New Year's Eve Eve

Sunday night we rang in the New Year a little early. 

It was a quiet celebration.  We had an early dinner and enjoyed a bottle of Champagne.  After that we watched some football, took the dog for a walk and went to bed around 9 pm.

Monday was a beautiful day here.  We slept in a little and had a pancake breakfast followed by a hike in the hills.

We're looking forward to our first full year in the new house and finishing the job of settling in.

Happy New Year to you and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2013!

Thanksgiving

 Turkey Day was fun for us.  Originally it was just going to be the two of us enjoying a small meal and watching football.

At the last minute, we ended up inviting over a couple of friends from work who had no other plans for the day.  We ended up with five of us for dinner.

One of the guests made some very tasty garlic mashed potatoes.  Aimee and I handled the bird/stuffing, a salad, green beans, cranberries and a homemade pumpkin pie.

There were three NFL games to watch and time to throw the football around the backyard while the turkey was cooking.

Football Day

Saturday was a bit rainy and a good day to stay inside and watch football.

The USC-UCLA game was very entertaining and probably not at all what Trojan fans were expecting.  We also watched the Notre Dame game, which was not much of a contest at all.

Hard to believe that BOTH Oregon and Kansas St. lost at the end of the night.  We watched Stanford's win in overtime. 

Nobody would have believed that the number one ranked team in the USC-N.D. game next week would be the Irish.  We'll be looking forward to that one for sure.

New TV

When football season started we took the HD plunge and got a new TV.

 

Our trusty boob tube has served us well for many years but now that we are settled into our new digs we made the move to the bigger screen.

 

We got it home and plugged in just in time for the Giants-Cowboys season opener and since then we've enjoyed many games and look forward to many more.

 

No Treats

Last year at this time we were just days away from moving out of our old house.

On Halloween we knew that we'd get very few trick-or-treaters knocking on the door.

This year, in the new house, we got zero visitors.  We weren't expecting any because
the street is a little dark and the neighborhood is very hilly.

Just in case, we had a bag of candy waiting by the door, but nobody came by.

Endeavour

Recently the Space Shuttle Endeavour flew into town to move to its final resting place.  They flew the shuttle (on the back of a 747) throughout the whole L.A. area so everyone could go outside and get a look at it.

Then they moved it from LAX to the Science Center across town where it will be on permanent display.  That move took a couple of days because they had to transport it on city streets at 2 mph.

When it stopped to take a break I got a chance to check it out while my car was next door getting an oil change.

New Arrival

We are very happy for Aimee's brother Lars and his wife Molly who welcomed in their first child this week.

Liam Richard arrived just after midnight on Monday morning and he and Molly are doing great.

Liam's name was selected by a vote of family members who were given a couple of names to choose from.  We're not sure when we'll get to see this guy but we're definitely looking forward to it.

Cooling Off

 We've had triple digits the last ten days or so.  Fortunately, our bedroom stays relatively cool even during these hot times.

But at night, when we're trying to sleep, the A/C wasn't keeping it quite cool enough.  We checked the air filter, which you see above, and it was absolutley filthy.  Hard to say how long since it has been changed but we'll be sure to keep a close eye on it now.

Still though, even with a new filter, the unit wasn't quite getting the job done.  Turns out it was low on Freon.  After these guys came out and topped it off we were good to go.

Camping Again

Last weekend we spent a few days at Bass Lake enjoying the nice weather and doing some relaxing.  Here are some pictures of the girls in their tents.

Rosebud usually spends the four hour plus drive sleeping in her bed behind the driver seat.  However, this time she decided to park her snout on the center arm rest and keep it there the entire time.

Tire Troubles

Recently we had some bad luck with our wheels.

I took Aimee's car in for an oil change on Saturday afternoon.  When I got there they showed me a nail that was lodged in the left rear tire.  Unfortunately it was in a spot that wouldn't hold a patch and so we had to get Aimee a new tire to go with her oil change.

When I came home I saw my Blazer sitting in the garage with a flat left rear tire. I pulled out a nasty piece of very sharp metal that had lodged in one of the grooves.  I drove around on the spare for a few days before I went in for my oil change.

On Tuesday I got a call from Aimee who was on the side of the road with more tire trouble.  Apparently she picked up a bolt somewhere along the way and it lodged itself into one of her tires - not the new one.

When I took my car in I brought Aimee's tire with me.  They were able to patch up both tires while I got my oil change and now we are both back on the road at full strength.

Quake

Last night while we were sitting upstairs in the kitchen area we felt a quick jolt.

It was not a big earthquake and it was very brief but it was enough to wake up Rosebud and cause her to come upstairs and check in with us.  She's not usually fazed by a small shaker but this one must have startled her while she was sleeping.

Short Trip

We spent last weekend up the coast in Pismo Beach.

The weather was very nice and we were able to enjoy some beach time.  We also spent one day with a group of friends doing some wine tasting in nearby Paso Robles.

It happened to be the same weekend as their annual Wine Festival.  The wineries were especially hospitable to all guests and we had a really nice time.

Nighttime visitor

The other night we were awakened by some noises outside our bedroom window.

