I don’t think I set any blogging/collecting goals for myself last year other than to keep posting. And that while I wasn’t posting a lot ofI kept posting, so I rate myself there with an A-. I’ve reached my quota of 12 posts the MusiCards blog from 1991 (although I missed a month and had to double later). A few late NYE posts pushed Baseball Card Breakdown to my 2025 goal of 37 posts, one more than 2024, and two better than the 2023 low of 35. So my 2026 goal is 38+ posts to keep moving up here and another dozen on the MusiCards blog, which amounts to a nice round goal of 50 posts for the year. If you’re reading this, I still have 49 more to go! ha.
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WALLET CARD
The 2025 wallet card didn’t see much action. This was my first year using an Upper Deck card (wait no, I’ve used a Masterpieces card before, but that doesn’t count), and as I suspected, it doesn’t really wear out in a very interesting way thanks to the glossy/UV stock holding it together for the most part.
I think the only trips I took outside of the city in 2025 happened to be a few flights to Kentucky mid-year. First to Bowling Green (above) for a funeral on my wife’s side, then to Versailles for a wedding on my side of the family.
I tried to take a wallet card photo among the fireflies in action the night of the reception (fun times), but none of the photos really came out, so here’s a water tower. But yeah, other than that, I didn’t think to take a lot of wallet card photos last year.
I’m going with 1986 Donruss for my 2026 wallet card. While it’s not my favorite set, I don’t mind it as much as Night Owl. I remember ripping my share of these cards (actually the Leaf version) in the early 90’s because LCS from my childhood had an old box of packs for a decent price. I thought I would celebrate the 40th anniversary of the design with a wink on the wallet. And as far as junk-era Gwynn cards go, this one features one of the more unique photos, with Tony on his knees.
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CHRISTMAS PACKAGING
Gone are the days of asking for new boxes of cards for Christmas and my birthday, but I still received gifts that would fit within the scope of this blog.
My mother-in-law surprised me with a cool Petco Park framed print.
Difficult to take good pictures of it thanks to the reflection on the glass, but you get the idea.
Nice to get more San Diego love on my walls.
I also received a $50 eBay gift card from the in-laws, which of course will go towards cards.
Technically I did getting cards for Christmas/my birthday. Although it wasn’t an official/wrapped gift, my wife’s brother’s wife was kind enough to ask if I would be interested in a stack of cards they got from a local pizzeria. I’m guessing the place at the counter sells repacks for a dollar or gives them away with certain orders or something. I would never turn down free mystery cards, even though I know they are probably just junk, and I did find a few cards that I could use.
A few 2025 Topps cards mixed in with the older stuff.
I’ve always been a little fascinated by Fleer’s dual rookie cards, even if neither guy actually ends up doing much.
Several cards were in rough condition and, gasp, I threw a few damaged junk commons in the recycling, but thought I might be able to salvage the Grace and dented Brett look at some point with card art methods.
So yes, thanks to my sister-in-law for the cards. One year I gave her some random Oregon Ducks cards because she is a huge fan of that football team, so now I feel like I have officially “exchanged cards” with a family member. Neat.
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ANIMAL LOVERS CORNER
I haven’t posted much fun animal content in a while. I still see neighborhood bunnies every now and then. At some point last year during the day I saw a coyote while walking my dog near the golf course! We also had some cooper hawks in the area during the summer. Needless to say, the rodent population also boomed over the summer, but let’s not get into that (I’ve lost count of how many dead bugs I’ve thrown away in 2025, but I’m sure that was my all-time record. So dirty.)
I also recently decided to restart the hummingbird feeder after a hiatus of a few years. Yes, I had seen some small young hummingbirds buzzing around my lilac front in November or so, and thought I would try to help them. Luckily for me, a little guy quickly took to it and set up his home base in a nearby forest, where I have a beautiful view of him from my living room window. So even if I don’t catch him at the food bowl, I can often find him peeking five feet away in the bush, just looking around cutely, grooming occasionally, but mostly keeping watch over “his” food bowl. It will be hard to get through the next few cold months, but hopefully I can help the little guy make it to spring.
How about some cute dog photos to end with?
Ruby always has a good time during the holidays.
Silly family tradition of decorating the dog on Christmas morning. Ruby takes it like a champ.
Five and a half and still not much sign of slowing down. Blame her for not blogging anymore as she takes up a lot of my available time and energy.
But on the plus side, walking the dog is my main source of exercise these days, so I guess she’s trying to keep me healthy and not sitting on my butt all day. Gah, that reminds me that I really need to schedule a colonoscopy this year. 🙁
Anyway, thanks for reading, folks!