would also refer to the cake mix box instructions. I'm guessing a little bit of prior cake-making experience is helpful.

Duncan Hines has an association with Ready Set Eat, for which a recipe for soda pop cake finally shows up. And it calls for DH cake! "6 BOX CAKE MIX RECIPES AND HACKS", points to "2 Ingredient Strawberry Lemon-Lime Cake". Significant mixing instruction-""thoroughly combine cake mix and soda". The output is a 9 x 13 single layer, with suggestion of powdered sugar dusting.

Additional Recipes with Nod to Blending Ingredients and Yields

"2 Ingredient Soda Cake - Unreal!" shows the process from start to finish (using whisk), suitable for new bakers. It makes a 9 x 13 sheet cake, subdivided and minimally whip-creamed.

"2 Ingredient Chocolate Coke Cake" prefaces the recipe with some background. Might be useful when a baker is first exploring making such a cake. Scroll down to the details. She suggests using a mixer instead of a whisk. The output is a 9 x 13 sheet cake, undecorated.

"Bill shows us how to make 2 ingredient cupcakes!" demonstrates his recipe. Bill is the host for Toon In with Me cartoon show that airs weekdays. His sidekick is a talking tuna puppet. The demo was a bit amateurish and lacking in some details, but possibly endearing to audience who might think, "Hey, I could do that! He whisked diet orange soda and vanilla cake mix (both room temperature) in a bowl. Some of the batter went into lined cupcake cups. The use of an air fryer is different. Would-be bakers can refer to other soda pop recipes for filling in blanks.

"NO EGG BOX CAKE" is a nicely short video. She uses a spoon for her stirring. The process veers oddly with batter pour into a greased pan that transitions to a drizzled Bundt cake. She commented later "Same Cake, Different Pan."

"Soda Cake Recipe! 2 Ingredients" is over 10 minutes long, but contains caveats to squash cake mix lumps and to not overbeat. Interestingly, her instructions to stir about 30 seconds conflict with Betty Crocker box instructions for one-minute low speed, the 2 minutes on high. BTW, her yield is 12 cupcakes per recipe.

"3 INGREDIENT VEGAN CAKE HACKS | Can I Make A Vegan Cake Using Soda?!" finally shows the soda pop cake recipe starting about 5:12. She uses a tilt-head mixer (maybe KitchenAid). Interestingly, at the batter pour near 6:30, she prepares two 9-inch springform pans. starts out with two pans, At 7:00, she decides to use only one pan. After bake and cool, the frosting goes on only the one layer, even though she plan-b intended to slice the layer and put in a middle layer of frosting.

Calories and Sodium

I’m always curious about the calories and sodium in my cakes and cookies recipes. The soda pop cake stats can seem rather indulgent, but the calories compare favorably against standard box cake recipes that use eggs/egg whites and oil.Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites (51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C), and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec: Indulge with the sugary stuff.

Read "Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Hmm" for post-recipe afterthoughts and additional soda pop cake musings.

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Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum
Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Hmm
Video: Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich

Nabisco's Voyage of the Mayflower Cooky Tin

I've had my red Nabisco Mayflower cooky tin for so long that I don't remember when I got it or if it had cookies in it to begin with. The box says the cooky weight is three pounds. It measures 9" x 8 1/2" x 4" high. I've used it for storing Ziploc'ed cookies, bagged breads, layered cupcakes, and layered cereal blocks. These boxes are really common--many sold on eBay and Etsy! However, history of the box and chronological ties to Nabisco were pretty well non-existent.

Recently, I took a closer look at the box, recorded and pic'ed it, noted images and text. The video shows the box designs--the lid and two vertical designs.

Pondering the Tin's Graphics

The images convey loads of visual information with very little text. The lid's title is "Voyage of the Mayflower". The front and back's title is "The Early Journeys" and includes a sister ship, the Speedwell. The sides' title is "The Journey", which more emphasizes the Mayflower.

Illustrations display routes of the two ships--Speedwell's shown as black dots and arrowheads, and Mayflower's shown as white lines and arrowheads. Additional images include symbols that might indicate perceived sailing conditions during the journeys. The orientation of the ships and sails convey direction.

The Mayflower's lid rendering is impressive for details of shaded sails and ship body. One of the masts has the City of London flag, the other having the Union Jack. "Flags of the Mayflower" provides good info about the flags and how the Union Jack design came about. The site also shows a replica of the Mayflower.

