A New Year


Alivia and I attended a geocaching event on New Year’s Day in Bemidji.


By Allan Olson

Well, this winter’s Christmas break sure went by fast. It seemed like it took forever to get here, and then it was gone. This week we kept mostly to home; the furthest we traveled was about 40 miles to meet my niece one day, and my brother a few days later to pick up Nikolai after he spent some time with his cousins.
Truth be known, I spent the week avoiding the cold as much as possible – until I had to go out to deal with a vehicle that wouldn’t start. That vehicle needed to get to a shop for a water pump replacement. Me and vehicles – I just don’t seem to have good luck. I got rid of one vehicle that had no payments because it was starting to have issues, and in exchange, I now have a vehicle with issues and payments, and another vehicle that just hit 300,000 that has its quirks but currently – and hopefully for the long term – has no issues and thankfully no payments. The goal for this week – is to get the battery replaced – under warranty.
The rest of the kids (other than Nikolai) spent the week at home, leaving only if we required them to, as the weather for the last week has been very un-delightful. On Friday night, my wife brought home a great-niece and nephew to spend the night, and in anticipation of their visit I had some frozen bread thawed and raised – ready for making caramel rolls. They each made one, and Alivia and Abigail helped get a couple of loaves ready, and then I finished the process and the clean-up. The first pan turned out to exact perfection; the next pan was nearly perfect. I had one pan that came out about 50%, to the point that I threw several out for the critters. And then there was the pan that I had made specifically for someone; it turned out the way it needed to be – perfect.
Just after 8 p.m. on Saturday, my wife and I became “Greats” again, as her niece had her son that evening. We briefly contemplated heading out on New Year’s Eve to see the little one, but after looking at the thermometer decided to hopefully go meet him sometime this coming weekend.
We brought Nikolai back home on Sunday and grabbed some menu items for our New Year’s Eve party. I then dealt with the dead car battery (again) when I headed out to take some photos. After trying for probably about 30 minutes, I gave up and hooked up the battery charger, deciding I would give it a few hours before taking the battery out and going to get a replacement Monday. 
Our two guests arrived for our annual New Year’s Eve party, and I made myself busy frying bacon and sausage, while my wife got the French toast, waffle and pancakes mixes ready for our very different New Year’s Eve meal.
The evening’s plans were to play some games and eat some food; instead we played no games and just enjoyed the food. Some watched a movie while others watched things on their own devices. It was very relaxing and low key. The downside of having no games/activities is that I took no photos other than the couple I took earlier while playing a game with Abigail and Alivia.
I was awake and out of bed by 8 on Monday morning, even though it wasn’t until at least 1 a.m. before I got to sleep. My stomach was rumbling and I just couldn’t stay in bed any longer and I knew that despite finally getting that vehicle running last night, I was pretty certain it was going to cause me issues again. Of course, I was correct and spent the next couple hours going in and out of the house, checking the battery’s charge and finally getting the vehicle started.
Alivia and I were in Bemidji at noon, attending a geocaching event with a small handful of friends. A couple hours later and a few ‘Pokemon go’ stops later we were headed home. The rest of the gang was all just doing nothing – except Marcus, who became sick while we were gone. What a fun way to start the new year!
This week is going to be extremely busy, and the weekend to boot, so hopefully the rest of us manage to stay healthy. The weekend plans include robotics and probably a trip to see our new great nephew – depending on everyone’s level of health.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that will be carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.

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