Thanksgiving

Hey all,
Nothing better than spending Thanksgiving with friends. Lebette and I packed the dogs in the car and headed out for San Diego for the long weekend. There is not a lot on the road to see between here and the coast, hence no pictures, except the long line at the California agricultural check point.

The wiley Ag inspector spies our Texas plates as we pull up, so after sitting in a 3 mile, 30 minute line, he pulls us over. "You coming from Texas?" He asks (secure he has insider knowledge thanks to our license plates). "Nope" I respond, "Nevada". As he looks on confused and befuddled the hell hounds in the backseat start barking. He quickly asks if we are carrying any plants (nope again) and clears us through the checkpoint. Boy California, that is a ironclad agricultural check point you have there.

Anyway, we spent the weekend with wonderful friends out on Coronado Island doing the local thing (walking dogs to the beach, overeating on Thanksgiving, watching football) and touring an aircraft carrier with our very own Navy XO as a tour guide. Here is the girls thrown in the brig for misbehavin'.



We had loads of fun, but the best picture of the whole weekend was in "Bob Hope" Park in front of a statue commemorating the WWII famous photograph of "the kiss". Well, Andy swept Shannon off her feet and laid one on her for the cameras.....here is the proof!




P.S. We watched half a dozen folks peek up the skirt.....Lebette finally had to check; nothing to see. Oh Well.

Valley of Fire

For Veterans day 2008 we went sightseeing to Valley of Fire State Park just Northeast of Las Vegas. It was a pretty dull drive out of town, and then we crested the small ridge into the park....and loh and behold we understood why the park was named "Valley of Fire." All of the large outcroppings of rock are a brilliant red reminding us of Sedona AZ. We drug along our long-time friend, Billy-Ray, to go rock climbing and geocaching.

Here are a few pictures of BR, Monty and Lebette as we climbed all over the rocks.




Then Monty and BR when after a cache up on top of one of the rocks...which led to Lebette trying to quell the anxious thoughts by taking several cool pictures of the rocks while we were gone. Due to limitations of my account with blogspot, here is only one of the photos.



Finally there are several pictures of the petroglyphs at Atlatl rock (Atlatl is a weapon using a stick with a socket to rest a spear for extended range). Unfortunately the park service has to put up a plexiglass wall so people won't add their 20th/21st century graffiti to the rock. The rock faces directly east and some have hypothesized the rock was used by locals 3,000 years ago to track the lunar eclipses.




BTW, we didn't find the cache on top of the hill, but not for a lack of trying/climbing/sightseeing from the top.

Go here if you want more info on the park, or to camp there amongst the beautiful red rocks (http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm)

Las Vegas

These pictures are from last August when we had time to break from the boxes of moving in and get out and about. The first two are of my favorite site on the strip....the fountains of Bellagio!

Then we are off to Hoover dam. The third photo is downstream from the dam. In the fourth picture you can see the future bridge that will span the river gorge and decrease the traffic across the dam. The road will be 2 lanes each way and will allow traffic to move right along. Having said that...there is no way I'll be on the bridge; it is way too far up there. I'll divert down to Havasu AZ on my trips back to Phoenix.

The last picture is to show the drought that has been affecting the west for decades. The band of white is mineral deposits from when the lake was higher, and has been slowly dropping. Just a couple of wet winters up river would help a little.

More later,

Reimer Ranch Texas

Visiting the family in the Austin area and made a quick run out to Reimers Ranch. A beautiful mountain biking / rock climbing / hiking / fishing park west of Austin. Here is the family out walking the trails and hiking down the canyon. From the park you can see the movie set for "The Alamo", "Stop Loss" and "Appaloosa".

Vespa and Bacchus video

Nothing worse than puppy parents with a video camera! Need I say more?


Vespa and Bacchus on film in Virginia.

New LADY in the house!!

Pandora passed away last December at the fully lived age of 16 years young. We were devastated, but knew it was best for our little girl.

About a month ago we visited Petsmart here in the Stafford area and saw "Janets Rescues." Janet takes and fosters dogs and cats for folks until their hearts are bursting and someone adopts the pets.

I saw Lady first and told Lebette to turn around if she wanted to cry. Sure enough she turned around and fell in love. Just to be sure we were doing it for the right reasons we visited several times over the last month before yesterday. Yesterday we decided to swing by and see if she was there.....and she was. After 4 hours of holding her, introducing her to Bacchus and filling out paperwork she is ours! She was so docile in the store we were worried if she had that "spark" we wanted......why did we doubt an 11 month old puppy wouldn't have a SPARK. And what a spark it is; she and Bacchus raced around the backyard last night, and she is quickly settling in.

Lady is her name, although we are thinking of making her full name "Lady Leffe" in honor of our favorite belgian beer. Who knows.

Expect more photos soon, but these show her markings and size. Also note the fact that the entire backyard is covered in leaves (2 layers thick).

The third picture is titled Lebette and her girls....Pandora is above her head, and Lady is in her arms; both are in our hearts!


MLB&L?

Fall Leaves

Well,
The leaves are about to start falling. Here are some house pictures and pictures of the VERY red Japanese Maple in our front yard (left side of the house in the picture).

