Christmas 2011 at Hedricks
News ·Saturday December 31, 2011 @ 18:56 EST (link)
For the first time in many years, we were able to drive to be with family for Christmas. It was Honey's family's turn (lucky them!), so we made the 14-hour drive to WV on Friday the 23rd after work, and arrived early Saturday morning. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be able to take vacation—even if it was accrued—until I had worked there 90 days (some probation period that seems rather silly in an at-will state), but the company is flexible and didn't mind letting me take a couple days and rearrange the holidays so I would work on the 23rd and 2nd and be off the entire week between.
So, we had a nice visit; dinner at Papa Pollock's on the 24th, delicious turkey. It was on the 24th because there was church on the 25th—morning only; and let's just say the same people that ate showed up at the Lord's supper, although the second meeting was rather better attended; including a handbell choir and a little girl that needed to be excused from the stage to go to the bathroom.
I caught a bug sometime during the week; sore throat to start, cough added later, and difficulty sleeping; so I caught sleep whenever I could. I also logged into work a few times, did some coding and code reviews, but not as much as I'd wanted to, being unwell; although it was all extra.
Dad Hedrick took me out to a local range to shoot one day, although he didn't want to shoot because he figured with his cataracts he'd waste ammunition, even though I told him it (at least the .22) was cheap and I had decent scopes. That was at the Baileysville public shooting range; I only shot the Ruger 10/22 and Glock 34; the AR wasn't feeding well and probably needed a good cleaning, and the red dot batteries had finally died (they were the ones that came with it).
Emily was happy to see us, and Honey played various Mario and Guitar Hero games with her, and we played Euchre (Emily and I won the first game but got beat in the rematch).
The Hedricks' faucet gave up the ghost in the middle of the week, so dad and I were tasked with picking up and installing a new one. The old one was determined to stick around, but eventually I got in there, saw the nut that was holding the stubborn horseshoe washer on, sawed off a protruding bolt with a hacksaw, and then hammered in a socket (11/16") since the nut was blocked by the hot/cold leads, and ratcheted the stubborn nut off with the help of an extension. After that installing the new one was fairly easy; although we thought we had a dud—it leaked—until dad tightened up one of the nuts on the new part that we thought was factory and thus not fixable.
For Christmas I mostly got polo shirts, mainly for work—I'm not really wearing T-shirts any more at work—and gift cards, all great and useful; and we gave mostly gift cards too, except some Looney Toons DVDs for Emily. We ate at Shirly's (China One Buffet) on the day before we left.
We left at little after 1300 Friday, and got home very early Saturday, which let me—us; Honey caught something too—spend a few days trying to recuperate and relaxing around the apartment. There was a cold snap when we got back (left in the 80s, back in the 50s) but it's supposed to get warm again soon.
Books finished: The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, The Sapphire Rose.
