The New Year

New Year's eve was OK for the most part.  Kim had a really good day at the resort finally.  She has only worked four days since the end of summer so this was certainly a great thing for us.  We played games with the Grandkids and I read to them.  The game was 'Life.'  I know that is a really old game and I had never played it prior.  But it turned out to be pretty fun with the Grands.  I read to them from a book I bought online.  It is one that was an introduction for me on Texas History when I was in third grade.  I already knew a considerable amount about Texas, we all did back then, but this book piqued my interest even more.  So I thought might be a good thing for the Grands.  It is fiction, I don't think a non fiction book would work as well for their age.  Johnny Texas, can it have a better name? It is out of print but I found quite a few used ones online.  So I picked one up.  The oldest seems to be following pretty well, but the Grandson seems to get bored after a bit.  He has a lot of energy at 6 years old and this may be a bit to slow for him.  Anyway, I am enjoying it and maybe one day they will remember this time.

It did not rain as I had hoped for on NYE.  It was pretty quiet, more so than usual up until about an hour before midnight.  Then the racket started to get heavy.  Yes, midnight was as bad as it's ever been and went on for another couple hours.  I can live with the midnight celebrations but two hours after?  That is a PITB and totally inconsiderate.  I know some of the biggest offenders have dogs too and don't understand how they can put them through that.  Jack Wagons.

I got in the way of Buster's jaws the other day.  Totally my fault.  The UPS guy delivered a package on the front porch and Buster went nuts doing his job keeping us alerted and safe.  Usually when this happens I put him out back so he won't be tempted to run out the front door as he has in the past. This time I got lazy and made him go over to the wife instead while I was just gong to reach out the door and pick up the package.  Well he was much to amped up from that bad guy being on his porch.  I didn't see him turn and come to the door as I opened it and he charged out.  I grabbed him and in his excitement he got my forearm.  Bled like a stuck pig and hurt like heck.  He got me good.  You might think he shouldn't have done that and I agree totally.  But I also knew how he zones out when he is protecting us.  I have had similar things happen before but nothing like this and it is rare.  Even though it pissed me off I totally blame myself. 

A lot of folks have said things about how bad this past year was and are looking forward to a better 2017.  Not sure why they think this one was worse than usual.  It does seem there were a lot more celebrity deaths that made the news.  Several big names recently made it seem worse maybe.  The electioneering was certainly remarkable and may have added to that sense of 'bad.'  I am not sure I agree that it was worse than most others in recent history.  While looking at it from a personal standpoint we can all point to various things that stick out for ourselves.  Financial woes, health issues, deaths in the family etc.  It's all a matter of perspective, what affected each of us personally will determine how we look at the world.  For us, we have had better times financially, especially with Kim's business changes this last year.  Our health is always a concern these days but we neither one had to have surgery or anything remotely close.  My parent issues and the frustration there were probably the biggest stress for us, and it isn't over yet, as they are in the process of moving again.  All in all it's just life to me, I don't break it down year to year most of the time.

Kim has a BIG birthday number coming up this year.  I was teasing her that she would officially be 'old.'  She wasn't having it.  She has never had a party for her birthday since we have been together, so maybe this is the year.  I have a little less than 2 months to figure this out.

Happy Trails