The sky spit a few flakes of snow at me during the trail walk this morning. As warm as it’s been, none of it is expected to stick. Water is slowly draining from the watershed back into Lake Macbride. Perhaps the worst of the drought is past. Fingers crossed.
We are in that time between Christmas and New Year’s Day, a time to take stock of the preceding year and look toward the future. For as much time alone as I’ve had, I’m way behind. I wrote a 2023 Highlights post back in November, yet I need something more to bring closure.
This was a tough year financially. We hope things will lighten up in 2024. In 2022 we had to replace the car and the freezer. It turned out one could not get new parts for a 20-year old automobile. In 2023, the big expenses got worse, including three major appliances, the HVAC system, and the septic tank pump. The result of these physical plant failures was we took two loans and are paying down our credit card balance. The good news is these repairs should last a while. The washer and dryer are likely to be the soonest needing another placement. The last ones we bought lasted about twelve years, according to the receipt. There should be time to catch a breath.
The main non-writing work this week is planning the garden. The seed orders usually have gone in by now, so I’m behind here as well. There will be a significant expense in hardware in 2024 as I develop the deer fencing better than it was this year. The portable greenhouse wore a hole next to the zipper, so it needs replacing. Getting this done will be the main part of a single day.
Seems like there is a lot to be planned for 2024. Maybe if I set some New Years Resolutions… no, that never works. I may have to wing it while hoping for the best. There have been worse times.
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