It’s the final day of 2022, so this will be the last Pondside post of the year. I am surprised the year went by so quickly, and that I kept up with this blog throughout it. I had my doubts last January, but here we are.

The holidays were a good time up here in the borderlands. Both Elder and Younger Sons came a-visiting just before Christmas. Elder brought along his dog Lady, whom we haven’t seen since last Spring, I think. She’s a very good girl, even though she leaves much of herself behind. I’ve never seen a dog shed so much fur.

It was pretty cold here over the Christmas weekend. Aside from a brief excursion over to Echo Lake for a walk in the 16°F weather, we stayed inside and warm. Good food and drink were enjoyed by all, and I did most of the cooking. I like to cook. I like to eat, too.

Elder Son departed on Monday, and I returned to work midweek for a couple of days. On-the-job time is getting short, as Retirement Day is the first Friday in January. I am looking forward to it, and do think I’m as prepared as I can be after working for almost 50 years. I’m sure there’ll be some surprises along the way, and I’m looking forward to those, too.

Had a small adventure today with Younger Son, who decided to stay with us until New Year’s. Last summer he gave me an entry-level radio-controlled airplane and I had not gotten around to giving it a try. What spawned the gift (I think) was my mentioning that I could be interested in learning more about RC planes. I think he’s trying to find me things to occupy me once retired, as another flying object showed up at Christmas. I’ll talk about that one another time. 

So we decided to go across the street in the 100-acre hayfield to try out the plane. Here’s the rig.

Between Son and I we got the plane flying pretty quickly. After a couple of abortive attempts we got it airborne and kept it there for a while, until I ran it into the telephone wires, knocking the prop off, and bringing down the styrofoam plane quickly, but nearby.

We snapped the prop back on and had it airborne in minutes. I managed to get the plane circling nicely for a bit, and then I tried to climb higher. At this point I screwed up somehow, and the plane began heading north at a high rate of speed, across the road and towards the pond. I don’t know if it outran the range of the controller or I crashed it, but about a quarter mile from where we stood, just before reaching the pond, it went down into the trees.

Making a mental note of the line the plane took into the woods, down the road we walked to see if it could be recovered. Fortunately the snow here is mostly gone, and getting through the woods wasn’t hard. We went in twenty yards or so and came upon a frozen bog on the side of the pond, and Son spotted the plane at the base of a tree.

Not trusting the condition of the ice, it was back to the house to put on the hip boots before attempting to retrieve the bird. I definitely got in the steps today. Of course, once we returned with me sporting the hippers, I walked right out to the crash site and picked up the planes without the ice as much as cracking. Son even spotted the propeller not far from the plane, making the recovery complete. 

That was this day’s excitement. Upon returning to the house I sat on the patio for a while, as it was about 50° and quite comfortable. That’s a rare thing this time of year at 45°N latitude. As darkness approached I moved back into the house, and began to prepare dinner. We decided to have “New Year’s Day dinner” on New Year’s Eve, as Youngest has to return home tomorrow. I like this idea, as we do not go out on New Year’s Eve and the Chinese food in this neck of the woods leaves a lot to be desired. 😆

That’s it for today. The next post will cover what comes next on this blog, as I’ve renewed the WordPress subscription for another year and will have to write about something! Seriously, though, Wife and I have some plans that will kick in soon, and hopefully I’ll find a way to talk about them here.

I’m hoping that all of you have enjoyed this holiday season, and that 2023 will be incredibly better for all of us than the year we exit tonight. That’s not a high bar to set, I know. 

Happy New Year! Thanks for dropping by.