Our updates for all of you

 Yes, I am now retired! 5-months ago. It was weird at first; seemed like I was just off work for a few days.  I had to drive to southern California for most of the month of April, which added to that 'on vacation' feel.  The first long trip in over two years. It was something; gas was very expensive but even more so in California!  I was glad to take our Rav4. I had been planning to take our truck. However, just a week before, we'd taken it in to get checked out, which was a major expense and a wait for the parts, so I took the Toyota. It saved a lot of money, although I planned to take the truck and the small trailer for a room instead of moteling it.  With the high cost of ..... everything!, would it have saved as much as I'd hoped? Probably not in reality, but it worked as it did. As the Rav4 is a hybrid, I was able to get an average of 37 mpg, and that was keeping the adaptive cruise control set about 66 to 69 miles per hour which is plenty fast, even with m...

 Well, since the last post, fall went into winter, and here we are now in February 2022.  This winter has been unlike the previous three winters in this pacific northwest region.  We've actually HAD a winter for a change! Not a lot of snow, as in the 'olden days' but almost two feet of snow overall at our 2,300-foot elevation, and cold enough that the snow/ice is still around almost a month later. With the snow and ice, getting around can be a challenge!! Above: A MUST have  item for here in the North, are things like these "YaxTraxs" I'm wearing to be able to walk on the solid ice, like our driveway below. Snow is usually traction, ice is NOT!! We've been using them for years now and they are well worth the money to keep from being really hurt from slipping on ice. The week or so from Christmas into the new year, it became very cold, like it used to, with a few mornings of below zero temps with highs into the teens.  The night of the 6th of January, we g...