Closer Looks at the Symbols Near the Mayflower and Speedwell

Mysterious outlined symbols near the ships might convey overall sailing conditions of the journey. Look for cherubs blowing wind, a chimeric figure (bird-headed fish) with trident, and friendly looking fish. One cherub looked to be blowing gently, the other a little more gustily. Google image search for "cherubs blowing wind" yield a few images; Google results for "All" didn't shed light. As for the bird-headed fish, navigate to "What exactly is this? Odd fish with a BIRD-shaped head stuns the internet" for the fish from a few years ago. The box's hybrid animal and trident might symbolize Poseidon. Who knows?

Poking into Mayflower History

Poking into Mayflower history for the cooky tin's info conveyance was eye-opening. I never knew about the Speedwell and association with the Mayflower. I didn't know that the Pilgrims lived in Holland for 12 years before leaving for the New World from England to the New World. Some resources:

• "The Mayflower Story"
• "The Pilgrims’ Miserable Journey Aboard the Mayflower"
• "The Pilgrims Before Plymouth"
• "Take a Virtual Tour of the Mayflower"
  

Nabisco and Mayflower

The cooky tin was made by Nabisco in England for Nabisco in New York. Google search results yielded no information that I considered useful. About all I could infer is that the tin's zip code reference marked the year at no earlier than 1963. "ZIP Code Introduced" states "introduced July 1, 1963, as part of a larger Postal Service Nationwide Improved Mail Service (NIMS) plan to improve the speed of mail delivery."

Hmmm, where might that Nabisco site be? "The Factory That Oreos Built" and "National Biscuit Company/ Chelsea Market" provide history of the old NY Nabisco factory and transition to tourist destination.

Lightly Looking at Nabisco Then and Now

Nabisco has a history dating back to 1898. It has belonged to various companies, most recently, Mondelēz, which was formerly named Kraft. "Nabisco" provides a short history from establishment to association with Kraft foods. If you want to know more about Nabisco currently, Google results yield articles about Nabisco's outsourcing of various snacks to Mexico. One most current event is the planned (now-off) demolition of its Fair Lawn, NJ plant.

Mayflower-associated Hmmms

From "mayflower plant"—"Crataegus monogyna (family Rosaceae), a species of hawthorn, is commonly known as mayflower or May flower in England."

From "Mayflower Transit":

Mayflower was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1927 by Conrad M. Gentry and Don F. Kenworthy. In March 1995, it was acquired by UniGroup, a transportation and relocation services company with headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Missouri.

From "What May flowers bring":

Jack: If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?
Harry: Tell me.
...

Glancing Back at 4/2023 Birds N Bees YT Clips

Last month, I compiled images of birds and bees for wordplay and theme. I thought about how short-lived these animals are compared to humans. We are fortunate to witness their livelihoods, yet so many people are wrapped up in their own concerns, taking surroundings for granted. In a meandering thought, humans are way insignificant in the context of earth age, even more fleeting compared to the universe age.

Birds-spied Views, Thoughts About Longevities

The birds I'd captured were hawks, mockingbirds, owls, cardinals, cedar waxwings, and turkey vultures. Thinking back on the captures, I sensed we humans live lots longer than these flyers. Life expectancies vary among bird types.

I did Google lookups for "how long do [bird types] live" for the types I'd imaged. In a hawk inquiry, one result provided info for several birds of prey.

In general, small falcons and Accipiter hawks live about 15 years. Medium-sized buzzards and kites live 20 to 40 years, and large vultures and eagles have occasionally lived 40 to 55 years (Newton, 1979).

All About Raptors - Longevity & Causes of Death - SeaWorld.org

In my mockingbird inquiry, the life cycle seems breathtakingly fast. No time to waste!

Females incubate the eggs for about two weeks before hatching; both parents take turns feeding the nestlings. Hatchlings can leave the nest after 12-13 days followed by another week's worth of care from their parents before striking out on their own. In the wild, mockingbirds live eight years on average.

Northern mockingbird | Smithsonian's National Zoo

For owls, I initially looked up owl longevity. I noticed numerous types of owls exist. Hmmm, maybe looking at several owl sites and videos might help ID some I'd shot. Thus, I concluded that the images more resembled Western screech owls than others listed in Central Texas. My screech owl inquiry yielded an eye-catching set of factoids from racinezoo.org.

Western Screech Owl Fact Sheet
Class: Aves
Species: kennicottii
Lifespan: About 13 years in the wild About 19 years under human care
Reproduction: Females lay 2 to 7 eggs per season in March or April. Hatching occurs within 26 to 34 days.
Size: 7.48 – 10 in. long Wingspan 6.63 – 6.87 in. wide

Western Screech Owl Fact Sheet | racinezoo.org

In my cardinals inquiry, a result mentions 3 to 5 years with explanation of short life for many.

one of the most recognized birds due to their brilliant red color. The average life span of a northern cardinal is approximately 3 to 5 years due to the hazards they face, which are predators, disease, accidents, and starvation. Several northern cardinals have been reported to live up to 15 years.

