The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey February 22, 2026

22 February 2026

Condolences For my brother-in-law, Michael Ellison, who passed last Monday after a short battle with an aggressive cancer, rest in peace. My thoughts are with my sister Barbara and their adult children, Rob and Alex. Over the next five days, I'm expecting over a foot of snow. Two big days, Monday and Friday, and two light days, Wednesday and Thursday. So plenty of opportunity exercise through snow shoveling in my near future. Not terribly surprising, since that bloody rodent saw its shadow. Last year, the six extra weeks of winter were 12 extra weeks up here in the northern reaches.

Brian Bilbrey January 31, 2026

31 January 2026

A Busy Saturday Temperatures got down to -6°F last night, now it's early afternoon, and so far I've: So yeah, a fruitful and productive day so far... Yeah, so three months left in this phase of my working life. Right now the thought isn't as freeing as I'd hoped - I worry a bit about how they'll do in my absence... but in the real world, that becomes not my problem, come the end of April. Sadly (and properly sadly), I'm still popping awake with some regularity in the middle of the night, thinking I heard Marcia calling out for…

Brian Bilbrey January 18, 2026

18 January 2026

New Year Blues Nothing serious, just going back and fixing the last couple of post title dates from 2025 to 2026. Meanwhile January weather is like a bouncy castle, too warm for a little while, then back to cold again. I hear voices asking if warm is such a bad thing... well, yeah. It's not actually warm, just high 30's to low 40's. First, it turns all the fluffy icy stuff into a slushy mess that's miserable to walk through, and still very slippery. Then when it gets cold again, sheet ice, no bueno. Yesterday, I was due for less…

Brian Bilbrey January 11, 2026

11 January 2026

Long Arm Quilting Machine For sale ... Sold! Most of Marcia's sewing machines had designated recipients in her list of bequests. Linda Rose and her sister Mary got whatever they wanted, and took home two machines and a bunch of fabric and batting and whatnot. Kayla and her friend got a bunch of fabrics, a couple of quilt kits, and the serger. More problematic was the Handiquilter long arm machine, along with its computer, and 13' x 5' frame. Important to me is that it finds a home with someone who will use and love it, but for whom the…

Brian Bilbrey January 5, 2026

05 January 2026

Changes Today I pulled the trigger and sent the email notifying the company of my retirement date: 30 April 2026. Counting today, 81 business days left. Of that, I'll be attempting to take vacation days off here and there, which with luck brings the actual working day count down to 63. Tick, tock. So what's the plan, you ask? For the next four months, I'll max out my 401K and Roth contributions for the eight pay periods I'll have to work with. I'll figure out what my path forward is on Medicare (since I turn 65 in April). And I'll…