Good News: The democracy survived the January 6 attack and we've survived the pandemic (thus far)!
Bad News: Half the country attempted a coup and 800,000 people have died of Covid.
Very Good News: Nanette and I have been together for 4 years now and are still going strong.
We avoided contracting Covid thanks to vaccinations, boosters, facemasks, Readisorb Glutathione, chickens, vizsla, breadmaking, and refurbishing gutars, cars and typewriters,.
We said goodby to the Covid chickens in October a little prematurely with the advent of Omicron now. Their new home is in Pacifica overlooking the ocean. Sixty two dozen eggs total produced in a year and a half. They nicely fertilized and cultivated the back yard which enabled the lawn to return in just 2 months. Their names are Blackie, Red Tail and White Tale. We saw first hand the pecking order. Redtail was at the bottom of the order and white tale at the top. .Here's a picture of Nanette with her flock.
Nanette's son Stefan is enjoying life working at Trader Joe's.
Her son Joe and his partner Mariah doing a facial. This is the only picture I have of Mariah which should encourage her to send me something better. Joe is nearing the end of hispHD program at UC San Diego. Rock climbing is his passion.
We spent a lot of Friday nights at Howie's including Nanette's Birthday in early December. Here is Nanette, Glista and Anne somewhat distorted due to an unflattering wide angle shot. I made the Mrs. Topelman chocolate cake in the middle.
Anjanette and Adam on the beach in Mexico in November enjoying life.
Anjanette was assigned an interesting case involving canine deaths that became very impactful due to her thorough investigation. It made front page news in the local weekly.
Anjanette acquired an English bulldog puppy which she has named Miyagi. Her partner Adam has a dachshund named Booray almost the same age being spoiled by Nanette here.
Anjanette and Adam took me to a sold out 49er Game. Talk about a super spreader event. I glued my mask to my face.
Cameron changed jobs twice and is now working in a bigger Motorcycle dealership in Sacramento. He and Cynthia have moved into a house with a big garage there as of December 1.
Hunter was neutered to calm him down but, it mostly caused weight gain.
Kids were all in town for Thanksgiving celebration. Here's Tim and Cameron; Glista and Cameron's partner Cynthia piping the pumpkin pie.
Thanksgiving at Nanette's. Glista, Tim, Anjanette and her partner Adam. It was an occasion for thanks giving.
Grand Nephew, Owen, was born to Kristin and Kevin at the end of last year, the first addition to the Holler Family in a while.
Jan's son, Bryan and his partner Sarah bought a house in Seattle this year. Here they are with their little Burmese Mountain Dog. They enjoy skiing between home improvement projects.
Got rid of the 1980 Triumph TR7 dog and bought this 1973 Porsche 914 to restore which turned out to be Mark's most significant accomplishment for the year. Turned it into a daily driver with Cameron's help to put in a rebuilt 2.0L engine after the original 1.7L engine dropped a valve in the first 70 miles. This project took from February through August and is know on hold waiting for better painting compatible weather. Meanwhile its been a gas to drive it though the peninsula hills. .
Porsche 914 from Idaho, 7 years in the redwoods of Cazadaro, on arrival at 811. All wheel frozen disc brakes keeping it on the trailer.
Below, Cameron and I rejoicing just after pulling the engine, transmission and exhaust out of the car all in one piece. A dream Father/Son Project. He is a skilled mechanic with 8 years of experience now working at the biggest Motorcycle dealership in Sacramento.
Here he is with the engine on the engine stand.
Brianna and Nate are doing well in Boston.
Briana graduated with her Doctorate in Pharmacy from Northeastern and landed a great job at Pfizer developing marketing collateral for some of their products. Nate Graduated Last year but due to Covid and no vaccines yet there was no ceremony. He got to wear Bri's mortar board this year as a consolation. He also received a Medal.
Their two cats are very cute.
I refurbished an old sideboard found on the curb which Hunter has mistaken for a doghouse.
Nanette spoiled Hunter enjoying another new priviledge. Only one time is required to embed a luxury like this into his brain's list of lifetime expected entitlements.
Nanette Grew a bumper crop of tomatoes again this year, setting new records. She also grew a major crop of onions in the early Spring before tomato planting.
I refurbished and improved a 1960s custom 12 string hollow body electric guitar that was underdesigned and had a broken neck. It required some structural enhancements and a lot of glue. It sounds sweet and even holds a tune. . Lots of practising almost an hour a day. I plan to add some mp3 examples here but, you're safe for now.
Acquired and refurbished a couple old typewriters which spawned the idea to write some post democracy fiction. In the process of educating myself about how to write fiction I took the recommendation to start a journal which I use the Royal typewriter for almost daily. Following the political chaos and of the 2020 election has produced a lot of epiphanies which make good expository writing practice. If I were a republican fiction writing would be more natural. I think there must be at least one page of insights I should post here but, I'm not sure what's the point. One of the epiphanies is that conservatives don't subscribe to reason, its too weak a force in the face of natural selection events, which is as good an explanation as any for why they survive, that and their guns and propensity for violence.
Like the political fiction writing, a project to build a bitcoin mining server is still on the runway.
We have engaged in other age appropriate activities like bird watching. I welded up a couple birdfeeders following my Grandfather's design.
Diane and Mikael on a trip to Filoli often followed by lunch at the Alpine Inn. (Rosatti's)
Mikael and Diane hosted a fantastic vertical wine tasting of all 15 years of the Camalie Wines. A wonderful closure to our winemaking adventure.
It's appropriate as Mikael personally filled the last bottle on March 25th 2017. The vineyard and our (Ramon and my) grape growing prowess were belatedly recognized this year.
Figs from the two Fig trees in the back yard and one of Nanette's big onions.
Home Sweet Home. No vineyard but, that's OK. Don't need one with 100 cases of wine still left to drink.
If you made it this far you have too much time on your hands like Mark. Happy Holidays! Mark and Nanette.
Last edited 12/22/21 M.H. The Family Website
Note there is no advertising, subscription, application download required, cookie storage or AI monitoring your clicks and dwell times on this site. It is served by a computer in my office.