Cardinal Facts - CARING CARDINALS

In my cedar waxwings inquiry, one result, besides providing life expectancy, also mentions flock socializing.

Cedar waxwings are highly social and communicate with other members of the flock using noises and physical displays. Both males and females reach reproductive maturity at one year and live up to eight years in the wild.

Cedar Waxwing | National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation
https://www.nwf.org › Wildlife-Guide › Birds › Cedar-...

A result for turkey vulture longevity surprised me!

The average life expectancy is 16 years in the wild, and up to 30 years in captivity.

Turkey Vulture - Elmwood Park Zoo

Birds Captured in Images, Dead or Alive These Days?

Looking over date stamps of images, which ranged from June 2019 to April 2023, I infer the birds have not reached end of life. It's somewhat comforting that the images are recent enough that the birds are still around--flying, roosting, perching, ....

Blooms N Bees, Thoughts About Longevities

Bees have really short lives, with three possible roles and fates--queen, female worker, and male drone. A queen can live up to a few years. The female worker can live up to a few weeks if spring and summer and a few months if winter. Drones mate and die in less than two months. "Honey Bee Lifespan: How Long Do Honey Bees Live?" and "Bee Lifespan: How Long Do Bees Live?" provide good info and good closeup images.

The short lives of bees is sobering. In my image capturing, they seem to be ecstatically bathing in pollen or buzzing the sources. Alas, they're working to primarily collect pollen to take to the hives for feeding larvae. No rest for the wicked!

The plants that provided blooms that the bees buzzed had varying life cycles. Some blooms, as in the case of stalky plants, not only lasted short-term, those plants also became part of the past. Prickly pear plants that I shot were casualties of the February 2021 freeze. The thread leaf agave leaned over so far during its time on earth that the home owner apparently uprooted it and disposed of it.

Some stalky plants' blooms deteriorated within days, losing bee visitors. The plants themselves also became part of the past.

Century plants, which are agaves that enter their final stage that starts by growing a stalk and bloom clusters. Bees party for some time before the plant ages to threaten surroundings. In passing, I've witnessed several such plants entering the final stages, then noticed their absences.

Another set of plants that I recorded were sotols, which stalked and flowered gloriously. I did notice some were casualties of the February 2023 ice storm. Would survivors revive? According to Central Texas Gardener's Sotol webpage, "All produce towering flower stalks in mid to late summer, similar to their relatives in the Agave family, but unlike Agaves, Sotols do not die after flowering."

Looks like awhile before I should check for survivor sotols blooming. San Marcos Growers Dasylirion wheeleri webpage states "Flowering occurs only every few years."

Thinking Big and Small Nearby

My images were from nearby walks, camera handy. I've missed opportunities, but happily captured many items to remember. Lookups helped me better understand the birds, bees, and blooms a bit better. Also considered that we're wee and short-lived when thinking large scale, such as the planet, solar system, and beyond.

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Related:
"Birds-spied Views" article | video
"Bees N Blooms" article | video

Bees N Blooms

This month I scoured though my collection of images and videos about birds and bees. After awhile, I decided to split the topics to "Birds-spied Views" and "Bees N Blooms".

The video includes bees in or near a century plant (agave), thread-leaf agave, sotol plants, prickly pear cacti, long-stemmed blue flower clusters, and magnolia blooms. I shot the targets in 2020 and 2021, mostly in May and June. The oddity was the thread-leaf agave. Its stalk bloomed and attracted the bee hordes in November 2020.

Full-version Videos Available

Most of the clips in the video represent excerpts of full-version YouTube videos in my YouTube channel under the VIDEOS tab. Some clips are newly edited from initial recordings and part of the compilation. Refs:

"Eye-caught Snippet, Bees Buzzing in Century Plant Bloom, June 4, 2020"

"Eye-caught Snippet, Bees do it--buzz thread-leaf agave Nov 13, 2020"
"Thread-leaf Agave in Fall 2020--Blooms, Bees, and Beyond" (article)

"Pretty Tall Sotols" (article Part 1, article Part 2)

"Eye-caught Snippet, Prickly Pear Bank with Beez Buzzing Bloomz"

"Eye-caught Snippet, Prickly Pear Bank (Flower and Bee) June 3, 2020"

"Eye-caught Snippet, Bee Here, Bee Gone, May 15, 2021 ~7:30 AM"

"Eye-caught Snippet, Peekaboo Bees and Magnolia Blossom, June 26, 2020"

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Related:"Birds-spied Views" article | video, "Glancing Back at 4/2023 Birds N Bees YT Clips"