It's the 17th of December. I know this, because it's on the right side of my screen. Christmas in 8 days!

I'm 57 this Christmas. Wow.

Pretty nuts out there now. I went to our little post office this morning. The employees were buried in carts and bags of mail to be sorted and delivered. People lined up asking questions .... waiting for mail. I got back a couple of boxes from Texas.

We have a nice place here, at Rendezvous, to come get away from the madness. It's a good group of people. Mostly silent, or nearly so. I know you drop in to relax a bit. I feel a pressure to make certain there is something here when you do. Of course, you can absorb it faster than I can produce it. I smile when I see some red numbers indicating there are comments I haven't read too. There's likely a friend behind the numbers.

A couple of our members have had family losses very recently. I hope they will find some brief bit of comfort in coming here for a few minutes to take a breath, and relax. Being around friends and among people who wish you well, is the only thing that helps in time of grief.

I pretty much live in hyperspace. Thank God you don't have to live with me. I'm always feeling like I need to accomplish a month's work in a day. By the time the distractions and demands upon my time have released their teeth from the back of my neck, I often have a headache and am free to begin my day ... about 4pm. Then it's finding that way to do two weeks work in half a day, that becomes my goal. Of course, everything about my work proceeds at an ox cart's pace. I hope Santa brings me one of those machining booth five axis mills ... and a geek to program it, and a tech to fix it. I've been pretty good this year. ;?)

It's getting colder and it seeps in. I know I can't ride out the duration of my life here in this climate. But can you imagine moving my shop? Who's in a place and climate they like. Sean ... you don't count. Your sanity is in question because you like it -50 in Alaska. hahah. ;?) Julio ... is there a nice vacant garage with a room above, there in Peurto Rico? I can buy Rosseta Stone and learn enough Spanish to survive. ;?)

Kelly and I watched a CD of the Yule Log burning on TV this am during coffee. We guessed the names of the singers singing the traditional Christmas carols. Did you ever stop to think that Johnny Cash and John Wayne sound much alike at times. I thought this while in my chair, called to Kelly and mentioned it ... she was out in the kitchen at the coffee pot .... and she said ... "I was JUST THINKING THAT!!"

I hope you have a great Christmas. Please give some thought to the reason we celebrate. Know that we will be here, and welcome you when you need a break. I'll try to keep some things here. Participate if you are able. I'll be coming here for a break too, and I'd like to hear your comments.

God Bless,
Merry Christmas,

Gary and Kelly

Thanks Gary and Kelly, and YES I can find a nice place here in Puerto RIco that will make you feel right at home. Right now we are at 79 degrees but feels like 82. There will be no problem with the language; most of us understand two or three languages. Although speaking it fluently, that’s another matter.

I can assure to you that you don’t have to migrate to the Caribbean to find good warm weather. I’m pretty sure that there must be a nice location close to the south that will suit your needs.

I like to wish to you and to all the forum friends and family, to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

PS: The other day I found in a kitchen cabinet a bag with some Halloween candy left over. You know…imagine shooting lollypops at 50 yds, or imagine shooting some M&Ms at 50 yds, some mentos and some tic tacs, you get the idea. Hopefully I’ll find the time and the energy to shoot and record some videos.

Julio



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2011 07:47PM by Julio.

Hi Julio,

Hey - don't shoot the m and m's. Send them up here ...

Gary,

My occupation requires 24 X 7 staffing. Fortunately for me, this year I was able to take the week before Christmas as vacation time. It's my favorite time of the year.

It's a beautiful 79 here in Miami but I can't recommend it as a retirement retreat for you, I know you abhor crowds.



Regards,

Lon

I'm afraid my area, while certainly not Alaska, is even colder than where you are Gary....

I'm one of those who has recently lost a family member (my Dad) so this Holiday season is a little bittersweet

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to all, and I hope you all have a great 2012

I don't count?!? I think you're gonna hurt my feelers. Besides, it hardly dips below negative ten or fifteen here in coastal Alaska. Most of the winter it bounces back and forth just above and below freezing, practically tropical by the standards of Fairbanks and the interior. Of coure, we do get some snow from time to time, about 12-13 feet last month. It's since been rained back to about a foot and a half of ice, and the roads are pretty slick. Add in the five and a half-ish hours of daylight (three days to winter solstice, not that we're counting) and it's definately feeling like winter around here.

