January
Happy New Year!
I borrowed this phrase because I love the sound of it.
"Let's shed the old snake skin, and find our horsepower!"
2026 is the year of the horse, you know?
And 2025 was the year of the snake.
1/31/2026.
UPDATE: We called AAA battery service and he came (!) to the rescue. After all, we had to replace the old model battery to the brand new one. Now, everything is good to go, even under the freezing conditions. Whew.
Entry#524. 1/31/2026.
Our Sienna 2019 minivan with hand control system has been having a little trouble with a battery. Since the outside temperature gets extreme cold, it didn't start several mornings. After we noticed it at the first time, my husband purchased two things, a long length cable and a Nico boost HD. I needed to master how to use these two things.
Even "jump start with a cable" still makes me feel uncomfortable because I'm not getting used to it yet.
I'm getting almost familiar with it because it didn't start in these 2-3 days. It was just fine with doing a jump start. Then it didn't work at all in this morning. I freaked out very much. Under this coldness, I was panicking.... We need to find out about our minivan before next week's classes.
In my brain, my thinking always goes like this; "My husband needs this minivan for his everyday routines. Especially in this snow weather." Wish us luck.
You know? To able bodied people (like me), I could just walk to the places even in deep snow roads. How about wheelchair?
1/30/2026.
The Icicle above a gas meter update: I tried to measure the size of ice block from the inside at 11:00am today. You might love to see it. It was quite a good size, wasn't it?
Then when I checked it again at 1:00pm, guess what?
It's GONE! I guess the Sun beamed to it directly. It melted a tiny bit even it was extreme cold. Then Icicle slid down on the board?? Funny? Well, to me personally, it is a good experiment in a cold weather.
1/29/2026.
The first week of the Spring semester 2026. We need to remember the amount of snow.
1/28/2026.
My gas meter update: As I wrote yesterday (1/27/2026), I put a wooden board tilting to a gas meter to prevent ice building up. The board saves my gas meter so far. See the photos? (The views from the inside of my house.) A new ice block is forming. Yes, it's that much coooooold outside.
1/27/2026.
I wrote about my top3 favorite movies on 2/15/2025.
1. Scent of a Woman (1992).
2. Meet Joe Black (1998).
3. Apollo 13 (1995).
I want to add one more here.
https://the-art-of-autism.com/review-of-the-worlds-fastest-indian/
4. The World's fastest Indian (2005) I love Anthony Hopkins very much. How about you?
Entry#523. 1/27/2026.
We bought this house in 2008. Our first house ever in the State. I had no knowledge about being a homeowner. I’ve learned and still am learning about how to take care of our house.
I had a bad experience when we reinstalled new gutters (with covers). I got water leak problems (because of the wrong installation of the covers).
Since then I learned “I need to watch and check downspouts and extensions REGULARLY”. No exception right after heavy snowfall. So I did the duty this time as well.
I dug up and made sure there was a clearance at the end of the extension. Everyone does this, yes?
How about a “gas meter”? I’ve been noticing my gas meter in freezing temperatures. Just because there are two exterior exhaust vents right above a gas meter, a big chunk of ICE builds up. Well, I noticed it. But I didn’t take any action about it. Bad me. This time, I found the big ice. I thought I should do something to remove it.
I put a plastic container tilting and covering the top of the ice to prevent dripping more from the above. The Sun was shining this afternoon. The sunshine beamed to the ice through a plastic container. A few hours later, the chunk of ice was broken OFF! Hurray.
Then I switched to the big wooden board to make a kind of “roof” cover for a gas meter. It works now. Water drips are still coming down from exhaust vents, but it stays on the board (building up ice on the board). For now, it should be fine temporarily, I assume. I feel much better now.
How do you manage “taking care of your house” stuff all year long? Especially in this extreme cold weather?? I’m still learning more.
See two vents right above a gas meter? And a block of ice?
1/26/2026.
My Thanksgiving cactus update: This pot wasn't fully blooming on Christmas Day, but look at them now in snowy January. It's blooming again. How about yours?
Entry#522. 1/25/2026.
I’m a little bit overwhelmed with a big amount of snow today. I love snow and I like shoveling because it reminds me of my father in Sapporo, Japan. However this snow wore me out very much. I spent 6 hours(!) from 10:00am to 4:00pm at my driveway to shovel. (Wow.) And it’s still snowing at 6:00pm. I need to shovel one more time, I guess.
