What's Next . . .

The new year started out great! First, we watched the Rose Parade and then later the Rose Bowl Game. Of course, the day in Southern California (Pasadena) was gorgeous. And having lived there for several years I know how that can be and magically it always seemed to happen on New Year's.

The parade was excellent as usual and watching it on HGTV meant NO commercials which was nice.
I remember years ago walking along the parade route, not the whole five and one-half miles, but a portion of the route and finally to the end point where floats would be on display.

The nights before the parade we often visited the sites where float preparations were underway. I remember that as soon as one parade was ended the planning and preparations for the next year would begin.

One year when I lived north of Colorado Blvd I was scheduled to work (at the hospital) which was south of Colorado Blvd and to get there was a major hassle requiring driving many miles around the parade route.

But the game . . . one of the best Rose Bowl games to watch that I can remember -- unless you happen to be an Oklahoma fan.

At the beginning, it looked as though O.U. would run away with the game, but that was not to be.

At the end of regular time, Georgia and Oklahoma were tied -- 48 to 48.

The game went into two overtime periods and with the high scores, it made for a very interesting and fun game to watch.

After 102 points scored, Georgia wound up on top 54 to 48, a stunning defeat for Oklahoma. This essentially was the only "college" game that we watched this year -- it sure was worth seeing.

And to top the day off -- a Super Moon! The picture to the left is of the house across the street with the moon appearing above it.

It was amazing to see and I believe we are due another super moon at the end of the month.

The moon appears in the east as we get ready for bed and is hung up in the western sky when we are getting up, we enjoy seeing it! (we are old)

Now, I know that it is horrible weather in the East and Midwest, but on the west coast, the weather is "doable" at the moment.

Dino is enjoying the backyard with moderate temperatures while Buttercup (Lisa & Bob's dog)
enjoys running in the snow that fell for Christmas in Washington State.

Since last week though it has rained here for a couple of days -- a good thing -- and the snow in Arlington, Washington has melted -- also a good thing.

So, here we are in the 6th day of the new year and on the 4th day, our region had a 4.4 earthquake.
We did not feel it here in Healdsburg, but it was centered on the Hayward fault line near Berkeley. That may have significant meaning as that fault line historically has a major quake about every 150 years or so AND it has been 150 years since the last one there . . .

So we have enjoyed several days so far of the new year, but we have to wonder "What's Next"?
There's political issues, health-related issues (the flu epidemic) recreational pot issues (here in California) tax issues and just plain issues. Some -- same old, same old.

We just found out that one of our favorite game show hosts was in the hospital recently for brain surgery.

Thank goodness he was in the news for something health related and NOT for anything else like what has happened to so many well known male personalities.

Apparently, Alex took a fall a couple of months ago and it was discovered that he had blood clots (subdural hematomas) and they had to be removed.

We saw his "YouTube" explanation and were glad to hear that his prognosis is good for a full recovery and that he'll be back on Jeopardy regularly very soon.

They are saying that there will be almost no break in the showing of the program. We have frequently mentioned how different the show would be without Alex -- we wish him a speedy and full recovery!

Gail and I have watched Jeopardy for over twenty-five years and we enjoy it and look forward to being a part of it as we attempt to answer the questions along with the contestants. What would really be fun would be to see "someone" we personally knew as a contestant. It could happen . . .

What else is going on this first week of 2018? NFL activities of course.

First, there are the playoff games taking place today and tomorrow.

We'll probably watch at least parts of both games today unless they are unfun . . .

We kind of pull for the Chiefs and then for the Rams, but are okay if the other teams outplay and outsmart them.

Sunday's games, just pulling for the Panthers . . .

And then next week -- more playoff games.

But big news for Jon Gruden. I've enjoyed his commentary on ESPN the last few years and it is evident that he "knows" football.

But now that he is likely to reenter the realm of "head coach" again -- some teams are not wanting him to have any access to their inside plans because he will be a competitor. $100 million contract, too bad it is with an organization that many of us have little respect for . . .

Also this week I have been busy adding leaves to the family tree.

Check out "our tree" on Ancestry.com and you'll see that there are more leaves this week.

I have been in contact with yet another "Heil" possible relative and hope to one day make the connection with her "Heil's" and our Hiles.

I do maintain a separate "Heil" tree on Amazon.com as well -- and her tree and mine share a lot of the same folks.

I hope that we are getting close to the day when we can welcome more of the folks that I share DNA matches with, into a common tree.

The other main focus for me this week happened to be with a Gillette family. But this Gillette family appears in Gail's branch. Of course, I have a "ton" of Gilletts in my branch and I believe there is the possibility that eventually those also will be joined into a common branch.

As I have mentioned before -- Gail and I, according to Ancestry DNA, are likely 4th Cousins. We just haven't been able to make that connection via our tree branches -- yet. It could happen.

That is a bit of our first week of 2018. We can hardly wait for things to unfold in the coming weeks of this even-numbered new year. Happy New Year!  See you all "in a few"! 😎