I have always noticed that geese in Europe are vastly better behaved than geese in North America, even though the gravest American offenders (Canadian geese) are common here too. I propose this is because we more frequently eat geese here in Europe and they strive to keep a lower profile here, knowledgeable of their prey status.
I live a couple hundred yards from the Choptank River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, which this time of year is up to its literal ass in Canada geese. Walking the dog this morning the sky was darkened by the psychotic demons, inspiring an impromptu carol: “I heard the geese on Christmas Day; their wild bloodcurdling honkings say: ‘We are the geese, there is no peace, we’re here to make the humans pay.’”
Thanks for the Christmas chuckle. They are extraordinarily effective. The office I worked out of from 2011 to 2020 backed up to a large retention pond with a walking path around it. The Canadas loved it and made the walking path a disgusting mess of goose sheiss which got tracked in all over the carpet. I hate them.
That was amazing! I live near the mouth of the James River where it drains into the Chesapeake. They are horrid here too. Misplaced conservation has turned a migratory species into a rat.
That must be new, I spent a happy four months in the fall of 57 at Ft. Eustis and never saw any wildlife and we were right on the river. There was a mothballed fleet tied up there but I am sure that is all gone now.
I grew up on the Bird River (a tributary of the Chessie in Baltimore) in the 60s-70s. We had no wildlife then either. When I go back to visit now, they have Osprey, bald eagles, herons, etc. Chessie water basin is definitely a success story for environmental activism (as much as it pains me to say). Chemicals and "strip mining" via sand/gravel harvesting had nearly destroyed it.
My mother's direct ancestor did migrate there around 1680 though. His last name was Symes but since he was kind of an escaped prisoner from Barbados he changed the spelling to Sims.
I used to hunt them in the "Mississippi flyway" in southern Illinois near Cape Girardo, MO in the early 90s. They were everywhere in late December. They would "decoy" in front of us without a guide service or any of us having a goose call device.
We have geese here in Northern Virginia 35 miles west of the DC Sewer.
they are bold. In my new "old people" neighborhood (here now 6 months) There is a small pond at the very end of the street, really far from our house!! Some one, invested in two large Plastic Swans (I should check Amazon) and when those two are planted just right, on the edge of the pond. The geese are gone. The wind has blown the swans apart and one is napping on it's side, the other is across the pond alone. The geese have once again invaded the little pond. I would like to experiment with multiple swan couples and see how those goofy geese respond.
My brother in law shot down one of these Canadian beasts while in flight a few years ago and we ate it on the tailgate of a truck. They are unruly and charge at people.
I live, for now, in the mountainous deserts of southwest New Mexico - the part known as the Boot Heel, for obvious cartographic reasons. This is 'flyover country' not just from the perspective of coastal oligarchs, but also of migratory Canada geese, because bodies of water are so few and far between in these parts.
But I once lived in Delta, Colorado - a nice little farm and ranch town at the foot of the Grand Mesa, at the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers. (Still have a house, rented out, and friends there. I might even retire there.) It's a short drive SE of Grand Junction.
There's a big artificial lake near the river confluence, with an adjoining park and a well-appointed rec center featuring a gym, Olympic pool and courts for various sportsball activities. But you must run the Goose Gauntlet to access it ... Hordes of them roam the rec center lawn during the colder months, shitting surprisingly large gray-green bird turns all over the lawn and sidewalk, occasionally flapping their wings and honking to menace passers-by.
I have never eaten goose. I know of the practice only from 19th-century literature. Nowadays our holiday fare is turkey, ham, maybe roast beef ... or in my case, pozole and enchiladas. I would have no idea even where to buy a goose for roasting.
I had chickens here until the foxes found me. They were completely shameless, causing chicken cacophonies and committing birdnappings in broad daylight.
I thoroughly enjoyed & laughed out loud at your dry-humored description of your upcoming fondue feast.
May your day be filled with the joy of the Lord, & the coming days the strength, encouragement & hope we hold as Christians in a dark & threatening world.
Jude 24-25
24 “Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
Love your wine choices! I’m in Texas making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon for Christmas Day where it will be 75° F — Merry Christmas to you and yours!
We’ve demolished a few Brunellos this past week here in sunny Florida! 5lb local Florida grass fed tenderloin for Christmas dinner (cooked on a charcoal grill!)
Texas here. Celebrated Christmas last night. It's a Mexican thing. Prime rib roast, plus food the Mexican relations cooked and brought. Today, we just spent time with the kids and ate leftovers.
Merry Christmas! Your menu sounds lovely. May you enjoy in health and happiness!