When we looked outside and turned on the light we saw  a skunk finishing up his dinner.  The menu that night consisted (we think) of a mouse.  Whatever it was, it was a noisy little critter right until the end.

We closed the window and watched the skunk finish eating.  Fortunately, he didn't mind (or notice) that he had an audience.

New Couch

 Last week we finally got our new couch.  It took exactly 2 months from the day we ordered it to have it delivered to the house.

I guess there were some production delays at the factory and they ran out of the fabric that we had selected.

Not a big deal.  It's here now and should keep us quite comfortable for a long, long time.

Dodger Game

Saturday night Aimee got to go to a really good baseball game at Dodger Stadium.

Not only were the top two teams in the National League playing (with the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg pitching and Bryce Harper making his big-league debut) but it was also bobblehead night.

If that wasn't enough, the game featured a bottom of the ninth comeback and then a walkoff home run in the tenth inning by the league's leading home run hitter.

Bruce Show

Thursday night I went to the L.A. Sports Arena for a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Somebody had called me with one extra ticket that I could use by myself if I wanted.  So I did.

You'll see around 2:30 of this video that while I didn't know the people I was standing next to
Bruce sure seemed to.

I'm glad I moved from my seat in the rafters to a seat closer to the stage.  Even though I was behind the band, it was a good spot to see the show.

Car Trouble

Here is how our day started.

Just after 6:30 Aimee was on her way to work - except that her car didn't start.

We thought about jumpstarting it with my car but I thought it might be more than
just the battery since there seemed to be plenty of juice and the problem came on
quite suddenly.

We called AAA for a tow to the shop and maybe some bad news about the starter
or the alternator.

Fortunately it was just a very low battery that needed to be replaced.  The AAA
technician was able to drop in a new battery right there in our garage and now Aimee
is back at full strength.

Except that she was considerably late for work today.  I suggested she show them
this video if anybody thinks she just overslept this morning.

Softball Tourney

On Sunday Aimee participated in an all-day softball tournament.  This event is held every year to raise funds for SIDS research.

Aimee's team was sponsored by Disney and they did pretty well.  They ended up playing five games over the course of the day, coming up short in the championship game.

That made for a long day for Aimee.  She left the house at 7:30 a.m. and didn't make it home until 7:30 p.m.  Fortunately she had a fun time and met some new people.  Good thing she wasn't too worn out because she had another game the next night.

Tomato Time

Here's Aimee putting the final touches on this year's tomato crop.

We went to a nearby nursery recently that had dozens of different tomato varieties available.  We whittled down our list to six favorites and went with one of each.

So far they are doing very well.  After a couple of weeks and lots of morning sun the plants are more than a foot tall and starting to flower.

We also planted a couple of herbs and they are also going strong.

Mowing the Lawn

Aimee thought it was important to put up a video of our new lawn mower in action.

Well, she wasn't home when the lawn was being cut so I set up the camera myself while cutting the grass. This is a manual mower we picked up off of Craigslist this week. It should do the job for the size backyard that we have.

There was one very disinterested observer of the process. Rosebud could barely stay awake while the grass was cut.

Painting the Bathroom

Aimee has been busy painting the master bathroom.

First she took all the doors and drawers off of the cabinet and painted those a different color. Then she got some knobs for them so they'd be easier to open.

Finally, she painted the baseboards to match the cabinet and painted the walls and ceiling a brighter color as well.

Moving In

We've been spending the last couple of weeks getting our stuff set up in the new house. Fortunately the place was in very good shape when we moved in. All it needed was a little cleaning up and a couple of rooms needed to be painted before anything else happened.

One of the rooms that had to be painted right away was the laundry room. It was an unfortunate shade of yellow throughout and that needed to be addressed before the new machines could be installed.

We had to get new machines because our old ones were side-by-side and this new room dictated that a stacked unit be used. So we sold our old machines to the buyers of our old house and got new machines put in here as soon as the paint was dry.

Super Bath

Here's Rosebud celebrating Super Bowl Sunday with her traditional pre-game bath. Since it was almost 80 in the sun we thought an outdoor bath was the way to go. Too bad for her the water coming out of the hose was a bit chillier than she likes it to be.

Fortunately she could spend some time lounging in the sun after to soak up the warm rays. Aimee and I both enjoyed a pre-game nap and then a big bowl of home-made guacamole while watching the game.

Fruit Trees

One thing we will miss about our rental house is the abundance of free, fresh fruit.

In the backyard is this grapefruit tree which is just now coming into the prime of its season. The fruit are all big and juicy and taste very good. There is also a tree in the back that is a hybrid orange and lemon. It actually grows two different kinds of fruit and they're both good.

In the front yard there is an orange tree overflowing with oranges as big as softballs that are as juicy and tasty as any oranges I've had. Fortunately the new house also has a mature orange tree in the backyard and the one I grabbed off it a couple of weeks ago was fantastic.

New Griddle

Santa brought us a new griddle for Christmas.
We've been able to ring in the New Year with pancake breakfasts on Sunday mornings. Although, last weekend Aimee was a bit under the weather. The doctor ordered her to stay home from work for a few days due to a sinus infection. Now, thanks to antibiotics and lots of rest she is doing much better.