Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world’s only daily column that’s here to welcome everyone to 11-11-10, a date which, according to the ancient Osco-Umbrian calendar, will see the world under siege by giant flaming locusts, searing icicles of horror flung down by the gods o’ winter and – hmmm, this is odd – giant cannons blasting marmalade and Nutella down from the heavens whilst the Battle Hymn of the Republic blares from gi-normous speakers.

Music aside, that last part doesn’t sound so bad, so long as the Nutella isn’t under such high pressure that it blows off our toupee and/or halter top. Marmalade can be awfully sticky, too, and not everyone likes it. How do you clean up after such an eccentric incursion of condiments? We’re not sure. Certainly a great quantity of fresh-toasted bread would be part of the equation though, no?

Seriously, though – 111110 – that’s an awful lot of “1’s” in the date, and surely it means something, right? That is, unless of course you think numbers lining up in certain ways is purely coincidence and not some kind of evil portent of doom or the end times or what have ya.

One thing we can say with some certainty is that on 11-12-10, Breckenridge Ski Area will open for the season, meaning all four Summit County hills are in business. Maybe we’ll even get a little more snow today in time for the opener.

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What’s the difference between apple cider and apple juice? We’ve been trying to figure that one out recently, seein’s how we’re in apple cider season. Cider, we can tell, appears to be somewhat less refined than apple juice – it’s a little cloudier, maybe has a few floaties in it and has a bit more of an autumnal feel to it. Apple juice is more neutered, sterile, filtered and processed, it seems, but it’s still basically cider and cider is still basically apple juice.

According to our old friend Wikipedia, cider is basically unfiltered apple juice, but it can also be fermented and served with up to 8 or 9 percent alcohol. It’s super-popular in Great Britain, by the way, where they drink it in pint glasses and howl at the moon.

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It’s Nov. 11 and we’re already sick of the holiday season, which hasn’t even begun yet. For one thing, we’re almost out of that alcoholic cider that has, in the past, fueled our late-night online shopping sprees. For another, there’s never enough cash for all the damn presents we’re supposed to get, so this year we’re thinking of just making all our presents out of popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and aluminum foil. Problem is, we’re not very crafty, as it were, so we’re not sure how well our gifts will go over.

Anyone else feeling Scrooge-y? Let us know all about it at summitup@summitdaily.com. We out!