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Merry Skype Christmas

 We spent hours with the kids and grandkids this morning.     The kids just let us hang out.  If all the activity moved to another room, someone would go back to get mom and dad on the laptop and bring them along. My big present for the year was a new scope.  To go birding all you need are binoculars, camera, and good walking shoes.  If you can get *good* binoculars and a *good* camera, so much the better.  A good scope is a bonus, but now I have that too!  J  It’s a Vortex Optics Razor HD with an 85mm objective lens. Judy’s present this year was a Digi scoping attachment that just happens to fit my new scope.  The smart phone clips into this side. And this side clips onto the eyepiece of the scope.If we find something really cool, we can take photos right through the high-quality optics of the scope with a phone! Oh.  And Judy got that other present for Christmas; the new fridge. Becky got a new Roomba vacuum cleaner but there wasn’t enough room to try it out since Christmas threw up in their living room. Santa Henry came to play at our house.  This year we put the Christmas Tree in the outside living room. Merry Christmas all.  
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Way South Texas Christmas

 We’re far from most of our family, but it’s a busy time for get-togethers here. Hors d’oeuvres for dinner at the Sandpipers Christmas Party.  Made some ice cream for Sunday’s Christmas Dinner at Gary and Lysette’s/Roy and Kathy’s and got it in the freezer.  Warm weather; people coming and going; exchanging holiday wishes.  Listened to live music at Pub-nite.  Went out by the pool and listened from outside the building.  Not quite as loud out there.  Listened to the rest of the concert from the hot tub.  Went home and made some cranberry sauce and put it in the fridge.  Watched a lot of football today.  Go Broncos (tomorrow).  Maybe they’ll find their missing offense for Christmas. Skyped with our daughter and family while they decorated their tree and opened their Christmas Eve presents (pajamas). Tomorrow we get to open presents here! Merry Christmas everyone!  
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Remember that problem with the wheeled cart we bought to put the smoker on?

 http://steveandjudystravelblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/here-is-problem.html After a month of vinegar treatments, bleach, and coffee grounds, it still smelled too bad to use, so we had given up and just left it outside to age for another month. Well, after two months, Judy had had enough waiting, so she bought a spray can of Kilz paint formulated for plastic.  It blocks stains and seals odors.  She sprayed the top tray, the smelliest part and even sprayed some of the rest of the cart. That worked!  It doesn’t smell bad anymore.  The wheeled smoker cart is now resting properly under the smoker in the grilling and smoking bunker outside! All is in order. 
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The Winter solstice is behind us

 From these shortest days of winter we start working our way back to the long days of summer again, and who doesn’t look forward to those long summer days. Well, much as we love summer, we also appreciate the shorter days of winter.  We have our evening rituals that don’t start until we’ve come inside for the day.  If it’s warm and comfortable and light outside until 9 o’clock at night, we don’t come inside and settle down early enough to get through talking, email, television, and foot-rubbing, and still get to bed before midnight!  
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December 21st

 Happy Winter everyone! It has been cold here.  We even woke to temperatures in the 30s once recently.  It has warmed since then.  We’re forecast for Christmas Day weather in the 80s.  We could go to the beach.  Remember when you were a kid and got the giggles; something was funny to begin with, then it just got funnier and funnier and you couldn’t stop laughing?  OMG that happened to Judy and me last night.  That last little bit of conversation as you’re falling asleep; one of us said something silly and made the other one laugh.  Then the other one said something even sillier in response.  Pretty soon we were both laughing so hard because we were laughing so hard; a perpetual motion machine. We didn’t have any parents around to yell at us to tone it down.  Left to our own willpower to contain the hilarity, it didn’t go back in the bottle easily.  Who knew that could still happen?  It was as if we were both stoned, but to my knowledge neither of us was. No falling asleep early last night; we were awake until after midnight getting settled down again.