But I had a great moment during my shoveling. I was too excited and I acted so odd just as usual (if you know me, you can guess easily).
When I was shoveling near my mailbox, two people came out from nowhere (to me). They started shoveling my neighbors’ driveways. I didn’t recognize who they were, but we greeted anyway, saying hello. I was amazed at their thoughtful action very much, shoveling the neighborhood. It turned out that they were (kind of) new in town, and moved in the house at the corner of my street. I think I saw them several times, but I’ve not greeted them officially. So I was glad I met them officially on the snowy day.
The most exciting part of this greeting was “they are Oxford Free Press Editor and Reporter!”
Entry#521. 1/24/2026.
We have Winter storm warning and Cold weather advisory. The forecast says we might have 12 in snow(!) I should be ready for shoveling that amount of snow. My husband gave me a minivan cover. So I tried to put it on this time. We need to see how it works for the snow. Let's see.
You might wonder "how I manage to handle the huge size of the cover to cover up whole minivan all by myself." I am 4' 11", small. It was not too bad after all, better than I expected.
Also fingers crossed for "no electricity outages". Please let us have electricity. Stay safe and stay warm, everyone.
1/22/2026.
Our son invaded my kitchen again for baking his original basque cheesecake.
It sounds like there is a co-workers gathering tonight at one of his bosses' house. He planned he was going to bring his cheesecake! Hurray for our son. Yes, it made me smile huge.
Entry#520. 1/20/2026.
Our house was built in 1980. We bought this house in 2008. It's 46 years old now in 2026. (Wow.) Our house have many windows. We can have many sunshine into the house which I love very much. I know it's an old house. But I still love it. However I also know there are many places to fix/replace. I just cannot do everything all at once. I put several things aside for now. One of them is "doors and windows", you know? They have to be upgraded because it's been the same ones since 1980 (that sounds scary).
Also I don't have much knowledge about great quality doors and windows. I tried something in this winter. 2 kinds of boxes. I tried them anyway.
I'm not sure how much popular those products in general. But so far so good. I feel it's working pretty well. The looks itself doesn't fancy, but it's not so bad. You might laugh. At least in this winter, we will survive. Yes, I know I wish we could live in the brand new house.
Entry#519. 1/20/2026.
Since I’m getting into a cycling world and learning about both bicycles (mechanical stuffs) and biking (riding techniques), I put some Bike Quiz here. It’s gonna be fun for everyone. How many did you get the right answers?
(The order is irregular.)
2- Which country is known as the “bicycle country” because of its extensive bike paths and bike culture?
A. Denmark
B. The Netherlands
C. France
D. Germany
8- What does the acronym BMX stand for?
A. Bicycle Motocross
B. Bike Maximum X-treme
C. Basic Motor Experiment
D. Bicycle Mountain Expedition
10- Which part of the bike was invented by John Boyd Dunlop?
A. The gear system
B. The brake
C. The pneumatic tire
D. The saddle
11- What is a peloton in cycling?
A. A type of bike
B. A solo rider
C. A main group of riders
D. A closing event
12- What is a bike ride called where participants dress up?
A. Bike rally
B. Tweed Run
C. Bike marathon
D. Cyclocross
15- What is the main reason for using carbon fiber in bike frames?
A. To improve the color
B. For strength and lightweight
C. To save costs
D. For better shock absorption
19- What does the term “gravel bike” stand for?
A. A bike specifically designed for beach races
B. A versatile bike suitable for both unpaved roads and asphalt
C. A mountain bike with extra wide tires
D. A road bike with a single-gear system
20- Which innovation in the bike field is attributed to the Wright brothers?
A. The first flying bike
B. The first electric bike
C. The self-stabilizing bike wheel
D. The first bike rental company
21- What is the main function of spokes in a bike wheel?
A. Decoration
B. To support the wheel and distribute the weight
C. To make noise to warn pedestrians
D. To reduce wind resistance
23- In which country was the first bike path constructed?
A. France
B. The Netherlands
C. United States
D. Germany
17- What is a bike design called where the rider pedals in a reclining position?
