Happy New Year!

 

 

Labrador.  Nova Scotia.

 

Close enough.

 

Happy New Year everybody!

 

 

Alaska

 

 

The 2019 trip.

 

Winter there must be so dark and brutal.  We didn’t see that part.  We spent the summer there and saw warm weather, almost endless days, and lush growth.  A brief but intense growing season.  A growing season so powerful that even trees cut and stacked for firewood refused to give up.

 

 

And one more Christmas

 

 

Taylor flew from London to Denver.  Becky, Brian, and Conner met her at the airport.  Together they all flew to the Pacific Northwest to meet up with Tony, Teigan, and Elise who are already there.  They saved their Christmas celebration for today when they could all be together.  David, Taylor’s partner, was on her phone from Wales, and Judy and I got to join in.

 

 

Meanwhile

 

 

Matt and Lindsay carrying on the “too much is not enough” tradition.

 

But in a much neater way!

 

And one Christmas, about 2005

 

 

Becky, Brian, and family (Taylor, Tony, Teigan, and Conner) came to help us celebrate Christmas in the motorhome when we were at Gulf Waters on Mustang Island outside of Corpus Christi.

 

They rented an RV and got to park it in the space right next to us.  Stockings were hung.  Presents arrived.

 

And Christmas morning, chaos ensued.  (There are four kids in this photo.)

 

 

But in a good way.

 

 

 

 

Christmas 1968

 

 

Way back.  Before any of our children.  A week or so before Christmas, we marveled at Milan and Olga’s Christmas Tree.  I worked with Milan at Gates Rubber Company in Denver.  Dr. Milan Brokl.  He was an accomplished PhD chemist who knew everything about chemistry.  I was an assistant chemist with an associate’s degree and knew next to nothing compared to him.  He and Olga had a great backstory.  Milan was a chemistry instructor in Czechoslovakia and Olga was one of his students.  Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet Union then, and any foreign trips were very tightly controlled.  Milan got a speaking engagement in East Germany and took his teaching assistant, Olga with him.  Together they escaped by swimming across a river one night, making their way to West Germany.  There it was safe for them to get married and continue on their way.  They never would have been allowed to travel outside the country as a married couple.  Such a mild-mannered man, none would ever suspect him of such subterfuge.  From West Germany they made it to the United States as defectors.  They could each speak some English, but the accent was so heavy it was difficult for some to follow.  I seemed to understand Milan better than others, so he used me sometimes to help him communicate.  We ended up friends.

 

So, that evening before Christmas, Judy and I were at Milan and Olga’s house marveling at the old-world candle holders and live candles on their tree.  The aroma was exquisite with all those little candles heating up the needles to release their fragrance.  At our house, a different night, they were impressed with our modern electric lights on our tree.

 

Next Christmas, guess what.  We had special old-world holders with lighted candles on our tree.

 

At Milan and Olga’s, they were so proud of their strings of electric lights.

 

Yes, we actually put lit candle flames on our Christmas Tree, and it was awesome.  And no, happily, we didn’t light anything else on fire or destroy the apartment building.  We did go back to electric lights every year after.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

  

 

From our house to yours.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

From our house to yours.

 

 

Homemade Ice Cream at the holidays

 

 

Every kid got a chance to lick a beater or a scraper.  If you’re not big enough to lean over a sink, next best place is on the floor.

 

Some years, Santa would make an appearance on Christmas Eve.  We would know he was near when we could hear the jangling of bells on the reindeer reins outside.  In with a load of ho-ho-hos and a big bag of presents.  One year, I recall brother Bill was there, and Santa was surprised to see him.  Santa had missed him in Washington and was so glad to find him at our house because he still had the present for him.

 

 

Santa and kids weren’t very good at holding still for indoor photos.  Matt is the little kid in front, and Becky is the blur.  After a jolly celebration, Santa would go on his way with a chorus of ho-ho-hos, and jangling jingle bells, disappearing into the distance.  Shortly after, our friend Todd would show up to sleep on the couch and join in the Christmas morning celebration.  Todd fit right in at our house and was a big help around it whenever he was there.