I continued my Christmas tradition of making a hat for my son which he preferred I hadn't and may or may not wear. I also made three Christmas pickle ornaments for him, which he did like, and a tiny foxskin rug which he can add to the Christmas tableau I made several years ago.
We had Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner which is a strong tradition amongst NY Jews, even if they later migrate to other places. The internet can confirm the gratitude of Chinese restaurateurs for this custom peculiar to my people. We're having cold cut sandwiches today for lunch.
It is a laudable Jewish tradition, outsourcing one of the Christmas meals to the Chinese. Last night for Christmas Eve we had raclette grill, which is always fun but kind of the opposite, in that every last diner undertakes to cook everything he eats for himself, atop a little spattering electric grill in the centre of the table, supplied power via a precarious extension cord.
Oh! So you ate Korean barbecue restaurant style! Though I think those guys make a big deal of cooking succulent morsels for each other at the table. Those K-dramas are real heavy on scenes of food. A bit painful to be watching them in bed at 2:00 a.m. or so. I always wake up famished...
Succulent feasts in film and literature are usually created in times of famine and stress of all kinds. Advertisers know this which is why they run food commercials late at night for disturbed insomniacs.
In my experience it's just that the Koreans are eating all the time onscreen and almost everything they eat is something I'd be quite happy to eat too.
After 4pm service (by a new senior pastor filled with crap theology, sigh) we headed toward the Chinese restaurant, then decided to check the Japanese place further down the road, where we alighted.
Decades ago I worked in an academic Dermatology department and one of my duties was to “collect foreskins” from the newborn nursery and put them on a shuttle bus to the campus lab. I want that to be featured in my obituary.
My family also has a Chinese food/Christmas dinner tradition, nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with a motorcycle trip and a snowstorm many years ago.
Merry Christmas to the plague chronicler! I started following this blog in the depths of covid madness, and am now commenting live from my first baby's first Christmas. Thanks for keeping me sane enough to get here, cheers to an ever-better 2026
Traditional Xmas dinner here in our home in England with close family even though we are not all English or with Christian origins. I am listening to Church music and lessons even though I am firmly atheist partly to escape in mind to past saner times. I still remember the feeling of optimism in the 1950s. My days surely are numbered but I really want to live a bit longer to see how it turns out. A lot of people are waking up from the mind games that have been played with us so I hope for the great reset - but not in the way that the WEF intended. Best wishes to you.
I am also not religious – I was raised a deeply traditional Catholic but could not maintain it through adulthood. Nevertheless, I find that holidays like Christmas are still intensely enormously important to me.
It looks as though the Supreme Court coup in Brazil is coming to and end! Our Mussolini is headed for the chop. The backlash to a leftist propaganda advertisement by a formerly loved product PROVES that it’s not 50% of the population that supports the PT. Half the population can’t cancel a big company overnight. I a m guessing at least 80% support the conservatives.
Merry Christmas from unseasonably warm Charlotte NC, forecast today of 73. Getting ready to put together our 3 dishes and a visit to the home of one adult child and 4 of our 10 grandchildren. Many thanks to Eugy and all of you who make keeping up with the world interesting and sometimes fun!
Merry Christmas all. We are traveling to sunny California for the holiday. My daughter is almost two and a son is on the way. I get to support my family while doing what I love working in experimental physics. Even though everything gets more expensive every year, liife is good.
Last night I attended mass with my youngest daughter.
Today was all about wrapping presents and then going to have lunch with mum - just the 2 of us - followed by a family call with my brother in the Land Of Lord Carney.
My daughters walked the short dog ('Hector') while I was out.
All the traditional tensions and goodness of the day.
Tomorrow time with my daughters, while Hector gets chased a lot by a black Labrador called Digby.
Merry Christmas to one I count on for reliability & satirical information . We are in Paris , it was a beautiful ,sunny ,glorious Christmas day , bells ringing from all over the city with hope & cheer !
Having confit canard & aligot de l’aubrac ( mashed potatoes with fresh Tome cheese ) Paris is sad , but after all these years , im still so in love with her ❤️🌞
Paris is one of the only cities (New York and Rome are the other two), that I remember every last time I have been there, because it is always so vivid and poignant.
Thank you so much for this interesting greeting. This morning I count my blessing shaking out of 10 freaking days of Flu A just in time to gather with my family here in Georgia. Will be mid 70s again today which is a tad unusual. May 26 be a good year and hopefully we can minimize the world!
Christmas Eve with a friend and her large family, which was wonderful; Christmas Day alone supposedly eating goodies from Eataly, most of which were consumed yesterday for lunch. Plan for the day: painting scenes from last summer's museum visits. Merry Christmas to everyone from chilly Boston.