A. Tandem bike
B. Recumbent bike
C. Mountain bike
D. Hybrid bike
6- How many tires are produced worldwide annually for bikes?
A. About 100 million
B. About 2 billion
C. About 500 million
D. About 1 billion
Source: https://perrytours.eu/en/blog/tips/bike-quiz/
Answers:
2- B. The Netherlands
8- A. Bicycle Motocross
10- C. The pneumatic tire
11- C. A main group of riders
12- B. Tweed Run
15- B. For strength and lightweight
19- B. A versatile bike suitable for both unpaved roads and asphalt
20- C. The self-stabilizing bike wheel
21- B. To support the wheel and distribute weight
23- C. United States
17- B. Recumbent bike
6- B. About 2 billion
Entry#518. 1/19/2026.
After my husband grabbed me into the handcycle world, I’ve learned a lot about bicycles and I’ve tried to maintain machines as much as I could. I’m not a real mechanic at all, I struggle often. That’s true. To be honest, if I can work on hahdcycle/bicycle all day long without any house chores, I could be a good at any bicycle maintenance and repair. However the reality is not that way. Also if I don’t bicycle stuffs everyday continuously, I would forget about the details quickly. That’s sad and not ideal. So I struggle often. Even so, I try to do my best anyway.
Our beloved nonprofit organization “The Bridge adaptive sports and rec” had an event tonight called “Handcycling FIX-IT workshop”. And my husband and I went there. (We survived the brutal breezing coldness. Brrrr.)
They own pretty good amounts of machines now thanks to many donations and great grants. I’m impressed. Then they need some help to “maintain and fix” those machines. I can imagine how hard it’d be without having their own professional bike technician/mechanic. It is hard.
Their collection looks like these. See?
There were about 15 people showed up, including two bike professionals. I pumped as much as I could. That was the only thing I could do by myself with a conference. It was a good gathering. I hope they can find some basic-routine regularly to maintain good condition of handcycle. It was a good reminder to me to maintain my husband’s machines’ good condition as well. It’s not a seasonal thing, it is all year long and forever thing definitely.
1/18/2026.
A quick question about Wizard of Oz the musical. You are laughing, aren’t you?
Of course, there is Toto in the show, both the motion picture movie and the broadway musical. I think that the first musical show was performed with a real dog on the stage. That sounds quite a remarkable and interesting effort indeed. So as my understanding, the broadway musical has been using a real dog as Toto. Wonderful.
How about local youth productions? Do they use a real dog, too??? I need to find out about it in March here in Hamilton, Ohio. What do you think?
Entry#517. 1/18/2026.
Our son (age 23) sometimes surprises us with his baking skills. He baked “basque cheesecake” all by himself. I’ve never baked this type of cheesecake before. I was amazed at the different technique for this cheesecake.
His “baking switch” or “baking mode” or “baking mood” would turn on before we know it. This time, when my husband and I went out for a coffee shop, it was like “the kitchen is all yours” to him. He spent almost all day in the kitchen to bake “Vanilla Bean Choux au Craquelin” (=Cookie Cream Puffs).
Have you heard about it? Have you seen it? Have you eaten it?
When my husband and I came home, the smell of house was heavenly, you know? It was so wonderful and sweet.
I’m impressed, amazed and happy that our son enjoys baking unique sweets and shares them with us.
Entry#516. 1/17/2026.
It was in August 2016, I guess. 10 years ago. I worked at the local public library (Lane Public library) as a shelver (page). It was after the new building opened in 2015. I made wonderful library workers friends there at that time. We had such a great connection each other.
We had several ladies-nights together. Our laughter was always precious, fun and forever.
We had a Musical show outing one time. We all hopped on a minivan and drove up to Richmond, IN. 35 min driving. We visited a restaurant for dinner right before the show.
It was "The kitchen at the Loft". https://www.pal-item.com/story/news/local/2018/11/02/richmond-depot-district-eatery-kitchen-loft-closes/1856994002/
I still remember how sweet this place was.
The show title was “Mary Poppins the musical” at the Richmond Civic Theatre.
Guess what now?
I wrote on 1/08/2026 about the coming up Musical show “Wizard of Oz” which I definitely will go to watch by myself for 90% sure.
