Month End Ramblings

Today is the last day of January, 2013, and I thought it would be appropriate to comment on the first month of the new year.

Starting with the weather - it was a disappointing month overall with mostly very cool temperatures and more than the usual rain. We only had 9 days with temperatures of 70 or higher which really limited the amount of time to sit out in the sun or enjoy outside activities without a sweater or jacket. Records were set for low temps and also high temps - within a week of each other. It would be better to have a constant range of 65 - 75 to make it a perfect winter, but, of course, we don't have control over any of that.

We did enjoy the month as far as doing some things we haven't done in what seems like ages - work on our hobbies. While traveling and working most of the time, we spend most of our free time visiting new places in new areas. We are very familiar with this area, so it was easy to spend the free time re-introducing ourselves to our hobbies. There are still some things to do like hiking in new areas and exploring other places that we have never been, or have not visited in years, so we can still do some of that before we leave in April.

Not much of the planned "work" activities were done - intentionally. The shredding and repairs around the fifth wheel will be be done in February while Josie does her stint at the flower shop for the Valentine's Day rush. We also haven't separated any of the goods to put in storage until we return next winter. That will be done next month.

Our diets produced excellent results in January. Josie is down over 10 pounds and I have lost over 15 pounds for the month. Her weight loss is more impressive than mine considering percentage of total body weight. We are loving the new menus and the restrictions have been very easy to accept. We don't miss any of the breads or sweets that we used to crave. This time it appears that the diets are serious and our weight loss goals are on target.

A highlight of the month was our visit to Laughlin where we enjoyed visiting a new hotel (for us) and winning enough at the slots to cover the expenses for our whole trip. It was also very cold and windy there during our stay, but the weather was not a distraction for us. It remains one of our favorite spots to visit.

February promises to be very different with some work and taxes to be done. Hopefully, we will find some time to get out and about in what should be nicer weather. The forecast is promising, at least for the start of February...