Happy New Year 2021

The consensus seems to be good riddance to 2020 and that 2021 will be much better.  It's a nice thought, but I think it will be more of the same until we can get a majority of people vaccinated and work through the details of getting back to some sort of normality.  Going back to the office, dining out, having drinks at the bar and gathering with friends and family will likely not return to any semblance of normal until late in the year, or possibly 2022, I fear.

More important is that there is now actual hope for a vaccinated end to this pandemic.  Hang on to that, encourage it, do your part when called upon and let's work toward that future and it will come to be.  I believe that because I have to.  How about you? 

Happy New Year to you all.  The ones I read, the ones I love, all my friends and all of you who take the time to read me.  Whether you comment or not, I can see you're there.  Thank you.

Snowy Firepit

Yesterday morning Google Photos reminded me that indeed I did have a firepit after Christmas on that date last year, but for some reason I never posted about it.  So I checked the weather and the winds were light and the temperatures moderate (just above freezing) but there was snow that would be starting later in the afternoon.  Never mind the snow, I was going for it and having a fire!

I'm glad I did as it was actually pretty ideal outside for a late season fire.  After a couple hours the snow came, so I let the fire die down as I stood around it, poking at it now and again, sometimes while listening to music.  I had to take my chair inside the garage as the snow was getting it wet.  It was so very peaceful getting snowed on and watching the flames.

The snow was sticking to the ground by the time I went in, and we got about 2 inches over the next few hours to blanket everything once again.  But this is nothing, really.  We already have a Winter Storm Warning for Tuesday/Wednesday that they say to expect 6-8 more inches, but we'll see.

Below is a one minute video from yesterday afternoon, link here for email readers.  Get comfortable, take a deep breath and let it out slowly, then watch the video and maybe you'll feel some of the peace I felt while out there yesterday.  Here's sending some peace your way.

Merry Christmas 2020

Yes, it's been a bad year.  Lockdowns, masks, sickness and death.  But we made it this far and there is hope with the new vaccines, but that doesn't help us yet this holiday season.  A basketball game on TV and a Zoom call with immediate family is pretty much all we have planned today.  My wife will see her dad, but that's not unusual as she's pretty much his full time caretaker these days.  Almost all our snow has melted so it's not even a white Christmas this year.  But we must to try to stay positive, and I do have hope for a vaccinated future.  It will take time and there will be more challenges yet, but we'll get there.

Wherever you are, I hope you're making the best of things today.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Fire Video

Have you ever used one of those long, soothing background videos for something to put on your TV or computer monitor?  Like hours of watching fish in an aquarium, or a babbling brook in a woodlands setting?  Around Christmastime a full screen roaring fireplace is popular.  I've seen and used all of the above at one time or another, and now I found one for 2020.  Enjoy.

Solstice Firepit and Holiday Plans

Happy winter solstice, everyone.  Winter officially arrived at 4:02 a.m. this morning, locally.  While there has been some recent melting, including some today with temps in the upper 30's (F), there just hasn't been enough to get me out by the fire for this one.

I was hoping, it just wasn't meant to be, and I'm afraid there will be no more opportunities until spring.  In a couple days here we'll go south of the freezing mark and it looks like that's where we'll stay for the foreseeable forecast.  It was a good ride, and I had more fires this year than I ever imagined I would have in a season, but thanks to covid it was my only escape, my only real pleasurable time outside the 4 walls of the house for almost all of 2020.

I don't know if I mentioned it here, but sometime during the last several fires I noticed several loose bricks, so come spring there will be a little repair work needed.  Last time I used an adhesive specifically made for outdoor fireplace blocks.  It was more expensive, but I wanted it to last - and more than just a few years.  I think in spring I'll use Liquid Nails or similar adhesive and see how long that lasts.

So, dear readers, you won't have to listen to me go on and on about it and post mostly firepit pictures for at least several months.  Let's hope life gets back to normal sooner than later, or I'll end up doing it all over again next year!

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Christmas is less than a week away now, and we don't plan on going anywhere or seeing anyone, probably just a Zoom call like we did on Thanksgiving. I've got gifts sent off to the younger niece and nephew, and some cash mailed to the older ones.  We've given mostly great gifts to all of them for many years now, but as they graduate high school and become adults this will end.  I was going to call it a day with their generous lump sum graduation gifts, but I think we'll continue to give token cash at Christmas for a couple more years until they turn 21, then I'm done.  I have a few more years of picking out gifts for the younger ones, teenagers now, but then plan on the same for them.

We don't really get gifts for the adults in the family, just a little something for my Mom, like a relevant puzzle or something fun she wouldn't get for herself.  My mom, of course, gets us all something even though I tell her it's really not necessary, but she enjoys it.  Things are done a little differently on my wife's side of the family, but certainly nothing too extravagant.  As for my wife and I, we didn't do much this year.  She told me what to get her and when I couldn't think of anything I wanted she just got me a little something, I guess.  But she has a January birthday, so I'll have to up my game pretty fast.

What are your holiday plans this year?