This my favorite production “Rise Up performance arts” announced this new season show lineup. It made me “happy dance” all afternoon long. You must be laughing now.
Yes, you guessed right.
The Marty Poppins the musical is coming in fall 2026! Hurray! I guess this year is my year! Yes, yes, I definitely will go to this show. Because I want to watch that movements of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” once again. My dream will come true. Wow. How do you think about it?
1/15/2026.
You have to laugh at me because I was totally wrong. I chatted with my wonderful bird-expert friend today. I showed her a magazine picture.
This picture made me research about white cardinals. However this bird wasn't a cardinal at all!!! It is a Pyrrhuloxia!!!
I am embarrassed. Now I learned something new.
She introduced me a bird ID app, as well. She made me happy really.
1/14/2026.
Well, here we go again into a single digit temperature winter time. Coooold. At least I put up some blue color on my fence so that I could smile every time I see them.
However, on strong windy days, like today, some of them are blown away. Funny.
1/13/2026.
I have several birds-expert friends around me in this town. My next-nextdoor friend is one of them. I always ask her some questions about birds, any kinds of birds. She always has answers for me. I wrote a question on 12/20/2025. It was about a "yellow cardinal".
I have another one today. It's about a "White cardinal"(!).
https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-photography/white-cardinal/
I'm a bit familiar with albino because I studied biology in college. Also I used frog eggs for research project. However this white cardinal is not an albino at all. So interesting. How many of birds-experts see this kind?
P.S. In these days, I have to ask my husband same question repeatedly. "Is this AI???" How about you?
Entry#515. 1/12/2026. A Quick update.
When I participate in my husband's adaptive sports events, I'm taking a part of photographing, not being captured in photos. This time, at the Adaptive ski event, was a bit different. Because of this wonderful cheerful lady.
She and her husband have volunteered for The Bridge adaptive for several years now (I believe). Thanks to her (and her great photography skill), I was in some photos with my husband.
It was very cold but we survived anyway.
Do you wonder how it looks like as mono-skier on a lift? Like this.
1/11/2026.
We got white a little bit this morning! Cold and very windy. Well, it's my husband's Sit-ski/Mono-ski day anyway. Wish us luck.
We need to re-read this section all about Adaptive Mono-ski.
The photo is from February 2023.
Entry#514. 1/08/2026.
The Time has come!! I assume that this opportunity is coming to me right on time. There is a youth art performance production in Cincinnati area called Rise Up performance arts. I attended their musical shows once or twice. I really enjoyed it. I do know their Lead Costumer very much. (Thanks to her, I learned about the existence of Costumer. I didn’t know about it at all.)
I borrowed these 3 photos from Talawanda Tribune archive site.
Especially this last one is special to me. I never forget how fabulous these four ladies harmony was.
1/08/2026.
In honor of the Horse Year 2026, here are photos of our son. Have you done horseback riding? I never did....
Entry#513. 1/07/2026.
I was born in 1973 in Japan. There was a great gadget for “stencil” printing on postcards all by yourself(!) at home. Have you heard of it? Or seen it before? I want to show you how it works because I was a big fan of this gadget and I had used it for a long time for my New Year’s Cards (when I was in middle/high schools.
You would love to use it if it’s still available. (Unfortunately it says it discontinued by the manufacturer.).
The product name was “Print Gocco”.
It was a popular at-home printing device produced by Japanese company called Riso Kagaku starting in the late 1970s. Long long long ago.
Thanks to this device, I was able to hand-print my own original design on +100 postcards!
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Yes. I loved it very much.
You can see the step by step process on this website.
I wish I still had my old New Year’s Cards with my design from 1980s, I really want to show you those. Good old memories. This special gadget “Print Gocco” was so popular in Japan in 1980s. Funny though. I asked my husband about it. He never used it in his life. How come?
I guess I had some unique stuffs in my childhood. I looked back on 2/12/2023. It’s very funny. I started writing “I was born in 1973.” on that day, just exact same phrase as today’s entry. I introduced my own old knitting machine(!). I am such an interesting human, don’t you think?
Lastly here is our son’s New Year’s card design in Dragon year. (From the post of 1/04/2024).
龍 (たつ) = Dragon
Entry#512. 1/04/2026.