 

That’s Mom’s elbow off to the right of the frame.  She would sleep upstairs on Christmas Eve so she could be there first thing in the morning.  After the kids fell asleep, Santa would fill their stockings upstairs so they could occupy themselves early in the morning.  It was a rule at our house that the kids couldn’t come downstairs on Christmas Day until it was light outside.  Mom recounted that one year she woke up and Becky was working her way through her Christmas stocking, describing each item out loud as she went.  When she was through, she then went through every item in her brother’s stocking before putting everything back together and waking him up!

 

Christmas Memories

 

 

Back about 1975, Christmas at our house looked like this:

 

A $5 permit in hand, we trudge through the snow in the mountains picking out the perfect tree to cut down.  We never wanted to cut off more than we had to, so sometimes the tree had to duck the ceiling a little.  Not many decorations, but we would buy one new box of Christmas ornaments every year knowing that eventually we could absolutely overload a tree.

 

A legacy from my childhood, there was the American Flyer train layout, different every year, with the Lionel transformer so the locomotives would have plenty of power.  Lots of practice putting train car wheels back on the tracks.  Drops down the smokestack of one of the engines would provide chuffing smoke (and a special aroma).  As presents started to accumulate they could be arranged as backstops and tunnels.  Running the trains was good for a week or two, until the tracks were overwhelmed by presents, even if we had to take the pack of a dozen Hot Wheels cars apart and wrap them all individually to accomplish our goal.

 

Reflections of my own overwhelming Christmases with presents piled high.  Later in life Mom told stories of Dad telling her that Christmas needed to be different this year.  We were just going to buy a few presents, then looking at the tree right before Christmas and declaring that this just won’t do, and going out shopping for a giant bag of toys because Christmas morning just has to “look right”.  So, Dad’s legacy to our legacy, Christmas just has to “look right.

 

Along the way

 

 

Coyote through the windshield.

 

 

Who knows what the heck left these prints

 

 

 

Not the ungulate tracks to the right, we’ve got white tailed deer, exotics, and javelina for that, but the small pointy, really sharp canine tracks on the left.  The tiny predator.

 

I’m thinking maybe gray fox.   Or maybe a Pomeranian in need of a pedicure.

 

A very wet

 

 

 

 

Lesser Goldfinch.

 

Until we’re Old and Eighty

 

 

Judy and Me.  That has been our mantra since we were children.  That was our pledge to each other, lying on the beach staring into each other’s eyes, when we were still teenagers, and innumerable times since.  Why 80?  Because the words Old and Eighty flowed, and anyway, old and eighty was so far out it was essentially the end of time, right?

 

Well, here I am today, the first day of my eightieth year and we’re both thinking, wait a minute.  Eighty is not that old.  It certainly isn’t the end of time.  We’re going to need a new mantra.

 

 

Tracks

 

 

Walking in the wilderness, we come across tracks.

 

Wolves and large dog tracks can be difficult to tell apart.  Dog tracks tend to have a little larger spacing between the toes and the central pad.  I don’t think we have any Mexican Gray Wolves here though, so I would guess this to be a dog or coyote track.  Surely canine because we wouldn’t see any claws on a feline.

 

For determining dog or coyote, dog tracks have an overall round shape.  Coyote tracks have a more oblong shape.

 

This looks pretty round overall to me.  And this has a large triangular central pad.  Coyote central pads tend to be smaller and not so triangular.  Dog tracks can often be a reckless mess as they run about sniffing and investigating everything.  Wolves and coyotes tend to be more down to business and travel in a straighter line.  Can’t tell that from just a couple tracks though.

 

I’m guessing that in this instance someone before me had a big dog along with them for a hike.

 

Remember that Texas Firebush?

 

 

It totally died and we cut it all the way back to the ground.

 

Then it showed a sign of life so we left it alone to see what it would do.

 

It grew back.

 

And after being gone all summer, we come home to this…

 

December/January.  It will be time to whack it back down again.  Maybe only knee high this time though.

 

Along the way

 

Both homeowners decided that solar power would be a good idea.

 

I suspect that they each spent the about same amount on the infrastructure that makes the panels work and ties them into the house’s electrical system.  From there, one went max, one went mini.  I wonder what the factors were that sent each their own direction.

 

Did you know

 

 

If you hold your nose you can’t hum.

