So it’s the 8th of January…how are your New Year’s resolutions coming? Mine are a mixed bag. I have dropped a couple of pounds (a miracle) but have done less well on the resolve to do more weights.

I did finish off the “home gym” up here in the Berkshire hills…a nifty, small barn which I had re-roofed, shored up and half-insulated. It’s 25×35 feet, cozy and mildly seductive. Sohisticated builders told me it was so far gone it had to be torn down. A lovley Mexican guy, Pablo, stopped by and said he’d been restoring barns worse than mine, all his life. In two weeks, it was on its pins again and almost usable. I did have to wait a while to get safe electriciity put in, and the critical TV outles,which helps more than I’d like to admit. And a big hot air, gas-fired heater. Now it’s a joy and weight training will be picking up. For weights, there’s a huge leg press machine, a leg lift machine and a bunch of free weights. And a nasty ball for situps and such. We’ll see.