End of 2007

Happy News Year!

My brother and I spent New Years Eve with my mom at Manor Care. Our neighbors came up to celebrate with us. Each year we have gotten together to play Skip-Bo, eat snacks, drink some wine, and ring in the New Year.

This year we did all except drink wine and stay up to midnight. The neighbors decided to call it a night and leave before 11 pm. It is hard to stay up late when you are around 80 and now on oxygen. Ten or so years ago we would stay up all night until almost dawn.

My brother and I stayed until midnight and rang in the new year with mom before returning home on a cold night. The wind was blowing and the temperature was minus one.

What a year. One for the history books. It was a very good year.

• My uncles came to visit.
• My friend Brian came to visit.
• Theresa (Ruby) discovered my blog, and she and her husband stopped by for a visit when they visited Montana and Glacier Park.
  
• I re-did fences and fixed the sign and pole over my driveway's entrance.
  
• sprayed more weeds than ever.
• caught enough gophers that it looks like they are (finally) on the decline.
• my cattle only made two minor jailbreaks.
  
• had a summer romance, and even though she ended it suddenly and on a puzzling note, was fun while it lasted.
• hiked more than ever in a year, and many new and great places, with lots of people including Brian, Colleen, and my hiking group. In October Joyce added up the miles she had hiked and it came to over 200 miles. I hiked most of the same hikes she had done plus many more. Some day I will sit down and add up the miles I had hiked, but I am sure it is well over 200 miles and may be around 300 miles for the year.
• I made my (revised) goal of riding 1500 miles on my bicycle. Usually I ride 2000 or more miles, but all the hiking I did this year cut into my bicycle riding. I ended up riding 1520 miles.
  

I also noticed that this is my 366th blog entry for 2007. That meant I averaged at least one entry a day. For my friends who have blogs of their own they know the accomplishment that is; the others of you who get email copies of each of my blog entries, you may feel I write too much. And here I didn't even get all my hiking adventures written up in 2007.

I hope 2007 treated you well and 2008 is even better. And that you come and visit me. I promise you don't have to go on a hike, though I strongly encourage it.