Notes From the Aerie

We had a couple of days of warmish weather earlier this week. It was warmer down in the valley where virtually all the snow has melted away. Here, at the Aerie, where we are on the northeast side of the hill and at 2100 feet elevation, the snow was reduced but not totally removed. What was eight inches has become no more than an inch, maybe an inch and a half.

That warm weather has disappeared and been replaced by two days where the high at the Aerie was just shy of the 30 degree mark. If we could only see the sun once more.... It's been overcast and cloudy since...well, I can't remember when. Might have been sunny last week sometime. Briefly.

The Winter Solstice will occur this weekend, December 21, 6:03 P.M. EST. The period from sun rise to sun set--the "day"--will reach its shortest. Starting on the 22nd, daylight hours will get a little longer each day. I'm certainly looking forward to that.

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After eight years in the Aerie, I finally got around to putting a mailbox out by the front door. We get our mail delivered to a PO Box down the hill and have ever since before we moved in. (We took one look at the last 40-50 yards of the road leading up to our driveway and decided NOT to put the mail deliverer on the spot during the winter. It's shady and about a 30-35 degree slope that would be hell for a 2-wheel drive vehicle, which is what she was driving at the time. That's also why Terry has two vehicles: a 2-wheel drive Aveo and a 4x4 Jeep.)

The only "mail" we get at the door is in the form of packages from UPS and FedEx. That and the invoice from the propane deliveryman when he makes a stop. He has been jamming the invoice in the crack of the front door. And every time he does, I worry that the wind will, one day, blow the bill away. So, I finally bought a small mailbox and spent some time Wednesday attaching it to the post at the top of the front steps.

Less than an hour after I finished installing the mailbox, I heard the "beep, beep, beep" of a truck backing into the driveway. Sure enough, the propane truck was here! When he was done, the bill--and the complimentary calendar--were placed in the new mailbox. I love it when a plan comes together!

BTW, the propane was a mere $2.20 per gallon. On October 15th the price was $2.40. That doesn't match the drop in gasoline prices (down to $2.70/gal for regular) but it's still a plus.

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Christmas is coming! It may not be white Christmas here at the Aerie. (It WON'T be white if we should get at least one day of sunshine. How 'bout it? Can we get just one before Christmas?) It certainly will not be a White Christmas where Terry and I are heading. We're going to Anaheim on Monday to spend Christmas with Jessica, Rick and Sandy at Disneyland. We fly out on Monday while Rick and Sandy fly south from Portland on Tuesday.

Jess lives two blocks away and works at the park, but will be with us at the hotel in the park. She will be our personal guide and has already made reservations for a couple of the special events and meals.

I've never been in Disneyland and Terry hasn't been in the park since she was around 10 years old. There have been a few changes since. I'm really looking forward to the visit. It's the flights to and from I am not looking forward to.

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Reading the news these past few weeks has done nothing to improve my blood pressure or my opinion of a sizable portion of the human race. I don't dare turn the TV news on for fear of yelling and screaming at the screen--or worse.

Even watching sports has become something of a risk. When football players and basketball players promote false narratives ("Hands Up" and "I can't breath") which promote nothing but devisiveness, it burns me up. They are (well) payed to play a game, for God's sake! NOT to push some political and or social agenda.

The same is true for actors and actresses. When an actor steps up to a microphone to espouse some political drivel totally devoid of reality or common sense, or makes the news because of some drunken, drug fueled behavior, that person's performance on the stage or screen might be the greatest in the world, I still won't be able to stomach it. In the back of my head I see/hear the idiot rather than the savant.

Enough of a rant. Time to close for tonight.