It has been a long, l-o-n-g time since I blogged about what’s happening in my life. Let’s fix that.

• I got a new car which arrived a couple weeks ago. It is a Hyundai Tucson hybrid (not the plug-in kind, those are not sold in the Midwest), and I am still deciding if I like it.

• Good points: it has AWD, necessary in our climate; it is a hybrid, so gas mileage is significantly better; the dashboard graphic that shows how much power is going to each wheel is fun to watch; it has a cordless charging spot for my phone and probably my iWatch; two USB ports in front, 2 more in back.
• But all the other features boggle my mind! I am fairly tech-savvy and Mensa-qualified, but this car intimidates me.
• My strategy, which will probably work, is every day or three to pick one feature and figure it out with help from the owner’s manual. First was the cruise control; I had sort of figured it out when I first drove it home from Eau Claire, where we bought it. Later I studied the owner’s manual and tried a few things, and now I think I have conquered it.
• Next is the supposedly automatic door locks and keyless entry. My Nissan Rogue simply required that I have the key fob in my pocket to unlock the doors and start the car. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Tucson. The Hyundai owner’s manual is strangely obtuse on this subject.
• Today, while waiting for someone to finish his doctor’s appointment (not Smokey), I set about trying to figure out the key thing. I managed to set up remote start, which will be nice — it can also turn on the heater or a/c and set it to a particular temperature. But in the process I also managed to disable the fob from allowing me to start the car at all. Yikes.
• Eventually I used the fob to lock and unlock all the doors, kinda like rebooting. That worked, whew.

• The week before Christmas Smokey also got a new car, but his is not brand new, just new to him. His 1992 Isuzu Trooper needed a fair bit of work, and he decided that (since we are now rich, after having sold the Minneapolis house) rather than spend several $thousand$ to have it fixed, he would simply junk it and find a replacement. Said replacement is a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.

• He had a Land Cruiser back in the 1980s, it was an older model that the previous owner had used as a tractor on his farm.
• Smokey loved it.
• But it had way too many problems that eventually forced him to junk it.
• Now he has a newer, better one, and he loves it, too.
• This one has air conditioning so he can drive it comfortably year-round.
• I managed to get my car stuck in the driveway a couple days ago, so he got to test out the FJ’s pulling power. It took several hard tugs, but it got my car out of the rock-hard snowbank at the edge of the driveway. Score!

• Smokey has RSV (or perhaps just a really horrible cold) and has been miserably confined to his bed for four six days. I do not seem to have caught it ::fingers crossed:: A friend told me that another friend has had it for 16(!) weeks. I’m not sure I can survive 16 weeks of being the main householder. It would significantly cut into my knitting and reading time.
• I seem to have evaded his germs somehow, yay. He is on the mend, just needing more rest than usual.

• I don’t think I ever disclosed our Christmas plans on the blog.,
• We had a sort-of-family reunion-we’re-getting-the-band-back-together kind of thing.
• It happened at the Sturgeon Bay lighthouse keeper’s house where we stayed back in later September.
• Elder Son and Amanda (DIL) flew in from New Mexico, Younger Son joined us from Minneapolis, and Smokey’s brother Bob drove up from Illinois.
• Christmas weekend and the few days before were subzero with blizzard conditions. ES&Amanda’s flight from Phoenix was only an hour late; I picked them up at the airport and drove to Eau Claire, where we spent the night and continued the trip the next day.
• Smokey and Younger Son had gone a day earlier (in his new FJ Cruiser!) to take all our bedding, clothes, and food, plus the three dogs.
• It was completely marvelous to have everyone together. It was also extremely lucky to be able to do it at that time of year — no illnesses, no cancelled flights, no roads closed due to weather conditions.
• ES&Amanda had flown Southwest from Phoenix. When that airline had its meltdown they were already safely at the lighthouse but worried about their return flight the next weekend.
• Just for the piece of mind, he bought them one-way tickets on Delta to get back.
• As it turned out, their return flight was not cancelled, so they were not entitled to a refund, but at least they had no worries about it.

And now the big news (talk about burying the lede!) My Christmas present from Amanda:

She said, “Turn it around.”

She said, “Flip up the paper.”

Yes, that is an ultrasound of their baby in utero. (Smokey got the same present, but his chocolates were dark chocolate, which he prefers.) All the fertility treatments and hormone shots and egg implantations finally worked! Baby is due in July, Amanda has morning sickness, but all is well. When I saw that ultrasound I exploded out of my chair to give her a big hug. I have never yearned for grandchildren and was more-or-less neutral on the whole subject, but suddenly it is a joy to be anticipated.