New Year’s Thoughts

Just in case you missed it, here is a great flash mob Christmas video:

http://www.military.com/video/forces/air-force/usaf-band-does-holiday-flash-mob/2893304289001/

The US Air Force Band does a flash mob at the Air and Space Museum. “Joy To The World.” Really neat if you like both Christmas music and military bands.

So  — Welcome to 2014.

First, I want to to thank several people:
Larry and Tabitha for being my most consistent comment posters. I appreciate your comments!
Judy and Willis Volden for sending us a gift of fudge every year. Great stuff!
Mary Hayes, Jon Bjornson, and Tom and Patti Hamilton for being good friends who visited us in Colorado during 2013.
XS 11 club members Ray,  Ed, Scott, Tkat, and Brant for time shared together during motorcycle rallies.
And, not least, Pam for putting up with me for another year.

Last year was sort of a watershed year for us. We started improving the mountain lot we bought late in 2012. By Pam’s count we made  23 visits to the lot in 2013. Most trips were overnighters but a few were one day events. Buying the lot was a big deal for us; we had spent almost 2 years looking for a lot that was within our budget and had some of the basic requirements we had set out including: a view, few neighbors, and a mix of evergreen and aspen trees. Although we worked  hard and probably didn’t spend enough time just enjoying our days at Sanderling, we did get much enjoyment from being in the high country. 2014 should be easier in many ways as we now have the RV, truck, and a plan of attack for cleaning up the lot and further development of the land.

No family members died in 2013, a good thing at our age. However, our Christmas card list keeps shrinking, down this year to about 50 cards from a high of over 120+ a couple decades ago. I get the feeling people just don’t send as many cards as they did in the past (maybe because first class postage is so high?). It is also true that we keep losing older aunts and uncles as well as older co-workers from previous places we have worked.  That’s one of the sad parts of Christmas, remembering the friends who are no longer with us (miss your sense of humor, Harry Recker and Bob Krueger).

So what else is ahead for us in 2014? I’ve already touched a bit on the lot. This year we hope to extend the driveway up to the saddle where we will put in a pad for the RV. This will get us into a more secluded area with trees around us and get us better access to the middle part of the lot. An equipment shed would be nice for storage of tools like the chain saw, generator,  and cart.  All it takes is money….:)

We plan to travel a bit more in 2014. It’s been a while since we took an extended trip together. While we did get to Boise last year to meet Felicity at her Sweet Adelines convention, that was basically a weekend trip. Pam would like to get together with her high school friends Mary and Julie for a “Wenches Weekend” sometime this spring (plans are in the works for that), and we are talking about a trip into California’s Napa Valley for our 40th anniversary.  More on both of these in future posts.

This year’s motorcycle group rally, on the east coast, will be in Canada above the state of New York. I am toying with the idea of attending this one, but there are other rallies planned in other parts of the country that also sound interesting. Decisions, desicions… At my age there are not a lot of years left to get out and ride so I plan to make the most of it while I can.  (Pam also appreciates the break from having me in the house – a mini vacation for her too.)

Along with the regular New Year’s resolutions ( lose weight, excercise more) I have made a new one: Be more courteous. I think as a society we have become less civil over the years and simply don’t appreciate the other people in our daily lives as much as we should. So I plan to say “Thank you” and “I appreciate that” more than I have in the past.

I also resolve to get all my dental work done. Been putting it off far too long. (TMI?) I also need to look into treatment for my sleep apnea. There is a place in Grand Junction that specializes in treating apnea and I need to get in and be evaluated. My brother Jon got treatment a few years ago and reports it changed his life a lot; he has more energy and sleeps much better at night. Hopefully I would see similar results.

In other news, I mentioned working on the Honda’s brakes in my last post. I put new rotors on the front and new pads in the rear calipers. The old front rotors were too thin to “get turned” (resurfaced) so I had to replace them. The Honda has now received a new battery, tires, and brakes in the last few months. Hope it is now good for another 50K miles with just routine maintenance (currently 315,000 miles on the odometer).

Honda gets new front brake rotors

Rear pads (left) were getting pretty thin compared to new pads (right)

We took Christmas down on New Year’s Day. All the lights, ornaments, garlands, and other stuff are now back in boxes and up in the garage attic, waiting for Thanksgiving week next year to again be brought out. Seems like such a short time ago  we decorated the place. This Christmas season just seemed to fly past.

Christmas tree 2013

Mesa County issued a burning ban because of the weather inversion, so we didn’t have an opportunity to use the fire pit at all during the holidays. This December went into the books as the coldest on record; we did not get up to our seasonal avereage of 37 degrees the entire month. Our heating bill for the month went up almost $70.00.  It was even too cold to go snowmobiling.

Speaking of snowmobiling, I won’t be out on my sled this winter. I did not renew my registration and may sell the Mountain Max. Pam gets concerned when I go out alone and I find I enjoy riding the ATV a bit more, so my snowmobiling days may be over. I was out on the ATV on Christmas Day; the snow was not so deep on Wild Horse Mesa and I could get around OK. The heated grips and thumb warmer, my Christmas present, worked well and I had fun getting out.

I think “getting out” is the key, I am not happy just staying around the house. Pam has questioned why this is so, and I guess it’s because I was raised in rural Wisconsin and had access to rivers, streams, and forests all on our own (60 acre) property. With a small house and 4 kids my parents encouraged a lot of outside time, even in the winter. I had a snowmobile during my high school years, and before that we had a variety of winter activities.

One of these involved being pulled on a tobaggan behind a horse. Later on we substituted Dad’s 8N Ford for the horse and a hood from a ’53 Chevy – it had a curved up nose – for the toboggan. A foam pad made the hood a bit more comfortable to ride on. I can still remember doing donuts on that hood while the tractor swung us around in an empty hay field. (Crack the whip with the tractor pulling us.) Fun times. Dangerous, but we never considered that. In any event, I spent a lot of time outside, even in the winter. Old habits die hard.

Pam took the four black kittens to the shelter this last Friday. Ebony, the Mom cat, will follow shortly after she gets a spay operation. We will be “kittenless” for the first time in about 7 months.  I’ll be glad to get the master bathroom back and not have to guard the door to the hallway when I go in and out of the master  bedroom. (The kittens spent their days in the master bedroom/bathroom.)  We should have a few months off, but undoubtedly Pam will foster kittens during 2014.

Time to wrap up this post. I hope all who read this have a healthy and satisfying 2014.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Resolutions:

To begin altering my “wardrobe” so my clothes are as comfortable as pajamas and my shoes are as comfortable as slippers.  (Hopefully I won’t have to go as far as Hugh Heffner and actually walk around all day in pajamas and slippers to accomplish this.)

To find a reason to renew my long-expired passport.

To actually go on some of those trips we talk about.

As for that being nicer concept of Jer’s, I think I’m going to stick with grumpy old person.  It’s workin’ for me.

Dreams:

A lottery win.  This doesn’t have to be the ginormous half a billion jackpot, $750,000 on up would be quite acceptable.  I promise to help others as well as animal rescue organizations if a big lotto win comes our way.

A part-time job (again).  My mother died when she was 65, life speeds by so rapidly, time is precious.

Happy Trails in 2014.