Hey There! It's 9:33 AM EST, 21°F, overcast skies.
Yesterday was another quiet day, but DW and I did begin our packing procedure for going west. I went for my morning walk, and saw two eagles roosting on the same branch together. I am afraid I startled them a bit, however, since, as I went to slowly pull out my phone, they flew off. Two eagles on one branch - a rare sight!
I started the day by setting up my retirement spreadsheet for 2026. It's actually sort of an irrelevant document these days, since we are required to take RMDs and don't have control anymore of how much money I can withdraw from my accounts. But I like getting the quarterly reports into a spreadsheet so I can see the growth or loss. I also calculated our social security payments for 2026, which went up 2.8% for 2026, as well as added in my small pension. That's our fixed income side of our finances. Because we live in such an economically depressed area and have little debt, if we had to, DW and I can live on the fixed sources of income. It's very financially favorable for us to stay right here.
Then I helped DW sort out her plugs and such for travel west. She is not too adept with technology, so I help her out as needed. She got all her travel cables organized, and we decided to buy a compact charging station for all our stuff.
It rained very hard yesterday after a brief period of freezing rain, so there was not going out. I did my laundry along the day, and I also made an appointment for an oil change for Monday. I looked into buying some luggage for the trip to Japan, but the weight limitation is 22 lbs it seems, so I don't know how we will avoid checked luggage. I think they do this on purpose.
I ended up taking an unexpected nap. Sometimes I fall asleep while watching videos, and it happened this time. I got up for dinner, which was some vegetable soup from a jar spiced up by DW, a crab cake, and some bread. Then I spent the evening catching up on cricket - still trying to see all the test matches for the Ashes. I'm on the third test, and I believe I start Day 4 today. Bedtime 11:15 PM.
Notable Deaths: Annette Dionne, last of the famous Dionne quintuplets from Canada, 91.
'Til We Meet Again!