Well, out here in the dessert we entered the new year with total clouds and rain. Yep, it was probably only a half an inch but it was spread over the night and the day. I even had to take the dog out in it and dry him off later! However, I've been working. One of the blogs I like reading had a year overview last week and it inspired me so here's my attempt at our year.
It's been an interesting year to say the least.
January started quietly; well, until New Year's Day when we were called by our cruise line to be told that Italy and Turkey were having problems so our cruise that was to go from Turkey to Italy wouldn't be able to go. It took some time but eventually we found a cruise we could take. Then on the 2nd we heard that my wife's aunt (who was only 7 years her senior) had passed away. She had been ill and had dementia so her passing was both sad and a relief. A few days later we learned that our large heat exchanger is dying. We have two and since the large one is dying; we had it replaced.
Then we went on our cruise: Rome, Naples, Messina, Valletta, Heraklion, Rhodes, Ephesus and Santorini - Wandering around with COVID restrictions; lots of fun! But except for Rome and Naples all were new places for us. Home in early February and just in time to replace the smaller heat exchanger on the other side of the house. In the middle of February we adopted a new dog. He's a Chinese Char Pei; we named him Gus. He's been neutered so MAY calm down after a while. His right foot had a cyst between the toes so we've got medicine for that. Of course February is when Russia invaded the Ukraine. God only knows what is going to happen in that mess!
March was when our son started moving from San Diego to a suburb of Little Rock, AR. It was a slow process! They even found termites and had to tent the house.
April was highlighted by my wife having surgery on her left foot. Her little toe has been bending over onto it's side for years; now it is painful. So she had it straightened out; now she will have a foot brace and bandages for some weeks. Then later in the month our son, his wife and her sister stayed with us for a week or so until their house in Arkansas was ready. Interesting times! The people were great, their dog not so much! He had to be held on a leash whenever Gus was in the room. The good news is that selling their California house and buying in Arkansas meant they could buy the house outright!
May was a stay-at-home month. My wife got to attend physical therapy for her foot. We started June with a little 3 day trip to Bishop, CA. It is only a couple hundred miles from here and we got to see bristlecone pine trees; the oldest living things. It also gave our dog a taste of staying in motels. Turns out he is mostly ok but you have to be sure he doesn't lift his leg! One of our local commissioners has accused his wife of stealing $77,000 in cash from him; he decided it was ok to beat her up in return.
June was when our daughter moved from Austin, TX where she had lived for 2 years to a suburb of Oklahoma City, OK. Again, the house in Texas pretty much paid for the one in OKC. Late in the month I had a couple episodes of back pain that bothered me enough to go to the doctor. He took xrays and it is just fine; just aging I guess.
July got started with fun stuff: I had Mohs surgery on my forehead to remove a cancer from my forehead. I've still got a dip in my skin where it was removed. Then the month calmed down and we just wandered around as usual.
August started off quietly enough. We took a quick 3 day trip down to San Diego just to get out of town. Got to visit the zoo; $65 for old people! On the way home CA road dept. was fixing a bridge and caused like a 40 minute delay on I-15. Jeez! Then, unbeknowst to us, our solar system stopped working for a couple weeks in the hottest part of the year! And it took another week to get the replacement part. Good news is that it was under warranty.
The first couple of weeks of September were quiet but then we hit the road! We took the truck because of all the things we were taking for Gus. We took kind of a northerly trip across Arizona and New Mexico then slid down towards Amarillo. New Mexico surprised us with a drunk check; they must have had a dozen cops covering the two traffic lanes. It was all done pretty quickly but it was sure a surprise. We crossed Texas and were surprised at all the wind generators; there were at least 100 of them. Mobile, Alabama surprised us with the heaviest rain I've ever driven in. We were only just able to see the car in front of us! We finally made it to Citrus Springs, Fl to visit my wife's uncle. He's more of a friend than a relative and it was his wife who just died in January. He's doing quite well without her. We spent a couple days with him then headed north to visit our son in his new home just outside Little Rock, AR. It's a really nice place on a little lake. A couple days there and we were headed for our daughter's place outside Oklahoma City. She has a really nice little place; it's small but enough for her and her cat! And finally home.
Started October with having another squamous cell carcinoma removed; from my back this time. Gotta be tough to be old! Turns out we did 4,861 miles and got a bit over 17 mpg on our cross country trip. I guess I should have been lighter on the throttle! We've been having trouble with the a/c in the car. A local repair shop thought they had fixed it but now it isn't working again. Tough way to figure out who knows what they are doing repairing your vehicle! I got to be another year older this month; talk about life in the fast lane! Decided to go up and see some folks in Colorado Springs that we've known for the last 30 years or so. He worked with my wife and we became friends in the Netherlands. It was a quick trip but fun.
November started with wanting to vote! Everyone has an early voting ballot and we filled ours in and deposited them with the county clerk a day or so early. No way were we going to stand in a line in the rain (here, raining on voting day! imagine that!). Turns out the Ford Escape only managed 25 mpg on our trip to Colorado. Makes the 17mpg the truck managed to Florida look better! Had fun with the smaller heat exchanger on the east side of the house: apparently they didn't load it up with enough liquid so it died when it got cold. Anyway, had a guy out to fix it. It only took a week or so for it to die again. This time the guy decided our circuit breaker wasn't big enough & he replaced it. Our daughter came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. It was just a couple days but it was good to see her.
So December has been quiet. We got 2 actual Christmas cards (1 before Christmas and 1 after). Unfortunately I have converted entirely to email 'cards' so I did not respond in the same manner. Ok, I'm a lazy ass! Talked with the American Legion about donating our trailer to the vehicle donation service. It will be fine; it is a 2010 travel trailer with no major problems so we hope they will get a lot for it. The actual donation will be late in the month. I had a weird feeling around the 10th of the month: it was like I was ill but I wasn't. Anyway, it went away just like the one back in June. Charged the batteries for the trailer and pulled it out where it would be easy to hitch up. We were empting stuff out of it when my wife fell as she was exiting the trailer! I helped her up and she was clearly in pain but it was a couple of days before she went in to the doctor: 3 broken ribs on her right side! Well, she's got lots of pain medication but there isn't much else to do about broken ribs. Finally the guys showed up to take the trailer. They wanted to pump up the tires and then they took off with our trailer. I managed to cut the trailer license plate off so we could return it to the state. And now it is gone. We are either motel stayers now or I know not what. We'll see. Finally our county commissioners took it upon themselves to give the county a Christmas present and select a new Justice of the Peace: a totally unqualified Trump loving idiot. We'll see how that works out.
So that's the year from our lives. Thanks for stopping by. Keep washing those hands and don't forget all the other COVID precautions! Take care.
