Peterson Family Update, #53401-12A Tau

 What, ho!  It's time for another bulleted list!

• So, the Rivian R1T is absolutely brilliant in snowy weather.  We went to drop off the Volt at the dealership to get checked out on Wednesday morning of the big snow, and it did not care about any of the drifts or whatever else.  Having all of that power instantly, a motor on each wheel, and a low center of gravity, it was unbothered by whatever weirdness was thrown at it.  So we weathered the snowmageddon pretty cleanly.  
• Andy also was excited to participate in a time-honored tradition of owning a pickup truck:  helping a friend move.  He's been delighted to share and answer questions and, yes, he has an Instagram specifically for Tutti.  
• Luna was less thrilled about the snow but did decently well with it anyway, a healthy bit of confused at all the stuff but figured out how to pee again eventually, out of desperation if nothing else.  Sometimes when we go on walks we reenact scenes from Bambi, but she's still happy to go outside.
• I'm getting back in the pool once more, and swimming my last mile I was contemplating how there has to be a fair bit of grace in the movement, each stroke flowing with the water.  Once again, mindfulness of my body in space and how that correlated with the success of the pull, how my energy dissipated into each kick, it made for some quick laps.  
• Mike got a kick-ass new tattoo, and is already planning on the next.
• We got a few new boardgames lately, which has involved some collective, constructive arguing over rule interpretation as we try to figure it out together.  A few names to pull out:  Doomlings, Killbots, and The Lost Ruins of Arnak.  The latter has been particularly interesting.  Major game mechanics heavily features resource gathering and, oddly enough, deck building--research can be fun and very rewarding!  And so can exploring unknown territories.  And fighting monsters.  It's scoring reminds me of Seven Wonders, and turning resources into advancements works like Settlers of Catan.  

Plus, the theming is a heap of fun--still better archeology than Indiana Jones

• Work has been six kinds of nutty, with not only patients racking up the Covid count, but a handful of nurses out for various reasons (vacations, life, etc.).  Staffing continues to be...tricky:  the hospital is FULL.  As soon as one patient leaves, housekeeping rolls right in, and we start working on another admission.  Keep moving; keep running; keep breathing.  And yet, while the busy is a certain flavor of exhausting, it still feels as though I'm in the right place.  More and more, I feel that I'm meshing into my team, feeling more that my unique presence is appreciated and not just having more hands around.  I'm still learning a lot.  I'm getting better at other things.  I'm asking a lot of questions.  
• I made an impulse buy the other day.  I bought a Kalimba (picture below).  It's a small hand piano, a box that fits comfortably in both hands that I use my thumbs to make gentle cords and sounds.  I've found it quite soothing--it's like making my own meditation soundtrack.  I'll figure out how to get a video of it in a future blog at some point.  

• Starting to look toward using some vacation time for, well, actual vacations.  Got a plan to go on a roadtrip to see some friends in March and a family vacation in May that is starting to take shape.  I had forgotten how much I can enjoy planning trips, even small ones.  Andy and I are set to hit our ten-year anniversary in May--we have not ruled out a larger trip at the end of the year, maybe Iceland, to celebrate as we are not strict in our household on celebrating on the "correct" day.  We'll, of course, have to see what the situation with Covid is at that time, since we are continuing to be cautious in this household as we cannot afford to do otherwise.
• It's good to find something resembling a rhythm again after the holidays.