Happy New Year!

Christmas worked out pretty well. We did Christmas Eve with B's grandpa and mom at PF Changs and did a present exchange and play pool at B's grandpa's house afterwards. Dinner at Sharon's on Christmas Day was also nice, but we're noticing it's starting to get more difficult for her. We may start taking her and Denise out for Christmas dinner starting next year because it's cutting into hangout/talking and isn't as relaxing as it used to be. Ro got almost everything he wanted for Christmas though he's starting to question more seriously if Santa is real. I'm trying to move him into the "open secret" direction. We'll see how it goes. Ro got a new football, Arthur (PBS cartoon) sock set, Peanuts comics, and gift cards. He's been trying to find an excuse to grab anyone he can to go out and throw around his football. Everyone got petanque bags in their stockings. Santa also gave B a measuring stick and light-up cochenette, but B and Ro forgot whose stocking those came in so they've been assuming they're Ro's. Oh well. I spent Christmas week trying to get everything in order with the Jeep so it would be ready for the drive to Tehachapi and the bird counts we usually go to in January. I finished the coolant flush and replaced the thermostat to get the air temps to 100 degrees, which isn't awesome but better than freezing. I may just need a new heater core, but I'll look into how easy that is to switch. I kept bumping the top overflow hose when I moved the air intake without realizing it so it leaked really badly at first, but that got figured out quickly. I was going to drive to work on Monday Christmas week, but then saw I got a flat tire. So I took the Jeep in to Good Guys, got a full check with a brake check and flat tire repair, and found out that my rear brakes needed to be changed and that I needed all four new tires because they were old (2017). So, I bought all terrain tires in case it turned out there would be snow in Tehachapi as well as getting the rear brakes. Everything works pretty well now, but I need to check some cosmetic stuff and look into the heater core replacement. Ro had received a refurbished iPad from B's uncles last year. He then must have accidentally stepped on it or something when he left it in his bed because he shattered the top touchscreen and cracked the thicker LCD underneath. ScreenBros (or similar) said it would cost $230 to fix and a new iPad 11 was going to cost $330, so Ro was bummed to have to buy a new one before our trip (next paragraph). He had enough money to buy it, stayed angry through lunch with Mandy since we didn't have time to turn it on and get it set up, and then was happier afterwards when he realized that it was a lot faster than his old one. He finally got the rugged case for it the other day, and was really careful everywhere we went until then. I still need to finish the bookshelf set in Ro's room. I was going to do all the cabinet work myself, but I think I'm just going to buy a set from Ikea. Three lower kitchen cabinets and then bookshelves for the top screwed into the wall should work well. So far it's still the base that I built after removing the carpet underneath to replaced the damage carpet and pad from accidentally leaving Torstein in the spareroom. When that gets done, I'm goint to look at putting in a murphy bed in the spare room. No one has been coming over lately and it's just been a clean clothes repository. Ideally, I could put in a crafting table for multi-use and still make it up better as a den/craft room. New Years Eve/Day was pretty low key and we made it out to stay in Hollister during to first weekend of January. The Pinnacles NP Christmas Bird Count was cancelled and we found out later we should have gone to the park anyways because it was still pretty outside. We went to visit B's great aunt for lunch in Aptos (the one we got the retired barn cat from in Sept 2024) instead. On Sunday, it was raining pretty hard during the morning, but we drove out to Elkhorn Slough and went on a nice loop hike. I had gone out last August for work and told them there was a neat hike to a bridge, but accidentally led them the long way around the loop to get to it. I think they were joking when they said it was pretty anti-climactic. I thought it was pretty. I still need to figure out what bird we saw there that would glide around and then practically face-plant into the water to fish. Usually birds are more graceful than that. On Monday, we made it out to the Panoche Valley Christmas Bird Count and were tossed into a group with three experienced birders that were a lot of fun to hang out with. No condors, but we did see a prarie falcon. There were other people counting that I have been working with lately on permit compliance. One asked if I had a chance to talk later - I assumed it would be something off the record for work - and then they never approached me so I may have dodged a bullet. It seems like petanque playing has gotten more serious. There's a tournament coming up in February. I got asked by one person to play on a women's doubles team and someone else to play on a mixed doubles team. This morning was a little hectic because both were fighting to practice with me. I just hope my arm doesn't fall off after the tournament. Ro has been playing really well and just needs to get better at listening to teammate instructions. B bought his own set of petanque boules to put in his new bag. Other than petanque, Ro did a California conservation day camp last week that was free with the Fresno Parks and Rec program. They had four days of classroom work and the last day was a trip out on a boat to Millerton Lake and then the Friant fish hatchery. He said they saw three bald eagles and he had a lot of fun. There were only six kids in the group and four adults to keep everyone corralled. The instructors said that they usually get 14 kids into the class, but it wasn't advertised very well this time. I get it since it seemed like it was only advertised for a week on Instagram. I think that's what's been happening. I'm leaving out the feelings on purpose because my mind has been bogged down with processing wtf is happening in Minneapolis. If you haven't already, I hoped you called Ev. I love you and miss you.