Merry Christmas. I live 11 miles (17.7 Kilometers for the rest of world) from the White House. Politics never takes an off day here unfortunately. Too close to the epicenter I guess.
One son in from Seattle an Amazon Programmer the other son in from Pittsburgh a PNC risk analysis. My wife and I are feeling blessed to have us all in the same house! We too are wrestling with the preparation of what, I believe is enough Prime Rib to feed the neighborhood. I largely stay out of the unending discussion about timing and temperature although I can relate to your meal thought process. My role is chiefly table set up and wine section. Squarely in my comfort zone. :)
I have always noticed that geese in Europe are vastly better behaved than geese in North America, even though the gravest American offenders (Canadian geese) are common here too. I propose this is because we more frequently eat geese here in Europe and they strive to keep a lower profile here, knowledgeable of their prey status.
I live a couple hundred yards from the Choptank River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, which this time of year is up to its literal ass in Canada geese. Walking the dog this morning the sky was darkened by the psychotic demons, inspiring an impromptu carol: “I heard the geese on Christmas Day; their wild bloodcurdling honkings say: ‘We are the geese, there is no peace, we’re here to make the humans pay.’”
In MN we call them sky carp! Merry Christmas from the land of 10,000 frauds!
Get that number down to zero...
Totally our bad. We trained them to inflict psychological warfare on our American neighbours. Far more cost-effective than drones.
Thanks for the Christmas chuckle. They are extraordinarily effective. The office I worked out of from 2011 to 2020 backed up to a large retention pond with a walking path around it. The Canadas loved it and made the walking path a disgusting mess of goose sheiss which got tracked in all over the carpet. I hate them.
Yes how suitable, because every American agrees with and supports their government's policies, so all should be shamed & shysted...
That was amazing! I live near the mouth of the James River where it drains into the Chesapeake. They are horrid here too. Misplaced conservation has turned a migratory species into a rat.
That must be new, I spent a happy four months in the fall of 57 at Ft. Eustis and never saw any wildlife and we were right on the river. There was a mothballed fleet tied up there but I am sure that is all gone now.
I grew up on the Bird River (a tributary of the Chessie in Baltimore) in the 60s-70s. We had no wildlife then either. When I go back to visit now, they have Osprey, bald eagles, herons, etc. Chessie water basin is definitely a success story for environmental activism (as much as it pains me to say). Chemicals and "strip mining" via sand/gravel harvesting had nearly destroyed it.
P.S. the James River Ghost Fleet does still exist. It's only 9 ships now. We used to boat past it occasionally.
My mother's direct ancestor did migrate there around 1680 though. His last name was Symes but since he was kind of an escaped prisoner from Barbados he changed the spelling to Sims.
wait.... 1957?
Oh the Canada Geese had not migrated this far south. Nevvver saw them until the late 1990s
I live far south in southern California and trying to imagine what the great Chesapeake's ass looks like so I can envision the Canadian geese! 😉
Have a blessed day.
Nothing that 3&1/2 inch shells with size 2 pellets can't handle - and all dark meat!
Did you know CDN geese were once considered extinct?
https://nationalpost.com/feature/in-defence-of-the-canada-goose
Ahhh so the survivors are descended from the most dangerous and evil ones.
I used to hunt them in the "Mississippi flyway" in southern Illinois near Cape Girardo, MO in the early 90s. They were everywhere in late December. They would "decoy" in front of us without a guide service or any of us having a goose call device.
Bwahaha!
You should see how cautious and polite the pigeons are in China.
😂😂😂
We have geese here in Northern Virginia 35 miles west of the DC Sewer.
they are bold. In my new "old people" neighborhood (here now 6 months) There is a small pond at the very end of the street, really far from our house!! Some one, invested in two large Plastic Swans (I should check Amazon) and when those two are planted just right, on the edge of the pond. The geese are gone. The wind has blown the swans apart and one is napping on it's side, the other is across the pond alone. The geese have once again invaded the little pond. I would like to experiment with multiple swan couples and see how those goofy geese respond.
Being aware of your “prey status” is a great behavior modifier.
The Mask People are definitely testament to that.
My brother in law shot down one of these Canadian beasts while in flight a few years ago and we ate it on the tailgate of a truck. They are unruly and charge at people.
I live, for now, in the mountainous deserts of southwest New Mexico - the part known as the Boot Heel, for obvious cartographic reasons. This is 'flyover country' not just from the perspective of coastal oligarchs, but also of migratory Canada geese, because bodies of water are so few and far between in these parts.