Just Weather Again

Welcome to winter.  Forty-eight hours ago we were on our second 50ºF day in a row and I was out enjoying a rare weekday firepit.  And today, well....

A winter wonderland, picture taken just a few minutes ago.

Two days earlier, much more relaxing.

I don't normally have a fire when I have to get up early the next day, but with sunset before 4:30 p.m. and a very mild December day I did just that on Thursday.  I got off work at 2:00, had the fire going about an hour later, stayed out until after 5:00 and was inside in plenty of time for dinner.  Then yesterday morning it started raining until turning over to snow in the early afternoon.  Even then, it wasn't until evening that the snow started sticking.  And it continued overnight and is still going, currently projected to finish in the next hour or so.

My back is still touch-and-go so there's no way I was going to pick up a shovel, but with a support belt and what turned out to be one more warm layer than necessary I was able to push the snow blower through the heavy and wet white stuff to get things cleared while my lovely wife used a shovel for the steps and more.  We'll have to go out again later to clean things up when the snow is finished (and after the Badger game this afternoon) but now it will be much easier.

High temperatures for the next week are projected to be right around the freezing mark so not sure how long the snow will last.  I guess it depends on how many of those days are sunny.  But one of these days it will snow and stay until maybe March.  I hope today is not that day.

Back is Back

 I have two sayings when someone expresses sympathy for my back not being good; it's just part of the joy of being me, and, everyone has something, this is mine.  And I thank them for their expression.

Everyone knows I have a bad back.  I've had one neck surgery, two back surgeries and came close to having another one a couple years back ago.  I've been through this so many times, but this last episode has been a bad one.  Maybe a month or so ago I was having issues on my lower right side.  That lasted about two weeks, then moved to my left side.  I believe my left side was trying to compensate for the right side, which is why it moved over and has gotten worse since.  No sense going to the doctor yet, he would only give me muscle relaxers which I already have, and maybe some pain pills that I don't want and they don't really help the issue by just numbing it.  If I miss another day of work, though, I will have to contact my doctor for a note.

At work I have a stand up desk and a very good chair with good lower back support.  I was reminded of this when I went in on Saturday for a couple hours.  A poor decision on my part as I was so tight I couldn't even straighten my legs all the way, but I managed to get the needed work done in a couple hours.  At home I have two chairs, one with a more upright, adjustable back that I use for work and one with a fixed back that leans back and I have a lumbar roll on it that I use for relaxing.  Once it's more safe to go out and shop, I'll be trying out new chairs that will combine all these features.  No cheapie this time, it will have to be a high end, more expensive chair but it will be well worth it.

What I've been avoiding saying so far is that it's much of my own fault.  I've fallen out of the habit of doing my daily exercises and with the colder weather our neighborhood walks have ground to a halt.  Today I will start trying to change that.  I just made it around the block on a walk, though it was slow and I got slower as I went.  I have an icy/hot patch on my lower back now and will attempt my exercises when there is not a cat napping on the bed.  Exercises are basically planking and holding, and I do them on the bed because it is the most comfortable for me and getting up off the floor just ain't what it used to be.

Back problems are very common, I am not unique, and I know several others with issues and I'm sure you do, too, if you don't have back issues yourself.  Exercise is the true key, keeping those muscles in my lower back in shape while not hurting myself in the process.  Now I just have to do it and keep up with it or this will happen more often.

The picture is from a firepit last Friday afternoon.  (If you look just above the peak of the porch you can see where the branch broke off that blocked the road, from a few posts ago.)  I was trying to be careful then as I already ached, but firepits do usually end in at least a small backache for me.  The forecast does not look good for this weekend, so perhaps the last fire of the year, but not if I can help it.  Now I have to get up and move as I just can't sit here any longer.  Take care of your backs, people, you only have one and it affects everything you do.

New Fence

Yesterday we had our back fence replaced, and wow!  A side by side comparison really shows just how old, rotten and beat up the old fence was.  There were no real issues installing it, thankfully, and we gained a bit of our property back.

Neighbor Jane, on the right in the above picture has her back fence on the property line.  Neighbor Dave, on the left, has told me that his fence is a foot or two this side of the property line because when he installed it he didn't want to put it up a little hill he has at the back.  What they ended up doing is moving the fence line closer to the actual property line by several inches by the compost bin and the other side maybe just an inch or so, basically splitting the difference again.  So, no, it's not perfectly straight across the yard but you can't tell by looking at it.

Also, I wanted it straight across on top and there is a slight dip in the ground in the middle so while it is at ground level on the ends the middle is about 2 inches or so above the ground.  I can easily fill that in come spring, then the hostas will cover it all.  

Overall, I'm very pleased.  And after seeing it without a fence I am so very glad we have it.  It gives us so much more privacy back there and we don't have to look at the neighbor's odd junk behind and alongside their garage. I should have done it last year as the cedar would have been a bit cheaper but the miser in me wanted to get every last bit of use out of the old fence.  Oh well, it is done now and looks pretty good, I think.

If you're interested, pictures of the process will be after the break.