For the past several days, our internet service has been intermittent. It is amazing how much I have come to rely on connectivity for my work, the new house design, entertainment, and shopping. Stranded for hours with no network connection, I decided to spend time curating my photo collection. It is currently at 106,000 photos and I like to keep culling it back to less than 100,000. One of the photos I came across today was this one of Maya and Nala. It is one of my favorites from that time period.

With the recent passing of Sydney Poitier, many celebrities have come forward to pay tribute to the legend. One of his close friends was Harry Belafonte. When I saw him on TV speaking fondly of their relationship, it reminded me that I had a photo of him in my collection. He is pictured above, on the right, standing next to my uncle at his wedding. I am assuming he was his best man. My uncle Ernie was a professional musician and played guitar in Belafonte’s band as well as with Tony Bennet, pictured with him below.

This video just in from Maya who is vacationing in California this week. I particularly enjoyed the graceful dismount.

Sometimes I acquire a tool that is destined to make me happy. Such is the case with this Austrian-made 3″ long, magnetic pocket level. It is engineered to be very accurate and the workmanship is superb. I currently own levels that include lengths of 12″, 24″, 36″, and 60″. Each has its own application and they have all seen extensive use. The newest member of the family will be invaluable when the surface to be leveled is very small and by virtue of the fact that it is tiny enough to be on hand at all times. Borrowing from an old adage used in photography, “the best level is the one you have with you.”

For weeks now, I have been trying to solve a mystery. This morning, I did so with the aid of my drone. With Swiss clock precision, at 6:55 AM, a half dozen or so cars will pull into the parking lot across from our house and line up in a row. At 7 AM, a large van pulls up and some kind of exchange occurs after which the cars drive away one at a time and then the van pulls away. For weeks I have assigned nefarious explanations to this carefully synchronized exchange only able to observe it from the ground level and at quite a distance. It appeared that the driver of the van was distributing something to the drivers of the cars and then they immediately drove off. For a while this seemed to be happening every day and then it stopped. With the benefit of an aerial view, the mystery has been solved. The cars are dropping kids off for some private school to which they are shuttled. It is a shame the explanation is so mundane. I had developed a number of mystery show worth explanations that were far more exciting. The break in routine was due to holiday vacations. What I thought was the driver returning from the cars were the kids sequentially leaving their cars for the shuttle.

It was a grey and cold day. I spent much of it indoors doing work for a new client and organizing my tools, something I tend to do every year at this time. I also spent several hours learning about the Insulated Concrete Foundation (ICF) system offered by a company called Logix. Our builder has recommended this vendor and it looks like a great choice. Jeanine prepared an exceptional minestrone for dinner bringing the day to a perfect end.

When she woke up this morning, Jeanine announced that it was a perfect day for cross country skiing. I joined her (on foot) for a nice tour of the Newbury Field trails which received about 8 inches of snow yesterday. It was nice to get out into the fresh air, especially since we have been staying home so much to avoid potential exposure to Covid.

We got our first significant snowfall of the season today. Concord received 6-8 inches dodging the brunt of the storm which left Boston with more than a foot in some places. It was my first opportunity to use our new electric snowblower. It handled the task well enough but my expectations were calibrated to the difference between an electric car and a gas-powered one. I imagined it might throw snow into tomorrow and alas it only threw it far enough. The cab I installed, as on my last snowblower, proved invaluable but I will need to refine the positioning when I get a chance. It took about 1.3kWh of energy to complete the driveway which was well less than the 2kWh of batteries I own. By way of comparison, my e-tron stores 83.6kWh. Imagine if someone made an electric snowblower attachment that connected to my car. I could plow the entire driveway in a few minutes.

Perhaps the only thing about our Road House that is inadequate is the size of the garage. It is a tight squeeze for two cars with room for little else. In particular, we have no convenient place to store our snowblower, yard tools, and bikes. Yesterday, I ordered an 8’x6′ shed which will arrive unassembled, presumably within 2 to 3 weeks barring any supply chain issues. Given the temperature today was hovering just above the freezing mark and it is not likely to get much warmer any time soon, I decided to fabricate the platform base on which the shed will be mounted. I used 2x4s to fashion a torsion box frame which I skinned with 1/2″ plywood on both sides (screwed and glued). It took me an hour to procure the lumber and 3 hours to complete the project working in the garage and on the driveway. It is as solid as a rock. The next time temperatures favor outdoor work, I will place and level the concrete blocks on which the platform will rest.

Pictured left is Maya’s friend Connor who has been staying with us for the last few days. This evening, he organized a family cooking party and taught us how to make potstickers. Kyle and Nico joined in and we also had a brief visit from Grace, one of Maya’s high school pals. Potstickers are very labor-intensive to prepare and a certain degree of finesse is required. Many hands made for quick work and also resulted in several unusually shaped dumplings. The meal was delicious and the joy of cooking together will long be remembered fondly.

While on a 3.3-mile exercise walk to the post office and back, Jeanine and I came across this walkway made of large (5’x5′) stones. I can’t recall seeing such a large flat top stone ever before. We both liked the idea of using something like this for the walkway to our front door of the River House and the image has been added to our idea folder.

DeWALT recently announced a new battery technology for their cordless power tools. It features a pouch-style lithium-ion battery instead of the cylindrical cells that are common to the industry. The pouch offers higher current output, better packing efficiency, and longer service life. The first instantiation of the new battery is a 1.7Ah version for their 20V tool line. I ordered a pair as soon as they went on sale in November and they finally arrived today. The new (5-cell) battery has less capacity than the current version (1.7Ah versus 2.0Ah), but is smaller, lighter, and can supply a higher current allowing the tool to perform better. It is obvious to me that DeWALT will follow this battery with a 15-cell FlexVolt (20/60V) version that will probably have a 5.1Ah capacity although nothing has been announced yet. Another logical version will be a 10-cell, 3.4Ah version.

Jeanine and I spent a good part of the day at Kyle’s place helping out with his basement renovation project. Today, we worked on wall framing and new window installation. We never seem to accomplish as much as we had planned on but things are shaping up nicely. Kyle is learning many new skills as we go and accumulating a good set of tools along the way.

Jeanine prepared a delicious salmon dish this evening to start the new year on a healthy note. Earlier, I was dispatched to the supermarket to retrieve a package of barley for another component of the meal. I added a pint of Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk to the basket to ensure we maintained a well-balanced diet.