The way I see it is it's kind of like what Batman did where he figured out how to defeat each of the other members of the Justice League and then like he kept going to figure out other contingency plans. The tree shows that it's sometime in December in this arc. I needed more background stuff for this strip and seasonal stuff like that helps ground when things are taking place... so it worked. On the personal side of things... apparently migraines are something I have to deal with now. I think it's related to my neck and it being out of alignment. When stretching and it pops a ton of pressure on the base of my skull is released and I feel a lot better, but when things are bad I'll start getting nauseated and my vision tunnels and I'm just off for about 36 hours. I end up doing all sorts of home remedies to make the recovery as short and painless as I can, but it still knocks me for a loop... This weekend was spent on the verge of a migraine and the tail of one up until Monday afternoon... So yeah, that's fun.