But I once lived in Delta, Colorado - a nice little farm and ranch town at the foot of the Grand Mesa, at the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers. (Still have a house, rented out, and friends there. I might even retire there.) It's a short drive SE of Grand Junction.
There's a big artificial lake near the river confluence, with an adjoining park and a well-appointed rec center featuring a gym, Olympic pool and courts for various sportsball activities. But you must run the Goose Gauntlet to access it ... Hordes of them roam the rec center lawn during the colder months, shitting surprisingly large gray-green bird turns all over the lawn and sidewalk, occasionally flapping their wings and honking to menace passers-by.
I have never eaten goose. I know of the practice only from 19th-century literature. Nowadays our holiday fare is turkey, ham, maybe roast beef ... or in my case, pozole and enchiladas. I would have no idea even where to buy a goose for roasting.
Canada geese as they are called are an enormous migratory bird and for that reason, they are horribly tough. If you've got a recipe, I'm all ears.
Are they good at fending off foxes?
I had chickens here until the foxes found me. They were completely shameless, causing chicken cacophonies and committing birdnappings in broad daylight.
How do you keep your goose from leaving?
Note to the Underground: Make a Christmas gift of a cheese grater to Brother E.
Hehe
I thoroughly enjoyed & laughed out loud at your dry-humored description of your upcoming fondue feast.
May your day be filled with the joy of the Lord, & the coming days the strength, encouragement & hope we hold as Christians in a dark & threatening world.
Jude 24-25
24 “Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
Amen. Amen. Amen.🙇🏼♀️🙇🏼♀️🙇🏼♀️
This beautiful scripture verse! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Yes, left coaster here. I'm looking forward to a prized Margaux with roasted lamb & potatoes (Greek Orthodox). Only 6 hours til 5 o'clock.
Peace.
Love your wine choices! I’m in Texas making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon for Christmas Day where it will be 75° F — Merry Christmas to you and yours!
We’ve demolished a few Brunellos this past week here in sunny Florida! 5lb local Florida grass fed tenderloin for Christmas dinner (cooked on a charcoal grill!)
Merry Christmas 🌴🌲
Oh my, Brunello!! Delicioso!! Grilling steaks was our other option but Julia won out!
Coincidentally I am nowhere near Texas but could be there quite soon for dinner! 😉
I, too am in Texas. And, coincidentally, also love beef bourignon (my poor spelling). Merry Christmas.
Fellow Texan and I've made that recipe twice. I recall about 8 hour minimum but worth it. Have a splash of the red wine for yourself.
Texas here. Celebrated Christmas last night. It's a Mexican thing. Prime rib roast, plus food the Mexican relations cooked and brought. Today, we just spent time with the kids and ate leftovers.
85 in Dallas today; miss my old girlfriends family raisin Christmas tamales; have my wife’s El Paso green chile ones instead.
Merry Christmas! Your menu sounds lovely. May you enjoy in health and happiness!
I continued my Christmas tradition of making a hat for my son which he preferred I hadn't and may or may not wear. I also made three Christmas pickle ornaments for him, which he did like, and a tiny foxskin rug which he can add to the Christmas tableau I made several years ago.
We had Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner which is a strong tradition amongst NY Jews, even if they later migrate to other places. The internet can confirm the gratitude of Chinese restaurateurs for this custom peculiar to my people. We're having cold cut sandwiches today for lunch.
It is a laudable Jewish tradition, outsourcing one of the Christmas meals to the Chinese. Last night for Christmas Eve we had raclette grill, which is always fun but kind of the opposite, in that every last diner undertakes to cook everything he eats for himself, atop a little spattering electric grill in the centre of the table, supplied power via a precarious extension cord.
Oh! So you ate Korean barbecue restaurant style! Though I think those guys make a big deal of cooking succulent morsels for each other at the table. Those K-dramas are real heavy on scenes of food. A bit painful to be watching them in bed at 2:00 a.m. or so. I always wake up famished...
Succulent feasts in film and literature are usually created in times of famine and stress of all kinds. Advertisers know this which is why they run food commercials late at night for disturbed insomniacs.
In my experience it's just that the Koreans are eating all the time onscreen and almost everything they eat is something I'd be quite happy to eat too.
After 4pm service (by a new senior pastor filled with crap theology, sigh) we headed toward the Chinese restaurant, then decided to check the Japanese place further down the road, where we alighted.
I mis-read your comment as “and a tiny foreskin rug.” I hope Candace doesn't see this. She’d have a whole new angle to blame the Jews.
