Here we are. The last day of 2024. The year started with me fretting about the need for surgery, A big surgery by most measures to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Finally deciding on the date, then having the surgery mid-March. Seven stents fixed all the broken bits. In July, I was told everything looked good, and they’d see me next year. That’s half a year gone, while interspersed with thoughts of mortality..

I’m back. Took some time off for Christmas and healing. The latter was needed because a small bug attacked me the day after Christmas. It laid me low, and my daughter, and now my son-in-law. I feel nearly healed today. I can breathe again, and my cough is only occasional. It's weird being sick away from home but I’m finding my way.

The big trip is off to a good start. Our small army of a family hit DC yesterday and immediately set off in multiple directions to see multiple sites. We have lots of first time visitors to our nation's capital and they all had things they wanted to see–The Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Museum of US History, the Mall, the Capital, the monuments. We rode the Metro like veterans, bundled up against the cold, ate dinner together, and had a boys and girls night out. It was glorious.

It’s a clear, cold morning. The sort of morning that makes me wish for a fire. But my fireplace doesn’t draw. A construction oversight left us with a firebox that is too small. My bad.

If life consists of small victories, then I achieved one yesterday. A victory so small as to go unnoticed by anyone but me, and you, now that I’m telling the tale.

I like going into my back lots at night and looking at the stars. It’s dark in the lots and we’re still country enough that light pollution is at a minimum. So, the night sky is starlit. I also like checking in on my little porch bird, huddled up at the top of its pole, sound asleep.

The pump house is coming along. It turns out I have more tin than I imagined. Plus, I’m making do with what I have so, old fence slats are filling in where needed.