Weekend to recover from storms

I spent this morning playing tennis, have another match Sunday afternoon. My tennis was very rusty and my conditioning shows that I don't walk as far or play tennis in the rain.

Revel and I spent the afternoon working in the shed doing repair work. As you can see he likes spending time creating sawdust, or sawing logs, depending on which of us you are talking about.

We fixed one gate that had swollen shot (from rainwater) and another that needed a lock because some 2 year old has grown to the ability to reach the latch and now understands how to open the gate. Did some more work on my octagonal keepsake box, and tomorrow we will do the final sanding and a little repair job on Teddy's headboard to get ready for finishing the head end.

Finally a Break

Today we finally got a break in the rain storms that have just been coming in one right after the other. So I put on my rain gear (not trusting the current weather at all) and took Revel down to the beach to see how crazy it was.

We had an amazing trip the water was about 10-15 feet from the homes and parking area for the state park. To those of you who do not know the area we usually have about 50 yards of beach between them. The poor home owners must be worried sick.

I guess nobody else thought that the weather break would hold so we had the entire beach to our selfs so I let the big guy go. After a few seconds of looking at me like I was crazy he finally got it and took off for the water. He loves to run in the surf, not swim, never over the head, but running in the surf is great.

He was really good about returning after about a half an hour so we could go. It is really wonderful to see him run, despite his size he can really get going.

Tonight I have slightly damp, very tired puppy at my feet. To see all the pictures from this morning check out this Picasa album

New Toy in the House

I finally purchased a new computer to use for all this blogging and bill paying. It is one that we can take traveling, as its a over sized Netbook. The Acer Aspire 1410, so far I have to say that it is been great. Battery life is really wonderful compared to laptops I have used in the past and it has enough power to play video's from Hulu.com without problems. At just 3 lbs its really is easy to tote around with us when we travel.

We also finally broke down and purchased a new mattress for our bed. That also is a great improvement in our life. We were I am afraid to say long overdue, but its just not the kind of thing you want to spend lots of money on. Much rather get away for a week. Dorothy is very happy about it, which is a good thing.

I have been working full time at the hospital again due to some new projects they are having me work on and as well a the absence of one of our pharmacists for personal leave. Not sure how long it will last so I guess we better get the housekeeping tasks done will the extra money is around.

Teddy is off still between semesters so he has lots of time for puttering around in the shed. He is almost done with a keepsake box for a friend. That would be the box in his hand, its a small box. The bed which we are still working on is right behind him.

Found an old friend, Vicky Lakoff Snyder and she is doing very well. Facebook is really such a wonderful thing. We have reconnected with many of our friends from High School that I have not heard from in 30+ years.

We also found we lost a dear friend this week, Jane Hanna passed away on Friday the 15th. Our kids grew up together and we attended many school functions together with them. Jane was a very kind and considerate friend and always took extra time with Edward. She will be dearly missed.

We are in the middle of an enormous series of storms here in California dumping tons of rain. The beach is awesome if like watching it when it is literally whipped into a frenzy. Personally that is my favorite time at the beach. I guess if I was a few more blocks closer I would worry more. Hope that everyone is doing well post holidays.

Wonderful Weekend

After all the rush of the holidays I have to say that having a weekend off, with lots of tennis (8 hrs on court, man am I sore), and beautiful weather was just what the doctor ordered. I recently received an email from a friend who moved to Hawaii telling me that when all was said and done the sunsets and the views of the ocean made her trip there worth it. I have to say that when walking Revel on the beach on Saturday here in Aptos, I was treated to one of the special sunsets that cloudy none threatening skies provide. Then on Sunday Edward and I stopped by the beach to see if there was a repeat performance and found that it was completely different and yet equally as beautiful.

I really needed a weekend like this to remind me that the small frustrations in daily life and

work are not the main points to dwell on. Its the special moments that I create for myself with watching Gavin grow up, and living in such a beautiful place that really should get my attention.

Dreaming of sunsets and perfect forehands, I leave you with these thoughts.

Thank you Elda

It just wouldn't be a Christmas if Elda didn't take care of getting Revel a giant bone to chew. Thank you Elda for taking care of your second favorite dog. Revel did enjoy it a great deal.

Christmas Take II

Well it just wouldn't be Christmas without visiting the relatives and doing the present thing over and over and over. So Saturday the 26th we were off to Oma's for yet another Christmas this time with Renate, Tristan and his girlfriend Vicky, Elda, Tara and Nathan. Then of course all of my clan minus Amber. We had a nice potluck dinner and then gifts. It was nice having Tristan and Vicky out for the visit.