November 2024
11/23
around the sun we go
Hey Dad,
Happy b-day (eve). Anything new since we last talked? How's the health holding up? What are your thoughts on the latest election cycle? I try not to pay attention but it's hard not to.
No major life changes here in the last four+ months. Highlight was easily our Alaska trip, which was successful. We flew into Anchorage and were there a few days, took a day to recover, hiked, figured out groceries, checked out the natural museum and took a trolley tour with a very entertaining actor-turned-driver. Weather in Anchorage those first couple days was pretty wet, chilly and miserable. Fortunately it cleared up on the last day enough for us to have our planned seaplane adventure. Our pilot flew out into the mountains with a pit stop in a secluded lake. She was surprised to see fresh snow on some of the mountains, which she said signalled the start of winter (in August!). Then we drove down to Seward, stayed at a quaint Airbnb on these nice folks' property, did some hiking and took a boat tour, and saw tons of wildlife including a young humpback whale, although we couldn't get super close. Then back to Anchorage for a couple more nights and a little more sightseeing.
Boone tried soccer this fall and appears to be sticking with it now, but he has a lot of catching up to do if he's going to get serious. He's getting tall quick, maybe 5'5" by now. Grace is busy with schoolwork and school plays. She's had a boyfriend since before summer and they seem to be going really well, though his mom frequently grounds him and takes his phone away. She's gotten her permit so I've been letting her drive when we have the opportunity; Liz is still too nervous taking her out, so it's on me for now. Krystina is trying rockclimbing (she really enjoyed the rockclimbing summer camp she had) and swimming lessons once a week, and Christian is doing swimming twice a week. Krystina is also taking piano lessons, and we'll probably start Christian after winter break as he's expressed interest.
Garden's been neglected the last few months, mainly because the deer found their way in and I've just been waiting for the cold to kill stuff back before I get to work. I know the adjustments I'm going to make that I think will do a better job keeping them out. Instead of the facade of obstacles behind the fence (which they eventually learned to navigate around), there will be an impenetrable obstacle behind the fence, namely a second fence. That said, they left my pepper plants alone so now I'm thinking I can grow those unprotected (except from rabbits when small), and I've been throwing the hot ones on my pizzas for some kick. We got a huge harvest of figs in late July and August off our two large trees, and the past couple weeks we've been enjoying a modest harvest of Fuyu persimmons, although the raccoons got some. If you've never had one, they're hard to describe flavor-wise, but they look like large orange tomatoes, and have a crisp texture like an apple, but denser (not as juicy).
Nothing's changed work-wise. This month I've started going into the office on Fridays. I realized a month ago that I had a lot of time off that I needed to use before the end of the year, so I've been taking days off here and there, taking this Monday and Tuesday off (the other guys beat me to Wed and Fri). I took a few days off earlier in the month around Election Day; the kids also had two days off then, and I went through Christian and Krystina's room with them getting rid of a lot of old toys and books, and cleaning out the mess that was Krystina's desk. Also went through Boone's room which was long overdue. The one day I had to myself I basically gutted the garage and filled up the minivan with junk and took it to the dump. The garage is in really great shape, and now I won't have to worry about purging the house around Christmas because it's already done.
Did you get a chance to see Jupiter? My friend Tim (who's really into astronomy and has a serious telescope) pointed it out to me and that it's been exceptionally close to Earth.
---
Emailed above to Dad.
around the sun we go
Hey Dad,
Happy b-day (eve). Anything new since we last talked? How's the health holding up? What are your thoughts on the latest election cycle? I try not to pay attention but it's hard not to.
No major life changes here in the last four+ months. Highlight was easily our Alaska trip, which was successful. We flew into Anchorage and were there a few days, took a day to recover, hiked, figured out groceries, checked out the natural museum and took a trolley tour with a very entertaining actor-turned-driver. Weather in Anchorage those first couple days was pretty wet, chilly and miserable. Fortunately it cleared up on the last day enough for us to have our planned seaplane adventure. Our pilot flew out into the mountains with a pit stop in a secluded lake. She was surprised to see fresh snow on some of the mountains, which she said signalled the start of winter (in August!). Then we drove down to Seward, stayed at a quaint Airbnb on these nice folks' property, did some hiking and took a boat tour, and saw tons of wildlife including a young humpback whale, although we couldn't get super close. Then back to Anchorage for a couple more nights and a little more sightseeing.
Boone tried soccer this fall and appears to be sticking with it now, but he has a lot of catching up to do if he's going to get serious. He's getting tall quick, maybe 5'5" by now. Grace is busy with schoolwork and school plays. She's had a boyfriend since before summer and they seem to be going really well, though his mom frequently grounds him and takes his phone away. She's gotten her permit so I've been letting her drive when we have the opportunity; Liz is still too nervous taking her out, so it's on me for now. Krystina is trying rockclimbing (she really enjoyed the rockclimbing summer camp she had) and swimming lessons once a week, and Christian is doing swimming twice a week. Krystina is also taking piano lessons, and we'll probably start Christian after winter break as he's expressed interest.
Garden's been neglected the last few months, mainly because the deer found their way in and I've just been waiting for the cold to kill stuff back before I get to work. I know the adjustments I'm going to make that I think will do a better job keeping them out. Instead of the facade of obstacles behind the fence (which they eventually learned to navigate around), there will be an impenetrable obstacle behind the fence, namely a second fence. That said, they left my pepper plants alone so now I'm thinking I can grow those unprotected (except from rabbits when small), and I've been throwing the hot ones on my pizzas for some kick. We got a huge harvest of figs in late July and August off our two large trees, and the past couple weeks we've been enjoying a modest harvest of Fuyu persimmons, although the raccoons got some. If you've never had one, they're hard to describe flavor-wise, but they look like large orange tomatoes, and have a crisp texture like an apple, but denser (not as juicy).
Nothing's changed work-wise. This month I've started going into the office on Fridays. I realized a month ago that I had a lot of time off that I needed to use before the end of the year, so I've been taking days off here and there, taking this Monday and Tuesday off (the other guys beat me to Wed and Fri). I took a few days off earlier in the month around Election Day; the kids also had two days off then, and I went through Christian and Krystina's room with them getting rid of a lot of old toys and books, and cleaning out the mess that was Krystina's desk. Also went through Boone's room which was long overdue. The one day I had to myself I basically gutted the garage and filled up the minivan with junk and took it to the dump. The garage is in really great shape, and now I won't have to worry about purging the house around Christmas because it's already done.
Did you get a chance to see Jupiter? My friend Tim (who's really into astronomy and has a serious telescope) pointed it out to me and that it's been exceptionally close to Earth.
---
Emailed above to Dad.