Even I have to admit that it's not the ideal location for a manufacturing plant, even a small one. The access to materials is expensive and shipping is very, very slow. Just getting things like wood for projects is a complicated logistics problem, and when you consider hazmat items like compressed gasses for welding and chemicals, it's ridiculous. We can't get anything shipped via FedEx, and there's no UPS ground, so getting ammo primers and such is a major PITA. Food, fuel, electricity, and other basics are very expensive here compared to down south. Gorgeous scenery, clean air, and fresh wild-caught salmon are in good supply, however I'm not sure how much that will help the overall situation.

I think we need to start looking around and thinking about the best location for the new Barnes Hollow Tree Shop. Obviously access to affordable shipping, good industrial suppliers, reasonable land prices, and decent no-hassle weather is a given. Good tolerant neighbors and access to a handy shooting range (preferably off the back deck for any caliber and time of day) would be a big plus. I think we could pretty much rule out hundred-year old houses with major ongoing maintenance issues. No bamboo in the landscaping, please. Might be a good idea to avoid hurricane country, but I guess that covers a lot of territory so you'd have to define that a bit better somewhere along the line.

Now if we can just solve the perrenial elf-shortage issue...

Hi Sean
You've got the basics. I could use the help. And you are correct ... The few times a year I just must have Salmon, wouldn't offset the six months of whimpering in a fetal position.
It's an overwhelming prospect. Another of those oversights. Not realizing, as I prepared for the duration here, that I was due to turn into a heap before the end.
They should make these things clear to 24 year olds.
Gary
Iphone

Yeah. Shovelling shoulder-deep snow off the roof is gonna get a lot less attractive over the years. Frankly, it's not all that much fun right now.

On the other hand, I don't see myself as being particularly happy living in a gated old-folks community in Arizona either. I'm not sure how people deal with the only choice of seasons being "roast", "broil", and "vaporize".

Other than California, there's gotta be some place where the weather is amenable to good living but not stupifyingly hot in the summer. Not that there's anything wrong with California that a complete change of government and losing about twenty million people couldn't fix.

Gary, Sean, you could consider coming here to little old Christchurch New Zealand. The weather is kind of moderate and there is the added bonus of free rock'n'roll lessons from Mother nature herself! Only she doesn't tell you in advance when the next lesson will be......
Hehe
Neil
PS Merry Xmas all!

Sounds fantastic, from the photos I've seen it's a gorgeous country and NZ even seems to have a relatively reasonable attitude towards firearms ownership (unlike your neighbors the Aussies). Of course there would be some minor logistical details involved moving Garys massive collection of stock, tools, and assorted incredibly heavy objects halfway across the globe, but I'm sure he's up to the challenge. : D

Hello Sean and Neil,

Kelly has put the nix on the idea. Grandkids ya know.

Moving the shop would be easy, if ya'll just bought me some decent tools and had them drop shipped to the new shop.



Gary

Gary, this is the ship I had in mind...room for the workshop, and all 13 grandkids.....and Sean too..



Bon voyage
Neil

Thanks Neil.
And all I have to do is maintain it, right? Haha
Oh, my wallet!!
Gary

You joke about it, but we get cruise ships docking right here in town too. Seeing as there are only about 2000 year-round residents here, we could easily accomodate everyone in town on just one middle-to-large size cruise ship. I've often floated the idea of abandoning the place for the winter and shipping everyone to Maui for a couple of months, but nobody will take me up on it...so far.

Of course, we'd have to leave SOMEONE around to shovel all the snow, or we'd get back in March to find the whole place flattened.

Oh well, it's a thought...

YIKES!

I see on the internet that Christchurch, NZ just got hammered again with a 5.8 quake. I hope everthing is OK on the Neil front.

All good thanks Sean, we are all just sooo over this stuff! I just posted a link to some pics on "I'm just sayin' " The second big one has just been upgraded to a 6.0. I had a quick swim in the pool just before it hit, and got out in time to see the house flex like crazy, and some pretty interesting waves on the pool. No damage to speak of, thankfully.
I think we might need to revise yours and Gary's immigration plans just for a little bit.....
Ch-ch-ch-cheers
N-n-n-neil

Tsumani in your pool! I'm not so sure ....

Bummer Neil. Sorry. Man - that's quite a run you've had.

Hope the Christmas tree is still upright.

Gary

I'm glad to hear that you're OK and that the house is still intact. It's SO weird to see structures that you assume are solid start swaying and bending, isn't it?

I'm also glad to see that there doesn't appear to be any major loss of life this time around.