Well! I certainly didn't save it as a souvenir! Having the kid was enough of a trophy!
Decades ago I worked in an academic Dermatology department and one of my duties was to “collect foreskins” from the newborn nursery and put them on a shuttle bus to the campus lab. I want that to be featured in my obituary.
You'd enjoy the TV series "Preacher."
Thanks—I’ll look for it.
My family also has a Chinese food/Christmas dinner tradition, nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with a motorcycle trip and a snowstorm many years ago.
The details don't matter. The central truth remains.
"And lo. A wonton..."
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to the plague chronicler! I started following this blog in the depths of covid madness, and am now commenting live from my first baby's first Christmas. Thanks for keeping me sane enough to get here, cheers to an ever-better 2026
Traditional Xmas dinner here in our home in England with close family even though we are not all English or with Christian origins. I am listening to Church music and lessons even though I am firmly atheist partly to escape in mind to past saner times. I still remember the feeling of optimism in the 1950s. My days surely are numbered but I really want to live a bit longer to see how it turns out. A lot of people are waking up from the mind games that have been played with us so I hope for the great reset - but not in the way that the WEF intended. Best wishes to you.
Merry Christmas Mr Dyson.
I am also not religious – I was raised a deeply traditional Catholic but could not maintain it through adulthood. Nevertheless, I find that holidays like Christmas are still intensely enormously important to me.
Feliz Natal e um próspero novo ano!
It looks as though the Supreme Court coup in Brazil is coming to and end! Our Mussolini is headed for the chop. The backlash to a leftist propaganda advertisement by a formerly loved product PROVES that it’s not 50% of the population that supports the PT. Half the population can’t cancel a big company overnight. I a m guessing at least 80% support the conservatives.
Ambev?
Merry Christmas from unseasonably warm Charlotte NC, forecast today of 73. Getting ready to put together our 3 dishes and a visit to the home of one adult child and 4 of our 10 grandchildren. Many thanks to Eugy and all of you who make keeping up with the world interesting and sometimes fun!
I am cooking two six ounce tenderloin steaks with sautéed mushrooms and boiled baby Yukon Gold potatoes.
Merry Christmas all. We are traveling to sunny California for the holiday. My daughter is almost two and a son is on the way. I get to support my family while doing what I love working in experimental physics. Even though everything gets more expensive every year, liife is good.
Hope they're not going over the Sierra Nevada to get there. It's a mess right now.
Merry Christmas dear eugyppius.
Last night I attended mass with my youngest daughter.
Today was all about wrapping presents and then going to have lunch with mum - just the 2 of us - followed by a family call with my brother in the Land Of Lord Carney.
My daughters walked the short dog ('Hector') while I was out.
All the traditional tensions and goodness of the day.
Tomorrow time with my daughters, while Hector gets chased a lot by a black Labrador called Digby.
What fun.
Merry Christmas to one I count on for reliability & satirical information . We are in Paris , it was a beautiful ,sunny ,glorious Christmas day , bells ringing from all over the city with hope & cheer !
Having confit canard & aligot de l’aubrac ( mashed potatoes with fresh Tome cheese ) Paris is sad , but after all these years , im still so in love with her ❤️🌞
Paris is one of the only cities (New York and Rome are the other two), that I remember every last time I have been there, because it is always so vivid and poignant.
Thank you so much for this interesting greeting. This morning I count my blessing shaking out of 10 freaking days of Flu A just in time to gather with my family here in Georgia. Will be mid 70s again today which is a tad unusual. May 26 be a good year and hopefully we can minimize the world!
In bed right now on day 4 of the flu. Merry Christmas to Eugyppius and everyone else!
I forced myself to get up today and soak in the Jacuzzi to try to quell the aches.
Thank you.
Christmas Eve with a friend and her large family, which was wonderful; Christmas Day alone supposedly eating goodies from Eataly, most of which were consumed yesterday for lunch. Plan for the day: painting scenes from last summer's museum visits. Merry Christmas to everyone from chilly Boston.
Merry Christmas. I live 11 miles (17.7 Kilometers for the rest of world) from the White House. Politics never takes an off day here unfortunately. Too close to the epicenter I guess.
One son in from Seattle an Amazon Programmer the other son in from Pittsburgh a PNC risk analysis. My wife and I are feeling blessed to have us all in the same house! We too are wrestling with the preparation of what, I believe is enough Prime Rib to feed the neighborhood. I largely stay out of the unending discussion about timing and temperature although I can relate to your meal thought process. My role is chiefly table set up and wine section. Squarely in my comfort zone. :)