I wonder. How many Christmas greeting cards did you send to your family/friends last month, by postal mail? Did you use e-cards instead of snail mail?
According to the internet, on average, most people in the States send out 20 to 50 Christmas cards each holiday season. 20-50. Good to know.
Since both my husband and I are Japanese (we are originally from Japan), we have continued making Japanese style New Year’s cards each holiday season. We do it digitally, not snail mail. I don’t send many cards, not 50.
I used to send about 100 New Year’s cards to my friends when I was a high schooler in Japan. I was so proud of myself about that big number of cards. Funny.
I do believe my parents sent many more to their friends and families at that time.
According to other articles, here are Japan facts about Japanese New Year’s cards.
Japan's peak for nengajo (New Year's cards) was around 1993, with roughly 30 cards sent per person.
In 2003, the average number of postcards sent was 35 per person.
These numbers have dramatically fallen with the rising popularity of email and social media. Sending digital nengajo has also become a popular trend. More people in Japan quit sending New Year’s cards.
My parents decided not to send New year’s cards by postal mail anymore because my father’s computer was broken. It sounds a bit sad to me but I understand.
My mother drew about 30 postcards with handwritten notes this season. All handmade designs(!)
Her drawing idea was “making a Horse using Japanese letters of Horse”. It’s like animal doodle alphabet letters.
In Japanese, horse is うま or 馬. Do you see two letters う and ま in her postcards below?
I love her design ideas very much. I admire her a lot for making each postcard with different designs of her original ideas.
We talked on the phone for over 1 hour on New Year’s Day. It was very needed for both of us. Long distance relationships (my mother and I) are sometimes tough. I cannot visit her to see her face right away. Catching up with her on the phone is important to me.
Each year, I would look forward to seeing her original design on her New Year’s card. It’s quite a collection now, you know?
I wrote about her Rabbit design here on 1/11/2023.
Entry#511. 1/04/2025.
The year of the Snake ended and the year of the Horse started now. This time of year, I like thinking about both Chinese zodiac and Japanese zodiac. Basically they are very similar.
I learned about an interesting difference this time from our Chinese couple friends who are now parents of 6 month old baby boy. (The father is a biology professor.)
First, re-read here about my family’s Chinese zodiac animals.Entry#351 (1/19/2025)
In Japan, there are two terms “Toshi-otoko” (年男 としおとこ) and “Toshi-onna” (年女 としおんな).
This year, 2026 is the year our son’s zodiac sign/animal comes around again since 12 years ago. (His Chinese zodiac animal is Horse.) He is “Toshi-otoko”.
See the photo above? It was 2 years ago when our friends visited our house for the first time.
She pointed out her RED socks when we thought back about our gathering. She explained why she wore those red socks. She said “It was the year of the Dragon. My zodiac animal is Dragon. It was my year. That’s why I wore red socks.”
Then they said “This year is your son’s year. The year of the Horse. We will give him red socks next time we meet.”
Okay, that sounds great.
Then my husband and I got curious about “Why red socks??”. They explained to us.
According to internet info, it’s called Ben Ming Nian.
“Ben Ming Nian (本命年in Chinese) refers to the year of zodiac animal in which one was born. In China, each one has his animal sign that is determined by the lunar birth date. In all, there are twelve animal signs each undergoes a 12-year cycle. So, every twelve years, one will meet the year of his birth sign.
Although it sounds a bit superstitious, Chinese people take their year of birth seriously. According to the soothsaying, people in their own Ben Ming Nian may offend “Taisui”, also called the God of Age, so they would suffer a lot of misfortunes, such as sickness, economic loss, physical injuries and obstacles in career. However, there are effective ways to diminish the unlucky impacts. The most popular solution is wearing red underwear, socks or waist belts given by elders, for red is believed to bring them good luck. Some jewelry accessories may also help, such as pendants and bracelets with auspicious images.”
After all, these are so opposite idea. Japanese Toshi-otoko vs Chinese Toshi-otoko.
Japan: carrying good luck
China: attracting bad luck
We believe “Chinese zodiac animals” were imported to Japan. Then somehow the idea of Toshi-otoko had changed. Interesting.
We would welcome the Chinese tradition gratefully. So we let our son wear RED socks to prevent bad luck. At the same time, we let him bring many good luck into our household. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
Happy Horse year!!
