Pictured are the Xmas presents that we gave our two fur grandbabies. Inky the black cat is shown holding his catnip stuffed banana. He assures me that he can quit anytime he wants. Also shown are the remains of Puck’s dog toy. What color was it when it was a balloon? She obviously had too much fun with her gift. It is past Twelfth-Night now, so Anne and I put Christmas away today, until next time, at the end of this year. There is still the bleakness of the rest of winter to slough through yet, but next week’s winter break should go a long way in alleviating any winter blues that might be still hanging about. Then we will press on regardless and dive into the new year. Our mutual resolution to each other is to work on decluttering the house. After forty years of living in this house, this resolution might constitute more than one year’s worth of effort. Summer travel plans are beginning to firm up too. Yesterday at the Riverlands, we spoke with a young couple who have recently moved to the area from Utah. We ended up swapping stories with them for half-an-hour. We told them about things to see and do around here and they shared new things for us to see and do in Utah. Today though, I had an epiphany. This summer, instead of heading west, we will instead go north. We usually go north to the cabin anyway, but this year instead of a rocket trip drive there, we will instead be taking our time. I am envisioning taking a couple of weeks to drive up the Mississippi to Wisconsin, hang out there and then slowly making our way across the UP to the Soo. Special emphasis will be placed upon camping. Lately on these cross-country road trips we have been doing less and less camping, but this year we will make an extra effort to do so, in part by staying away from big cities. Still a lot of planning yet to do, but that is half the fun of these trips.