Welcome to 2021 Everyone!

This whole COVID thing has really mixed up my schedule. Every year on New Year’s Day I always try to do something unique, fun, and active. But this year we couldn’t go anywhere and simply watched the sunrise from my bedroom window. It was a nice clear morning and we could see all the way to Catalina Island. But once the magic glow was gone, I simply laced put on running shoes and headed down to Yorba Linda Park for a morning 5k. Nothing too special, but I least I was up and out.

Later in the week the new 3D printer arrived for my Cessna project. It was cracked on the top, but after talking with the company, they sent me out a new piece to replace it. So much better than having to send the whole thing back again (plus there is a wait list to get this one). I wasn’t able to get the WiFi to work for printing directly from my computer, but the print quality and ease in removing the final product from the plate is simply amazing.

Now with the 3D printer in hand, I had everything I needed to keep working on the cockpit. I spent long hours in the garage doing wood working and an equal number of hours downstairs doing the backend arduino and raspberry programing, 3D printing, and circuitry to put it all together. So I should have it all finished sometime in February.

Since we didn’t spend money on a vacation, we decided to splurge a little on grocery shopping.

On the top of our list was oysters.
A number of stores were offering discounts just after New Year’s. So we took advantage of that and ‘attacked’ a number of stores since they were in high demand. Shopping early pays off as we walked out with a few dozen one morning around 6:30am. This was a perfect addition for our Ukrainian Christmas dinner. Then there was the Trinidadian Roti, extra pierogies, homemade pizza dough, and specially ordered sushi from the Japanese grocery store.

Yum!
Can you tell that I’m hungry?

January was also a wet month. We had a few winter storms and it rained for about 4 days straight. That just may be a record for us here in SoCal!

Even with the threatening weather and hard rains, it never seemed to touch me when I went to the park for a run. There was one day that it was pouring all around me, but I was in this protected little bubble. I loved getting out on these days because no one else would be around except for the local wildlife. Something interesting this year was that the park was over run with pelicans for most of the month. I have no idea where they came from, where they slept, or what they were doing hanging out in the water or on around the water’s edge. They were pretty cautious with us humans as it was difficult to get close enough to take any pictures. But by the end of the month they all disappeared.

Hmmm… maybe they just came for the rain! LOL
I love the rain too as it turns everything green, clears up the air, and puts snow on top of our mountains.

Unfortunately the storms don’t linger for too long and by the end of the month the rains were replaced with blue skies and the odd pelicans taking off to who knows where.