The Neverending Vacation

Hi! Remember me? Unlike many other teachers, my district gives three weeks off for the Christmas Break instead of two, so I am still lollygagging at home until the 12th day of this month. I guess "lollygagging" wouldn't be the word, as I have been tackling a monster To-Do list this week while my wife is back at her teaching job, and my kids are at pre-school. Yesterday, I had out the asphalt cement and the caulking gun as I sealed a hole in our rain gutter and installed some hand-fabricated (by me) sheet metal flashing on some exposed rafters that stick out of the side of our house and into the elements. You don't want dry rot getting a foothold there! I also installed a ceiling fan in my daughter's bedroom, but I can't get the lights to work, even though the blades turn fine. Ugh.

Today, I will be picking up red volcanic rock from our front area that we are redoing, and then I will be patching and painting some small holes in our walls. I made the holes a few months ago when we were hanging things and then we changed our mind as to where to hang. That left us with holes. If there is time, I will also be cleaning our back patio with my new gas-powered blower that my mother-in-law was kind enough to get me for Christmas!

So this last week is work work work at home, but I sure had fun for the first two weeks of this break! During the first week of the break, a family friend and I took our sons to my friend's grandparents' 2,000 acre ranch in the Sierra foothills east of Stockton. There are ponds dotting the landscape where we caught a couple fish and there are roads where we drove along the property and took in the sights. The ranch is in that part of the foothills I love where you feel like you are in a Steinbeck novel: Grassy rolling hills that undulate with spurs and draws, and are dotted with oak trees. Here are some pictorial examples:










Not a bad way to spend a December day.

Good Day to You, Sir