Near the End of the Year

We are enjoying our time here. The weather has been great so far. Most of my work has been from the tractor seat, mowing roadsides, using the big tractor mounted blower to clean off the roads around areas that are going to be burned, and using the backhoe and grapple to tear apart some tree piles created by a bulldozer on a land clearing project. 

We have gotten reacquainted with some friends here from church and had a visit with them at the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The decorated sidewalk outside the parish center.

The inside of the parish center where we enjoyed a Mexican meal.

The local library had a raffle where you got a ticket for each book that you checked out. They called me the week before Christmas and said that I had won! The prize was a nice gift basket.

They had a nice Christmas parade here in Melrose but is seems strange to enjoy a Christmas parade when it is 75 degrees outside.

We had a quiet Christmas here and enjoyed facetiming with the kids and grandkids and sharing the day with them. Everyone here at the station has the week off this week, so we are catching up on few projects here and will probably travel to some nearby towns for some sightseeing.