A very warm December – no snow in the valley, golfing right through the end of year at one course, green grass in the yard, above zero every day – allowed some progress on outside projects, mostly trimming branches, felling spindly or dead trees, and doing some prep for projects next spring.

In retrospect, I could have poured concrete bases in December for the posts for the equipment shelter. But at least the posts are all ready for installation in the spring.

After 8 years I finally installed a door and trim for the basement storage room and finished the trim for the garage and shop doors and the three garage windows. Next up will be doors for the downstairs bathroom vanity, building new doors for under the kitchen sink, and building a Japanese-style closet in the guest bedroom, complete with shoji doors.

Also on the to-do list will be some yard art. I will use the aluminum frames I bought at an auction a few years ago and have started getting some of them powder coated – black, red, yellow and fluorescent lime yellow. These will provide a bit of “pop” in the green forest and snowy hillside.

As we progress deeper and deeper into retirement, progress on the house project continues but at a slower pace – bedroom door, forestry and firewood, gardening and irrigation expansion, two more patios and a 100′ long retaining wall, finishing trim work – as we focus increasingly on life beyond – sausage making, skiing, trips to Japan and Scotland, golfing and road trips with friends, sailing lessons and wine appreciation. The massive forest fire across the lake that burned out of control for days and which started fires on our side of the lake was our most intense experience of the year. Here’s hoping next year is just as much fun but a bit less intense.