Old year, new year

Part of me wants to say good riddance to the old year, but I really don't want to rush things along too fast at this age. It's time to take down the holiday desecrations decorations and clean up the mess in anticipation of making another one. We will undress our 9-foot "Christmas" cactus and hope it survives the short days of another winter. Sorry for the picture quality, but you get the idea.


 
I got to do a few new things this year, like have major surgery (I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have to), and starting this thing, whatever it is/turns out to be. Some terrific bloggers stopped blogging, but some new ones have started. A lot of people died, but even more were born, and the planet is still turning on its axis. So while it seems there were a lot of new things going on, it's still the same old, same old on this tiny planet at the edge of our galaxy in an obscure corner of the universe. In our lifetimes the solar system has been pretty reliable and that is a good thing. Just before sunrise this morning it looked like this out the front door.

  Not much snow for this time of year, but it has been considerably warmer than what used to be "normal".

I am thinking about getting into some competitive napping when the activity level drops off during the day. The competition is tough, though (those words are almost the same) with a dozen cats. Here is what I am up against.

Of course, I have to clear off an area, probably on the sofa, to make a kitty-free zone for myself. I often meet with some resistance, but I am bigger than them, although outnumbered. I could send them to the window to watch the bird feeder. Someday I may start a network of cat entertainment channels which could be scenes out windows. I'll call it CATV. It will have to be a subscription channel as I have to make enough to keep the clowder fed. I better go warm up for the competition. I feel a yawn coming on. Gotta rest up for another year. I hope we all make it through. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together, I'm pullin' for ya."

What about what I want?

I have been getting all fired up to start going back to work and was, in fact, going to go in for a couple of hours today. Thought I might just do one last check with the doc so I left a message. A short time later I got a call back and was told in no uncertain terms, "Absolutely not!" Huh? I feel pretty good, mostly, but they said that is just a result of using robotics on the way in. They said they shredded me up well enough that I can consider starting back around the 28th of this month. I'm thinking they probably know more than me about this sort of thing, so I just better go along with it. Just to humor them. 

Just for something to do, now that I am off the serious pain meds, I went to town to get a few things. Nothing over 10 pounds, mind you. It is a small town and after nearly 30 years in the vicinity I know a few people. It has been at least 3 weeks since I have gone out an made social contact, live and in person, with the outside world. So a forty minute round trip to town took about 2 hours because ya know, you have to be polite and talk to people. I stopped at gossip central Buck's Hardware to get a whisk broom and the latest poop from town. One of the advantages of living ten miles out is that I am not usually part of the news, but know most of those who are. Those who know me already know I am "different". It's a Minnesota euphemism that means weird.

Now it is like I have a time limit. There are many things to read, write, play, but I have limits. I feel the need to make good use of this gift of time, but need to fight off the occasional urge to nap. This friends, is my dilemma.

Time is to slow for those who wait,

 And time is to swift for those who fear,

          Time is too long for those who grieve,

                     And time is too short for those that laugh.
-It's a Beautiful Day

Here is the front yard with some fresh frosting. See the ship heading to Duluth?