Is my excuse for being absent so long -- since early November -- that the winter has been so mild? If it had been severe, I'd have had that excuse! So I don't have an excuse.

Meantime, New York City is digging out of a record-breaking 26.9 inches of snow that fell on Sunday. Ironically, we were sorry not to be there: to experience it, and to share it with our friends. But we were less sorry on Monday, when it was a work day, and still less sorry on Tuesday, when it was producing record-sized puddles.

Our septic tank died a couple of weeks ago. Nobody knew where the darn thing was exactly, though we had been told the general area. There was no visible indication on the ground surface.

The plumber had to bring in his backhoe (ditch witch). After several hours of digging, he found a clay pipe -- seven feet down! The next day he dug a trench, following the pipe, and after several more hours, found the 40-year-old tank, a concrete and cinderblock affair that was worn to within an inch of being gone completely! Roots were growing through the pipe fittings, clogging the works.

Once the new tank comes and they install it (and a new drain field), the plumber's going to bury and abandon the old tank, like Chernobyl!

Welcome, as my daughter says, to home ownership!

But we're happy. The place looks great, we're working hard, the baby's got two teeth, the animals are healthy, and it's almost about to be spring!

Happy (old) New Year, friends! May this year bring you all the blessings of health and happiness, peace and productivity.