January 2025

Welcome to 2025! Rog and Jim tested for their first degree brown belt in aikido. They both did outstanding. Now Rog is looking forward to testing for his black belt in another year. He got a good start with a seminar that his dojo put on with Kimberly the following weekend. Rog picked up a lot of style ideas that he is anxious to work on. Unfortunately, most of his January training was on the sidelines because of multiple skin cancer removals that required stitches. He still learned a lot and is anxious to put it all into practice.

We both survived our annual physicals with passing grades…still plugging along! Max headed back to Missoula and was able to use his fast pass for the first time. It was nice knowing he was just a few blocks away for a few weeks. Miss him already!

Project-wise, Rog continued work on the tree for the bathroom window. He has all of the wood glued together and braced, everything is sanded and all is ready for stain and varathane.

The weather was awesome this month and I got a lot of yard work done. I trimmed the front yard and got most of the leaves out from under the plants. I filled all 3 organic waste barrels and it looks pretty spiffy. Rain is forecast for the beginning of February so it will be at least a couple of weeks before I can finish. I also completed the photo books for Max and Karissa and was able to get Max’s shipped for his birthday. In the evenings, I knit scarves for Ryan and Beth and finally finished the most difficult sweater ever for myself. It actually fits and is super warm but it was a real challenge! I spent a lot of time with our Long Beach Grand Prix trip in April. After a few phone calls, I was able to get tickets and a parking pass purchased. I tried to get reservations at the campground adjacent to the race, but they were already sold out. Next try was the army RV park at Seal Beach. This required a military ID which was a bit tricky. After trying for a week on the VA website and getting the message “unable to access data, please try again in a few moments” we drove to Mather and tried to get an ID card in person. Turns out they only give cards to disabled vets and active duty personnel. Not willing to give up, I sent an email and got a pretty quick response that was super helpful. Turns out that I just needed to log off the VA website (closing down wasn’t enough). With their new detailed directions, I was able to complete the application and the digital ID card was emailed back to us within days. We now have reservations at the Sea Breeze RV park at Seal Beach. We ordered stadium seats and I am working on renting a scooter. We will be all set! We hosted the card game this month. Debbie and Kathy missed it again for a sad reason. They got back from a trip to Tahoe and found that somebody had broken into their house, ransacked the place and took jewelry and cash. They had to stay home and wait for the cops to show up and for someone to fix the broken window. So sad. But the Nordstroms made it and the four of us had dinner and two games of 64.