I never gave you closure on our Christmas tree this year, did I? I mean the lone real one that we got this season, and that because of various presses of events, particularly the state pinball championship, we weren't able to get un-decorated and set out for pickup within the normal range of tree pickups? Well, we were finally able to set the time to take all the ornaments off and feel confident we'd got everything, and to take it to the last tree-collection area we could find in the area.
There's something weird going on where every year we find the place that collected trees after the week of Twelfth Night is no longer collecting them. This year we had to go way out to Holt, one of those imaginary communities on the outskirts of Lansing. Technically they were only accepting from Holt residents, but the dropoff point was a small lot with a sign on the road into the recycling center. Wasn't anyone doing ID checks.
Shame of it is our tree was in great shape, despite having been cut down over a month before. It was even showing buds of new growth, emerging from the trimmed cone shape that the tree farm had imposed on it, with faint green leaves (tree wasn't getting enough light) pushing through. We had to thank the tree before tossing it onto the pile, because it was a really good one, keeping its needles until we actually dragged it out of the water and gave it a good hard shake. And, as mentioned, growing way past any sensible time.
Fortunately for upstairs we set up an artificial tree so we didn't have to worry about that, this time.
Let me take you back now to Kennywood, where we'd already seen the incredible thing of Kenny Kangaroo out and about. What could be grander than that?
Kennywood's big Grand Carousel, too big to fit in its old building. There's not much special about this moment except I like that I got the moment of someone getting on, which is more activity than most of my shots of carousels.
And here's the control panel, bell, and a warning for people looking over at the control panel and bell.
We were waiting in line for the Kangaroo when what did we see but --- that's right! Kenny Kangaroo!
Back to where he'd been greeting folks before, except it was even more brutally hot. We don't know how he wasn't passing out, especially when Kenny was doing hops to draw attention.
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bunnyhugger has a new friend!
We did mention we'd met briefly at KennyCon the previous year, but he didn't say anything about remembering us.
Trivia: An 1804 model by George Cayley shows the first airplane design like that which would be successful, with foreward wings and aft tail; by 1809 he envisioned the use of propellers rather than the flapping of wings. Source: Mastering the Sky: A History of Aviation from Ancient Times to the Present, James P Harrison.
Currently Reading: Archaeology, November/December 2025. Editor Jarrett A Lobell.