 

 

Along the way

 

 

I looked for some good close-up bird pictures to send out and couldn’t find any.  I need to get out more.  I did come across some ducks on a pond in Arizona.  Usually, pond ducks are a whole mix of different colors and patterns, domestic Mallard hybrids paddling about in search of soggy slices of bread or crackers.  These ducks were different.  They all looked the same.

 

They’re not domestic ducks.  They’re all wild American Wigeons.

 

American Wigeons like to winter in the southern states.  Their breeding grounds are way north in Canada and Alaska.

 

Our lucky day today

 

 

Friday the 13^th.  Ever since our first kid was born on a Friday the 13^th.

 

 

Progress and problems

 

 

California has a high adoption rate for electric cars.    That’s cool.  EV adoption will prevent a lot of carbon pollution.  (Other states have a high adoption rate too, but we’re just using California to point out an issue.)  California also has a high adoption rate for renewable energy.  During 2024 there were 100 days where all the electric power needed, for at least a portion of the day, was provided by renewable energy, mostly wind and solar.  Again, great solution for protecting the atmosphere.

 

Problem.  How do we want to charge our EVs?  We want to plug them in overnight, so they’ll be ready to go the next morning.  When does California produce the most renewable energy?  During the day when the sun is out.  That means for California to meet the growing overnight energy demands, it has to increase the amount of petroleum-based energy it produces overnight.  Renewable energy production and energy consumption are not matching up.  It's interesting how two good solutions come together and result in a new challenge.  Not a dealbreaker, it’s still progress, but we sure could use some kind of affordable grand scale energy storage to cover the gap. 

 

Desperate times

 

 

26 degrees this morning; so cold that I had to change into long pants for the first time in about a year!  Our happy dirty van was covered in frost for the first time.

 

We’re back in Laredo Taco country, the gas station concession that serves very good, simple, and inexpensive Mexican food.  Up and about early we were able to start the day with delicious breakfast tacos from LTC, and very good coffee from the Love’s Travel Plaza.

 

The cold weather was the first desperate moment of the day.  The next came at the first rest area when digging through the layers of clothing, I discovered that as I dressed in the dark this morning, I had accidentally put my boxers on backwards.

 

We drove from Sonora through Junction, Segovia, Mountain Home, skipped past Kerrville and Comfort, headed for Boerne.  At that point, plans changed as navigation informed us there had been a accident on Interstate 10, the road was closed, and alternate routes were advised.  We detoured toward Bandera, but not all the way there.  We went left on Highway 16 through Government Canyon, past the town of Helotes, and into San Antonio.  We continued on Highway 16 through Leon Valley and caught Interstate 410 to southbound Interstate 37 toward Corpus Christie.  Past Braunig Lake, and made a fuel stop at Exit 125.  Gasoline for $2.47 a gallon and a bratwurst for lunch.  A right turn on Highway 281 that continues south right past our house.  Through Three Rivers, George West, Alice and Ben Bolt.  One last stop in Falfurrias for groceries and a Blizzard.  Enough groceries to last us two or three days before we have to go out and stock up properly.

 

Home by 3:30.  Still daylight.  Arrival temperature 66 degrees.  Now we are where we want to be again.

 

2024 Trip Home Map

 

Deep in the Heart

 

 

From Deming to Las Cruces on Interstate 10.  Hang a right and go south to El Paso.  Cruise through El Paso right after rush hour, no problem.  East through Sierra Blanca and into the eastern time zone.  Van Horn.  Interstate 10 and 20 split.  Continue on 10 past Balmorhea.  Less trucks now.  Fort Stockton, Fort Lancaster, Ozona, and stop in the evening light at Sonora.  Tonight’s low, 26.  Another hotel.

 

400 miles to go.

 

2024 Trip Home Map

 

 

Headed home

 

 

Said goodbye to all the family here, including our fabulous hosts with the casita, Lindsay’s parents, Steve and Lori.

 

A leisurely leaving.  On the road before noon.  Deming, New Mexico tonight.  300 miles accomplished, 850 miles to go.

 

Expected overnight low, 31.  We’re in a hotel.

 

Happy Birthday Judy!

 

A celebration at Matt’s house

 

With Judy’s birthday buddy Ayla. 

 

Ayla was born on Judy’s 70^th birthday so it was a joint celebration.

 

Ayla just turned six.