A friend has a new balloon.

Spanish.

Brain.

I recorded “Explosion and Erosion” yesterday. Copied it onto my Mac this morning.

I have about a month’s worth of material “in the can” ready to go.

Spent a lot of time on the phone today. Enjoyed talking with my Mom. It’s her 85 birthday today! January 17th was also Ben Franklin’s birthday, so TWO of my heroes born on the same day. Amen.

Good talk with my buddy Anthony.

Looking into this. I have a lot of stuff still in my library I haven’t listened to yet.

I saw the ISS for the 66th time this evening.

Studied Spanish.

As I’ve mentioned before, Duolingo continues to put out new lessons. Even though I’m working through Level 5, I still have to do the Level 1 lessons when they first appear on the course.

It’s easy for me, even though it would be pretty hard for most people.

I released an episode of Verbal Surgery called, “Seek Light.”/a>

Cold day that turned nice!

Always great to be with my girls!

We had fun playing restaurant and research facility. Everly created a vaccine for the infrovirus. Whatever that is.

Penelope helped me set up the squirrel trap. We use bird seed for bait.

Up the Sky Rail for our morning safari.

Beautiful clouds.

I couldn’t get over how circular this hole was on the mountain top.

Studied Spanish.

They’ve added a lot of new categories, so you start back at level zero. I’ve gone back to testing out of the level until it gets harder.

Sunset!

I took the grandgirls over to Miles’ parent’s house to spend the night. Miles and Ashley are working on Saturday.
We enjoyed watching Frozen 2 together before they left.

Picked up the groceries before I came home.

I liked this quote.

A friend sent me these from Hawaii.

I like this quote.

Mandatory masks on airplanes.

Stimulus package.

Interesting.

Cold.

Love my girls!

Ordered groceries.

Vacuumed the house.

Studied Spanish.

Duolingo is rapidly adding to their Spanish course. Recently, they added another three sets of 25 lessons. Each lesson has five levels. Hundreds more! But they always start back at Level 1. So I’m working through some of them more rapidly. It really is a lot of fun to struggle just enough to make progress.

Went to Azalea to take the girls home. None of the mission kids have homework right now. School is out for MLK day.

Next stop to my office to check for mail. Watered and sprayed my ficus. We’ve been together a long time. I almost killed her once by leaving her outside during a cold snap. I’ll never take her outside again.

On the way home there was a 18 wheeler accident.

Beautiful lighting.

Here’s a list of the consequences of Trump’s actions with the Capital riot.

Never heard of “freezing fog.”

Always great to see all my girls!

Got my W2 today. Step one.

We worked on writing Penelope’s name with upper and lower case letters. Plus her address.

We also pick one random page from our big book of exercises. She picked “Which one is shorter?”

I opened up Pop Pop’s Nail Salon today.

Studied Spanish.

Helped the kids at the mission. I go through the messages from the teachers to the parents so the kids can explain it to their moms and dads.

After we finished the homework, I took the girls to their friend’s house to play.

Went to my office to check the mail, process what came in and then deposit it at the bank.

Another old soldier goes to be with the Lord. She was helpful when we got married. Betty also supported our ministry financially.

Transported another squirrel. That’s six this week. Took this one to Azalea.

Gassed up the car. Checked and added oil.

Another cold day. It’s winter. What do you expect?

Great to see Ashley!

Penelope works a little every day.

Everly has such a fertile imagination. She’s definitely the more maternal of the two.

I liked this picture Penelope drew for me. Has a lot of energy.

We were playing with tape. My buddy, Anthony tapes his mouth shut at night to force nose breathing.

They like playing where they are a restaurant. Penelope and
I had a grand time using the blue tube as the intercom when I ordered. It was wonderful to see her deal with all the twists and turns I put in my order. Super funny.

Bird in a squirrel trap. He’s not heavy enough to spring the trap.

I thought this book was cute.

Studied Spanish.

Girls getting exercise. It was really muddy out there.

Penelope knocked Everly over by accident. She took a face plant right into the mud. Bahd luck. I took them both and got them straight into a warm bath. I scrubbed on their shoes and her sweater and put them in front of a fan.

It was cold for tutoring. May have been the record for holding it outside.

Checked the mail at my office.

Prepared all the checks for deposit and went to the bank.

Enjoyed watching John Wick 3 and Tenet last night.

Such never before seen history in the making.

Weather expected this evening.

Studied Spanish.

Brain training.

I spent a couple of hours talking to friends. Paul in Nigeria, Chris in Minnesota and Anthony in the UK.

Did more research on Health Savings Accounts. I asked our health insurance agent if it was ok to just have one account that more than one person could use. Like “Cummins Family.”

This is the fifth squirrel I’ve caught in the last three days. Normally, I don’t catch any during the winter. I don’t even have to put the trap out. Last week, I saw four at one time. That alarmed me, especially when I see them eating from the bird feeders.
I drop them off in different locations.

More consequences for Trump.

Sat/Sun I studied Spanish and did my brain training.

Beautiful day Sunday.

I recorded and dubbed off two podcasts this weekend.

Had a fun chat with my Mom yesterday and Anthony today.

Cold.

Light freeze on birdbath.

Transported one squirrel on Saturday and one today.

Big dog hanging almost outside the truck.

More reporting on the riots in DC. What Trump might try, who knows?

FBI trying to track these hoodlums down.

Not great weather.

On our ride home, we greet animals we see in Swahili. Wasn’t sure the word for “monkey.”

We got an ice cream cake. Fun to have a party. We were celebrating Mom’s birthday.

Transported a squirrel.

Thai food for lunch.

Vacuumed the house.

Studied Spanish.

We had fun playing with Legos.

Different characters.

I was so sad and angry about the rioters at the Capital! What lunacy has Trump caused by his mendacity? Here are some of the best comments to help me to remember what happened.

Consequences for Trump.

Paid bills.

Beautiful sunrise.

Picked up the girls at Global Mall. We don’t go in any more.

Worked in my garden. Refilled all the feeders.

I have the trap out, but didn’t see many squirrels.

Refilled the bird baths.

Picked up a lot of sticks and put them in my compost area.

Cleaned out the St. Francis shrine.



I put a rubber band to keep this whirligig at the right pace on the wire.

Weather turned rainy.

Swept off carpet outside my door.

I’m very curious about lichens and mushrooms as well as insects. Wasn’t sure if this was another type of lichen or some kind of egg pod or what exactly. That’s why I love nature!

I’ve really gotten a lot of great use out of my Gorilla Cart. I use it all the time. It is so much better using that cart rather than carrying 50 lb bags of dog food or bird seed.

Everly helped me drag sticks.

One of the containers in my fridge broke. Cleaned off the old superglue and redid it.

I spray one side with a fixer or drying agent to make it get hard super fast.

I also superglued one of the wings of these solar light up things.

The girls and I had fun with bubbles.

I also made big bubbles. It was fantastic for them today. Very high humidity.

I called this “Winter swimming.” But it wasn’t very fun.

We cooked brownies.

Everly helped me so I let her choose licking the whisk or the bowl.

We went back to the mission soon after. She fell asleep right at the end of the ride.

She likes a racing game.

Studied Spanish.

Poured down rain. I went to check on a couple of the kids, but no-one was home.

When I realize I have something one of the girls will need the next day, I try and let Ashley know. Looking for shoes that don’t exist is a real bummer.

I stopped by my office to check the mail and to pick up nail polish for Everly.

I’ve improvised a solution to the crappy elbow rests in my car. From time to time I have to retape it to the door.