January 2023

Another year…they are flying by. We watched the ball drop in Times Square at 9pm our time and headed off to bed. Any noises around here at midnight didn’t wake us up. The next day we headed across the street for a neighborhood party, We feel awfully lucky to have such great neighbors.

The month was a real wet one. Last year we didn’t get a drop of rain and this year we had 3 weeks of it. Sacramento recorded 7.54 inches total. Everything is totally saturated and the snowpack is 76% of its peak. Peak snowfall is usually in April. So things are looking good for our reservoirs this year. The Blooms had a little mudslide out back as a couple of big boulders came barreling down into their backyard. Our pond got inundated but didn’t flood the back.

With all of the rain, it was a good time to get projects done. I finished the annual books for Max and Karissa. This year we did pictures with no narrative so it went much faster. Rog got back to the railroad room working on space for a roundhouse and putting together a model kit of “Wicked Wanda’s” house of ill repute.

I decided to remake our car cover with some good material from Sailrite. I got it done but it was quite the monster. Higher quality means thicker so it is quite heavy and doesn’t fold easily. But it also doesn’t blow off the car unless it is super windy.

With some of the leftover material, I made new carry packs for our camping chairs. I also got some Phifertex and made replacements for our two sling chairs. Now I need Rog’s help to get them on the frames.

We sent out the last kanji this last Christmas so it is time to explore other ideas. We made a batch of snowflakes and they show promise. We have all year to develop that idea!

We took the van in for an in warranty repair of the A/C unit we bought 2 years ago and have never been able to use. It has been at Camping World for 2 weeks now and no word. It wouldn't be too bad except our hydrogen station has been down for repairs since the beginning of December and will be offline for another month. We have to go to Watt and Fair Oaks to fill up and they have limited amounts. Anytime we are successful and fill up, it is cause fpr celebration. Needless to say, we don’t travel unless we have to. Rog tackled the eucalyptus tree at the top of our back hill and pulled his back out. So the end of January was spent icing, heating and moving very little. His PT did a deep massage which helped a lot. He was able to enjoy an evening with dinner and cards with our 64 group. We had them over to our place for calzones and apple strudel. Rog actually won the first game and I Took the second one. Champ now gets to stay at our place until the next get together.