Seasons Greetings from Nanette and Mark,
Here's what we've been doing this year. Except for Covid-19 and not being able to travel it was a pretty good year.
Below Cirque Du Soleil attendance before Covid was widely spread.
Back Yard Farming: Chickens Tomatos, Pumpkins
The chickens have laid 10 dozen eggs as of December 20 after taking 20 weeks to start. A good stay at home Covid project. Two Golden Comets and one Easter Egger chicken. They have laid 3 eggs per day consistently in December. Eggs Benedict, just one of the many egg dishes we have tried with the glut. Doctor prescribed cholesterol reduction....
Nanette recapturing an escaped chichen.
Tomato Bumper Crop, still yielding in November.
Nanette in her tomato Jungle, 18 plants total. Production some days was 6 lbs. of tomatos.
Proud Cat, AKA Whisky, with garden rodent prey, no longer a threat.
811 Backyard micro-farm, pumpkins, corn, chickens.
And then to complete our farm life emulation Nanette learned how to bake bread in the first few days of her holiday vacation.
Anjanette was acting Palo Alto Chief of Dectectives for a while then back to Robbery/Homicide. I told all my friends. I'm very proud. Below a picture of Anjanette with her partner Adam, workout fanatics , and her Nice new Mercedes AMG Ride.
Sad note: Diesel passed on this year. But the new girl, Miyagi on the right at right was just born and will be ready for pickup in January.
Mariah's Birthday Party. She recently started a job in Covid monitoring at UCSD. Joseph and Mariah. They are also filling up Covid time with care for domestic animals including fostering Guinea Pigs, 2 bunnies and a dog. Their fermentation adventure was cambucha. Joseph bought a new Subaru Outback and is changing his own oil and installing mudflaps, quite impressive for a bio data geek. They go rock climbing when they get bored.
Nate Graduated with a Master's in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Northeastern. He started work full time at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Moved out of his little student apartment into a much nicer place. Ongoing great relationship with Bri. Working from home until next June with the pandemic raging in Boston. Look closely at the picture below and you will see his blind cat Bingly on his lap. Nate and Bri in their "favorite" Christmas attire.
Stefan and Joseph. Stefan is working at Trader Joe's and was recently 1 of 3 awarded an essential worker bonus of $500. His longevity there has accumulated some significant 401K savings.
Joe at UCSD in the third year of his bioinformatics pHD.
Cameron Moved out to Tracy where he shares a 3 bedroom town house with coworker, Tad, for a very reasonable price compared to the Bay area. Together they have 14 motorcycles which fill up their two car garage and a few slots at work. His girlfriend in Sacramento is Cynthia. He is still working at Cal Moto but, in Livermore now. Below is Cameron posing on his BMW S1000R track bike.
I cleaned, painted and sold a lot of Cameron's vehicles on Craigslist this year so he could buy the bike he really wanted which he did, a BMW 1200GS
Guitar building and finishing, Telecaster and Gibson 335. Lessons learning lead from Alan Bendit. Wrote a protest song about our President; "Old Donald". Added high fidelity audio recording (Zoom recorder) and editing with Cubase to my studio. Also video recording and editing.
Home Improvements:
| New Garage Roof and Gutters, Rotted back wall boards replaced | 2020 | |
| Palm Tree in back yard cut down, Chicken Coop installed there | 2020 |
Triumph TR7 restoration abandoned after taking it for a drive, what a dog. Invested $2900 +100 hours labor, got $2200 for it. It did have a nice look from one side. It would never pass smog. Sold it to a farmer in Modesto who planned to drive it around country roads where he knew the Sheriff. Found it in a driveway while walking the dog and made an offer of $500.
Sold the Boxter S after 20 years of ownership since the millenium. Saw the engine only once. It was a great car performance wise but, not one to work on or easily maintain due to its mid engine. The convertible roof leaked and resulted in a soaked floor and wet electronics which flaked out periodically.
House with fall colors showing and treasured 1968 Volkswagen. Volkswagen after this year's improvements, Mostly Paint, Front Turn Signals. This is a sports car with a 2 liter modified engine, Cameron's doing. Fun to drive. Loud.
Sheriff Hunter Killer in the VW before the paint restoration.
Thanksgiving minimal gathering with the kids but, went well.
Books read, Newman-Winning, Rage(Trump by Bernstein), The Birth of Loud(Fender, Gibson), Rocks(Joe Perry)
Nanette, very photogenic. Hunter not bad either.
Outdoor dinner at Taverna. Best lamb chops in town.
Lots of Lunches with friends, Tim, Alan, Ken, Forrest, Some virtual, Marty, Hal, Keith, Jim, George Kis, George Ko....
Below is Dr. Tim Guilford inventor of Lipposomal Glutathion which shows promise for reducing symptoms of Covid 19 which depletes glutathion in multiple ways. See "Glutathione Supplementation as an Adjunctive Therapy for Covid-19" in Antioxidants, 9/25/20. I have found it reduces influenza and cold symptoms as well. I keep a stockpile ready. .
Covid 19 avoidance (Not a highlight) but, then there's the Vaccine Highlight Music video by my guitar teacher and Rock Star, Alan Bendit.
Donald Trump: Loser. Democracy Winner (Big Highlights)
Last edited 12/20/20 M.H. The Family Website