Spouse is sick so didn't make it into the first day of work after the involuntary, unpaid Christmas break that the lab enforces every year when it closes between Christmas and New Year. When he gets sick, he develops a thunderously loud cough. He doesn't have a fever - just some sniffles and the dreaded cough.
I did various chores today - library, dropping off records at the Medical Center, shredding receipts and statements from 1999. (It was a hard fought battle but I won the right to shred records every year from 10 years ago!)
The bank's shredder has a defective door. I had to push my foot against it to keep it running but other than that, it worked smoothly and it was easy to find someone to give me permission to use it. That's always the hardest part - finding someone in the basement to ask if I can use it. They would like me to just put it in their locked bins they send out for shredding but I had to promise spouse I'd do it myself as part of the negotiations leading up to the deal.
Two more comments about grandson: I complimented him on his taste in music. I overheard him telling spouse not to touch the CD except by the edges. Grandson really loves his first music CD! I was looking for a cassette tape I thought he might want to hear by Crash Test Dummies but couldn't find it anywhere. Not sure what happened to it.
Sundry comments on recent walks: When I walked on Camp May Road Christmas Day, someone screamed Merry Christmas at me as they drove by. This was a variation on the puerile trick car occupants indulge in of screaming at walkers to watch them jump out of their skin but at least I could appreciate the message. In contrast, walking on Trinity Drive last night, someone screamed at me as they drove by but the intent wasn't quite as nice.
When I walked downtown on the evening of New Year's Day, vehicular traffic was wondrously absent and the moon was wondrously big and bright. I appreciated the quiet and felt like I owned the world. Last night, even though it was a Sunday night around 8pm, there was the usual parade of cars going who knows where in Los Alamos on a Sunday night.
Today, after chores were finally done about 3:15pm, I walked the road to the sewer treatment plant. Right after passing the old sewer treatment plant, I took the right turn toward Bayo Canyon. The dirt road is snow-covered but people and dogs have walked on it. I only walked about .2 mile on it before turning around but would one day like to walk further to see how far I could up Bayo Canyon before it gets too snowy or icy. It would be far pleasanter to walk it this time of year than when the canyon is steaming hot.