1/03/2025.
I asked my husband and son to test out some ideas of poses with wheelchair. It was a good start of 2026 with big laughter together. You like them?
I need to add this, too! I love these two humans very much. They give me so much energy and comfort all the time. They should know that.
Entry#510. 1/02/2025.
We used to go ice skating to Goggin ice center at Miami University. They offer public ice skating. We had our own boots (hockey skates). See, that much we loved? My husband even organized his “lab gathering ice skating” as well. Most of the time, it was their very first time in their life for some lab international members. He taught them how to skate. It was fun. (Photos below are in 2019)
After his injury, naturally the term “ice skating” was erased from my brain because I thought it was not for a manual wheelchair user. I thought about it automatically.
Then I learned about mono-ski(sit-ski) and sled hockey. See past writing about sled hockey here (Entry#508. 12/28/2025).
Those are adaptive sports indeed.
My mind just kept thinking about ice skating, “no chance for a manual wheelchair” since 2021 winter until now. Funny. Now I realized something different.
I read some news/articles that electric wheelchair users had fun time on ice link at some special events. That made me think “Ohhhh, they were on the ice link”. How about manual wheelchair users??
Then I started thinking and researching on internet. Obviously some manual wheelchair users “skated” on ice link. So it is possible. Hmmmm. Okay, then, how does it work?
I had to think about it step by step because safety is first always.
First of all, I need to get a permission from the ice center (facility policy) whether my husband with wheelchair could join ice skating.
Then here are my thoughts.
1. He could enter an ice link if an entrance gate’s width was enough wide.
2. He could start “skating” just same as wheeling on the roads, with rolling wheels with hands.
3. Surely a wheelchair (wheels) could basically “glide/ slide/ slip” on ice. The idea is simple. Wheelchair is fine with smooth surfaces. It’s tough with gravel/grass/deep snow/water so on. So, ice surface is okay for a wheelchair, is it?
4. How to stop on ice??? How?
Well, this is the most importance question to me. If we could figure this out, we could attend public ice skating at Goggin ice center, just like we used to……
How do you think?
If this is possible, we could add ice skating on our winter activity list. That would be awesome and lovely, I assume.
Basically we prefer not to take any risks. You know?
But I’d love to make him try “manual wheelchair ice skating”. We need to figure out “how to stop on ice”, that’s our first mission.
You might wonder “Why do you worry about stopping part? A manual wheelchair can stop easily, right?”
A manual wheelchair has brakes each side of wheels. They are “parking brake”. For manual wheelchair, when you need to stop, you basically grab pushrims/handrims. (Reducing the speed then stopping.) Especially at downhill, you need to grab pushrims/handrims constantly with the right amount of friction.
For smooth stopping, gently apply pressure to the handrims, leaning forward slightly to avoid tipping backward, especially when going backward or downhill.
If you grab handrims 100%, it means wheels are locked 100% = your wheelchair completely stops on the dry ground surface.
Now, imagine if you grab handrims 100% on ice link when you want to stop. What’s gonna happen???
I can only imagine that you just slide until you hit the wall. See? That’s why I need to figure out how to stop.
1/02/2025.
Winter time is very tricky for handcycle, at least for us. Indoor trainer setting is very convenient for sure. Of course, we prefer outside riding than indoor. But better than nothing. Here are our virtual ride photos/videos on New Year's Day. Videos are just only 15 seconds each. You can feel about "what indoor training looks like".
Do you see our "hats"?? This cycling app is Zwift. They set up several fun visual effects related to holidays. I enjoy them. What do you think?
Entry#509. 1/01/2026.
The day before the New Year's Eve, I received a text message from our wonderful professor friend. I wrote about her, here (Entry#472, 10/19/2025) and here (12/30/2022).
Also do you remember about Taiyaki (see 12/18/2025)??
After 5 minutes of our texting, her husband arrived our house. He delivered HOMEMADE Taiyaki for us. Yes, she made them from a scratch. Even she made two kinds of fillings. When I opened the packages/boxes, my eyes opened widely. They looked just like store-bought Taiyaki. They made our day joyful and brighter indeed. It was scrumptious.
I had to ask her "show me your Taiyaki mold"? I was very curious. See the photo? It's amazing that she owns that one.
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