Late fall 2020

In November we decided to release Reggie from his quarantine in the back bedroom and see what happened. Cats do not easily adjust to new social hierarchies and it became clear early on that Tundra was not going to relinquish his top cat status. Unlike the Siberians, Reggie is a food-motivated prowler. Instead of chillaxing during the day, he likes to roam around, which sets up territorial altercations where King Tun confronts and chases him snarling back to the bedroom. Refereeing the constant battles between Reggie and Tundra was our main November activity. Thanks to tips from Jackson Galaxy's TV show, we learned to set up catification and how to distract them with play to defuse fights over food. None of the catfights were truly vicious and we think that Reggie will be able to integrate, completing our Brady Bunch household with Dave and the 3 boy cats vs Heather and the girls. 

Erin prepped for cross-country Junior Olympics with night practices 3 times a week

but right before the last meet of the season, Rhode Island was added to the Massachusetts restricted travel list and Erin's club cancelled the meet to close the season. Too bad because Erin's 11-12 yr-old team would have qualified for Nationals and we were prepared to travel to Lexington, KY for the meet (and maybe to visit Camp Nelson and Mill Springs, 2 minor Civil War sites that were recently upgraded to full NPS status. Senator Mitch brought home the pork)

The cake tasted great

Tai-Tai's new banana cat bed

For Thanksgiving we tried out this PA-derived recipe

Roasted chicken was an improvement over turkey

Caroline after setting a new PR for our Turkey Trot around the Arlington Reservoir. Erin's new running watch told us that the loop is only 0.95 miles but we'll still call it a mile. Dave claims to still be enjoying his new Rocky Mountain red blood cells and set a PR with 6:54.

This puzzle sat in our closet unopened for 20 years but turned out to be a crowd pleaser 

While Heather was staying with her Dad in FL, we braved the elements to find our Xmas tree

My favorite ornament is this handmade guy received when my parents lived in Pittsburgh

Tundra's favorite activity is licking the gingerbread house the moment after it arrived

Our first snow of the year

froze ice on our packages

With reservations limited to 15 people, it felt like we had the whole ice rink to ourselves

Tessie earned a triple decker cake for her 8th birthday

Celebrating #46

Katy and her kids visited over our birthday weekend. We had hoped to do Boda Borg, but the week before their arrival BB had to close due to COVID increases. Instead we enjoyed late fall outdoor activities. This was the start of a 22-mile ride through Lexington up the Battle Road to Concord, across to Bedford, and back home down the Minuteman Bikeway.

The last time Katy and celebrated together was #40. On our 46th b-day, we still didn't know who would be our 46th POTUS. 

Up to Ipswich and the Crane estate

For years I have wanted to head out to western Mass for their annual cider event, Cider Days, held on the 1st Saturday in November. Katy, Heather, and I dumped the kids and headed out there. This year the orchards accommodated COVID precautions, such as offering drive-by tastings. These were 4 fresh ciders that could be bought by the gallon for homebrewing. They were...interesting.

This is the most well-known MA cidery and its hard ciders were a hit

So many apple varieties at this place, including one called Davey

Ever been to a taphouse with only cider flights on the menu? Artifact Cider Project introduced us to a variety of styles. Katy noted that some have a wang and some don't and we preferred the wangless ones.

New Salem Orchards served up its one variety in glass growlers and it was the best of the day. 

On the road we heard that Pennsylvania had been called for Biden

Apples, cider doughnuts, fresh cider, and hard cider - that's a complete haul from a day at the orchards

Tessie's tricky note

Hehe

Tessie's last soccer practice

Path to beach

Ringing bells on November 7th

October 2020

This fall Caroline played Ultimate Frisbee

True story. This version of my scalp has the optimistic 23 hairs but later versions are reduced to only 10.

My company sponsored my genome sequencing as an event to educate us about modern genomic medicine. It was done through MGH with 30x coverage of the full genome and they sent us a thumb drive with the sequencing data. I was screened for 15 medically actionable mutations (ApoE4, BRCA2, etc) and did not have any of those. 90% of us are carriers for diseases that don't manifest because of our one good gene copy and I am a carrier for a kidney disease and a blood disorder. Good to know. Then there is the fun part: the SNPs for heritable traits. I learned that both copies of my MC1R gene have mutations that prevents my skin from producing melanin and puts me at risk for melanoma, but gives me red hair. I am homozygous for the SNP for autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst syndrome, which makes me sneeze in bright sunlight. And then there was the most surprising one: that T at the cursor means that both copies of my ABC11 gene have premature stop codons that make the protein nonfunctional. ABC11 is a transporter found in sweat glands that releases body odor precursor molecules. People with ABC11 mutations produce way less body odor and the mutation is found in >85% of east Asians but only <2% of Europeans. It's true that I don't get BO and the SNP also links with dry earwax, which I have. Actually this resolved a mystery between Heather and I because I don't use deodorant and she always thought this was gross, whereas I couldn't understand why she needs deodorant if she showers regularly. It's not her fault, she's genetically stinky.

The third and final Lotus Trilogy box arrived, 6 years after I placed the order with Kagen Sound. 

I slept in the back bedroom for a couple weeks to keep Reggie company and save my back until our new mattress arrived

During out-of-school weeks Reggie is an honorary member of Erin's homeroom

dave's leadership qualities are good for left hand typing practice

Heather says that watching cat videos is proven to lower stress

Right before Halloween we had a cold snap and snow that stuck

As usual, my homegrown pumpkin was extra thick with tons of seeds

Apt costumes for the weather

This year Aunt Claire convinced us celebrate Samhain, the pagan holiday of harvest's end that spawned Halloween. It involves candles

and pouring liquid back to the earth as thanks for the bounty

Usually I enforce a you-want-it, you-carry-it policy on candy, but because of the snow and the cold, I offered a once-in-a-lifetime drive-by loot bag swap

And look at that loot. Without all that doorbell nonsense, this year's haul was huge

So much for the Siberian heritage

You can see the snow melting to water vapor

Why can't they all just get along?