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Independence Day everyone! Here is a picture we took last year during the Memorial day ceremonies on the Washington DC mall.

Bluebirds

All,
We cleaned out the blue bird house early this spring. In late May we had a bluebird family checking out the house, and the soon built a nest. In early June, Mom and Dad were busy feeding the two chicks that eventually flew the coop in early Jun. Here are pictures of the proud papa on the fence watching over the nest construction, and another picture of feeding time at the zoo!

Update on 1 July, we cleaned out the house last weekend, and just this morning another bluebird (possibly one of the chicks from the last batch) was checking out the house. Pictures to follow!

Bathroom (RE)construction!!

So,
Before we went away on vacation Lebette and I DEconstructed the master bath so Jon and Danny could do all the work to bring it up to date.

Well..............Mr "Jerry Riggs", who lived here a while ago, had 'out of code' plumbing and electrical work (see the blog entry from early March). So it took a while for the contractors to get the bathroom back up to code and then work on reconstructing the tile/walls/shower.

Here ya go: Old room with fake, useless soffit and cabinetry......New room with soffit gone, suntube in place, and built in closet....

New mirrors and black granite counter top

Tub (not the old one-piece) surrounded by tile. AND deep soak to release those stressful days at work

European Vacation

Lebette and I headed off this month to visit friends living in the Netherlands. It was before the silly season at work for both of us and we hoped it was after the bad winter in Europe.

We were right!
First off was to see the friends who live in the village of Handel Netherlands, which is in the southern part. We had a chance to watch Nat Man score a goal in his teams 3-1 defeat of the neighboring village.

Another day was spent With BotBot and his mandatory swimming lessons. Good thing the pool was enclosed and heated....unfortunately it fogged up the camera lens, and this was the only photo to turn out.

Life in the village is good, with everything from school to church less than a 10 minute walk away. Plenty of time off to go and even watch the village motocross races one weekend!

Check out the next post for life in France vacationing with the boys!

Bayeux France

Off to visit the Normandy beaches with BotBot and NatMan...

First off was the Cathedral at Bayeux, which holds a tapestry (actually next door) from the late 1070's that recounts the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The tapestry is over 200 feet long and an amazing accomplishment. I list it as a must see when visiting the Normandy region of France.

All around the cathedral were the gargoyle waterspouts. This one looked kinda fuzzy with the grass growing out the top!

Then it was off to the Normandy beaches! The beaches where Allied forces stormed ashore in 1944 to retake Europe during WWII. The beaches were impressive, and the first wave of guys off the landing craft sure faced a daunting defense. The weather was suitably cold and rainy, which was perfect weather to appreciate the sacrifices made back then....

After spending the afternoon along the beaches we headed off for Mont St Michel. The views were amazing, as was the construction of the inside of the Cathedral on a 240 foot pyramid of rock out in the ocean (bay really, but who cares!). Dinner was cheap, and if you have time, the hotels on the rock are fairly cheap (less than $150 per night for a room with toilet/shower) during the off season. Check it out!

Now back to amsterdam!!!

Amsterdam !!

Ahh, the good life. Strolling along the canals of Amsterdam and watching the sites....no I do not mean the red lit ones! Lebette and I spent 2 nights at the beginning and end of the trip at the Waterfront Hotel in Amsterdam, just off Singel canal. (hotelwaterfront.nl). The room was nice, although next door is a night club that was a little loud at night, but then again they were kind enough to loan us a bottle opener for our wine one night!

Anyway, the flower market was just around the corner where you can order tulips to be delivered to the US.....when they are in season during the summer. However, you can pick up tulip bulbs at the airport that have been US FDA certified to bring back. And for the really fun loving crowd they plenty of young cannibis plants for you to........take home?plant? I don't know what to do with those plants.

The Dutch love their bicycles as a form of transportation. Here is a picture of the 4 level bike parking garage at the main train station in downtown Amsterdam! That is a lot of bikes...and most of them looked the same to me. You think you have a tough time finding your car in a mall parking lot...imagine this.

Home (DE)struction

Well,
Nothing like a slow weekend spent with a claw hammer, a sledge and a pry bar trying to demolish a bathroom. Here are some pix of the bathroom, before, during and after the demolition. Things we found...

Very scary wiring....from one outlet to another with plugs underneath the counter top!

Decent tile......right on top of beautiful 70s linoleum....so much for proper backerboard.

No waterproof wall board here.....

Oh yeah, after spending all day Saturday pulling down cabinets, vanitys, drywall, I was going to run to the dump early Sunday morning to make room in the garage for the car. Forecast weather: maybe 1/2 to 1 inch of snow starting at 8 am, turning to rain by noon. That is the largest 1/2 inch of snow I've ever seen....and it didn't stop until 4 pm!!!

AF Memorial

Today was blustery and cold here in DC, but in honor of my fathers service we went to the AF Memorial next to the Old Navy Barracks on the hill above the Pentagon. The view of DC from the memorial is awesome!! A must see, although I would wait for a warmer day next time. Looking straight up from the spires is a dizzying experience.