A new year is here and I've been trying to come up with some fresh ideas. From the get-go, trying to come up with fresh ideas is an old idea.

As I recall from an editorial I wrote once, New Year's resolutions have been around since the Babylonian empire.

Even so, it always seems like a good idea to ‘turn over a new leaf,' even if that leaf is frozen into the icy crust on your driveway after half a tree landed there on Christmas.

Speaking of fresh starts, the year certainly has gotten off to a good start for me. I got up Sunday morning and the hot water had frozen in the house—not the cold water, just the hot water. Go figure. Then I went outside to start the truck and, after it turned over for some five seconds, the starter just clicked and quit. I love diesel engines in the wintertime! Maybe I should have opted for that optional block heater.

I also have been scorching though my firewood and I have yet to have an opportunity during daylight hours to get out there and bust up some wood. Even if I had the time, I'm not sure I would have done it anyway. The past few mornings I arose to find the temperatures in the single digits. Therefore, I'm figuring that I might have to hope for the weather to turn or else I'm going to find myself outside with temperatures way below freezing. I usually try to stay inside when it gets below 20 and I really don't like to work when it's much below 50, let alone below freezing.

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I did have some positive things happen last weekend, when I finally got the new floor completely installed in the house in Ennice. I finally opted to put in laminate flooring, which I had used before and was fairly familiar with.

Now that job's down to one water heater element and a little floor trim, along with cleaning everything up. I'm very glad the work is substantially finished, since I have only a couple of weeks left before my ultimate deadline to have it all done. It looks like I'm going to make it, barring any unforeseen problems.

It's been a whirlwind of activity for the past few months. I spent a good deal of my holidays working on the house, including Christmas eve day and New Year's Day.

It's a good thing I'm nearly finished, I'm fresh out of holidays.

Speaking of holidays, I recently thought back to that night just before the big snow, the one that still covers most of the real estate in this county. I went to to see my kids perform in the school Christmas production. I ended up finding a nice seat about five rows back in the middle, which would have been a perfect place from which to take photos. However, I had left my camera at the office.

I recognized the lady in front of me from a social networking Web site who happened to have a really nice camera and lens with her. Just to break the ice, I asked her a question about something she had written on the Internet. "So, did you get your Christmas tree up yet?"

She looked genuinely startled, having a look of surprise on her face that indicated she was really wondering from whence I got my information. Instead of adding to it with something like, "We're watching you," I decided to explain.

After she understood, I also noted that the same thing happens to me sometimes. Someone with whom I seldom or even never talk will see me and ask about something like, "How's the house coming along?" Sometimes it takes me aback until I realize that they're referencing the column.

If you write about it in the newspaper, everyone knows about it. I suppose social networking sites are the same way, only reaching a potentially much larger audience.

As I was telling this story to the lady in front of me, the lady beside me, whose name I failed to get, mentioned that she reads the column. It is a small world, I thought. Well, at least a small town. We were all kidding about the snow coming and I told them that the best way to tell if it is going to snow is to go to the grocery store. If they still have milk and bread, you have nothing to worry about.

As it turned out, the lady in front of me agreed to take some pictures for me.

The camera that I did have, a little point and shoot, was woefully inadequate for taking far-away photos in low light, but I still tried anyway.

Just a couple seats down sat some friends from church, so I turned the camera on the little girl with them, playing a bit of peek-a-boo. She's probably about three and most likely thought I was nuts, but that's OK. She might be right. But I really like to play with kids.

All the while, that child was looking at the child who sat in front of me with the woman who had the nice camera.

As I sat there watching them play, I also managed to take pictures of the lady's young daughter with my small camera as she used her mother's camera.

It reminded me of my own daughter, who used to try to imitate me by taking pictures or notes while I cover news events.

Once we went to a meeting together before she could write and she sat beside me and ‘took notes' by scribbling on the paper as I recorded the happenings at the meeting and she copied me.

I'm not sure if I saved those ‘notes' she made or not, but I should have. I try to save as many of the kids' papers as I can, knowing that one day I will really enjoy reminiscing while sorting back through them. On many other weekend assignments, I've taken my family. It's always good to do things together before they grow up and realize they're ashamed of you.
 

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