Not much. But we are glad to be home even if that means shoveling snow, scraping ice, and salting first thing in the morning. We had a small puddle in the basement while we were away, and I can not track from whence it came. Windows are dry. Floors up under the ground level windows and drywall are dry. The hot water tank, and water softener are both dry. The drain pipe in the laundry room is dry. I wonder if it just took a couple of days for the excess water from the tank swap out job to finally coalesce into one spot. Would help identify why the water mark was dark. I have triple checked the fittings, and the floors around our water supply and they are all good, at least visually. Bone dry too. The water spouts are all tucked into the drain, though one or two not as deep as I like. But the wall where the water would seep from if that was the case was dry, with no new staining or patching or discolorations. Who knows at this point.
We’ve had a winter’s worth of snow and we aren’t even into January yet. Hardly ten days into actual winter with almost two feet of accumulated snow from all of December, and part of November. If this keeps up I do not know what I am going to do with all this snow. I’ll have to wheel barrow it out of the back yard and onto the front lawn to keep it from getting into the basement. Hell I might have to attempt to pull snow off the roof lest our bungalow cave in under all the additional weight. I know they make tools for that sort of thing, I just don’t know where I’d find one locally. Something to consider, along with a snow blower.
It is likely that we take the tree down tomorrow. But given how cold it is the exterior lights will stay up for quite some time. Not to mention I need the ladder to unwind the trees, and I won’t be doing that until it’s nearly spring, and not minus twenty or below. I am willing to do lots of things, but freeze up in a tree for the sake of a few lights isn’t one of them.
The list of books I read this year goes as follows
1.) Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen which was terrifying yet informative, a quick read if you don’t want to be able to sleep.
2.) Mercy of God’s by James S A Corey a very strong first book for a new intergalactic series which I am excited to grab the second book in April of 2026. Hard cover bay-bee!
3.) Steel Egg (Aliens) by John Shirley. A perfectly reasonable entry into the Aliens novel franchise. Short and Sweet. Adds new extraterrestrial species to the canon. Not bad.
4.) Rogue (Aliens) by Sandy Schofield which was an older book I picked up used, but was a rip roaring tale of space marines, and scientific devilry combined into an action thriller.
5.) Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, which I only got a hundred or so pages into before I got bored and put it down. I may yet come back to it, but I did get over 100 pages into it, so it counts as a “tried to read”. Oddly enough not the first time I’ve tried to read it and given up to read something more up my alley, but I digress. Not bad per se, just not what I was hankering for.
6.) Martian Contingency by Marie Robinette Kowal which was a new entry in the lady astronaut series. It was ok, felt like a link with exposition to a larger or more compelling story. Not as good as the first two or three books that for certain. Alternate history be damned, this meandered and didn’t go anywhere vital. Could have been a perfectly useful short story on her website.
7.) The black box of doom by Jason Pargin. Here’s a good example of a book I wish I had found ten fifteen years ago, as it reads very of the times, and I’m not an anxiety ridden teen, so much of this feels performative to me. Very meme, and Reddit aged bias here. Not my jam, but not bad by any means. I have been moving slowly with this. In fact I put it down in order to read number eight cover to cover over a two day period. So not finished yet, but I haven’t totally given up on it either.
8.) The shattering peace by John Scalzi, which was a very entertaining entry in a series about humanity and aliens out and about in the universe. Fun and snarky. A quick read. Fun times.
Whilst I am disappointed I didn’t get around to the last two Dune books on my shelf, nor the volume seven omnibus for Aliens, or my Gaunts Ghosts omnibus by Dan Abnett, I have those ready and waiting should I feel the urge to go headfirst into some longer reads.
This year end in review post might wind up fairly long. Though I do not intend to show images of all of my projects I will mention I started two sculpts and have not finished either of them. Pictured here.
The Hellboy might even be older than a year, I do not recall. But the fat wasting goblin King is from this year (started anyway). I have an armature waiting for me to process some super sculpey so I can get that going for next year’s fair entry. It will be a permanent version of the wasting goblin King whom is far from complete at this point. Needs his head, arms, clothes, armor, and textures put in place. Need him done so that I can recreate it for my fair entry in ceramics. I’ll have to paint him too.
Speaking of which I painted the Ninja Turtle this year and he went to the fair in place of anything new. I ran out of time, and didn’t have the will to start from scratch on anything else. A big theme this year. Probably why I only made a couple of items in the wood shop in 2025, however I cleaned and organized the hell out of my shop this year. So clean! New racks, new two tier rolling tool chest, new sliding double compound mitre saw, and an upgraded air compressor. While I may not have worked on any specific jobs as much as I would like, I cleaned out the shop, and tossed so much junk it’s not even funny. Now it’s set to press play on my next furniture build. Which might be the end table dog storage for the family room / front door area. Or a desk, or a cubby for Nick knacks for my youngest daughter. Hard to say. I’d like to remove the dog cage as the front door space is tight without that massive wire block taking up all the floor space.
I recently had to pull our garbage box apart on the front porch because the new provincial blue bin program uses a 360L wheelie bin that doesn’t fit the current box. I think it’ll end up in the garage much to my chagrin. It’s huge! Plus I need to buy a new garbage bin, and a new green bin that locks. The whole reason for the bin box was to stop pests from getting into it all. Now they changed what we put to the curb I need to adjust accordingly. Fine.
Cleaning the garage out meant taking a whole lot of wood to the farm for the burn barrel. I once again have a whole lot to take down there once again. It can wait for spring, or a milder day or two in the winter. Think like a zero degree day with blue skies and sunshine. That’s the ticket.
My wife and I went out to see several comedy shows this year. Now that the girls are growing up a bit we can venture out a few times a year just the two of us. It’s bliss. A quiet dinner out by ourselves. A show or two here and there. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m excited to keep it going.
Loads more happened this year what with uncle Fred passing in February, and Great Grandma going in the spring, and any number of new updates with the farm, family, school, work and the like. Too numerous to mention. I hope you all have a great New Years Eve, and a better 2026! Ciao Bella.
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