Feel Like Complaining

I took this picture December 23, and am loving the no-snow look of our yard. We've had nothing measurable except rain, and lots of it. We did get our snow after Christmas but then it rained and the wind blew and it's mostly gone now. Christmas for us was pretty uneventful. My Mom decided she didn't want anyone over because too many people make her nervous. I'm not sure where that came from because at the most there is only 9 of us, and we do everything from food to cleanup. My older brother and his wife are traveling and spent the holiday in Texas. My younger brother and his wife were spending time with her family before they move to Arizona next summer. She got her wish then, with only us bringing pizza over on Sunday. It was nice for us to be home on Christmas Eve to watch a movie; it's been years since that's happened. The next day we just sat around, played a game and had home made turkey soup for dinner. We didn't even have a dog (my choice), s...

We've been out and about seeing some of the holiday lights and displays. These were from Manito Park's Gaiser Conservatory which we have been to several times. Volunteers string over 30,000 lights inside on the plants and cacti and it's truly magical to see. Another night we headed downtown to see some refurbished and repaired animated displays that used to sit in the Crescent department store windows from the 50's through the 80's. They have been in storage all this time and last year they started the process to get them up and running again. Then we went inside the Davenport Grand to ooh and ahh at the gingerbread masterpieces and walk around the beautiful lobby. I hope all of you find some holiday beauty this season and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

We had a couple of short stays with these fellas recently-not at the same time. Pele is a 9 year old Belgian Malinois/mix. He's our first tripod and doesn't let that slow him down at all. He loves to go for walks and when he gets tired, he just lays down. His owner got him about 7 years ago from a kennel who was going to put him down. He was a stray that had been hit by a car resulting in the loss of his leg. No one wanted to adopt him! She did though, and he has been a great companion. She was so afraid to leave him because she once had a sitter watching 3 of her dogs and one of them got shot point blank in the face by a neighbor of the sitter. No doubt a rural situation and not a Rover sitter. Her other dog died and all she has is Pele now. After she met us, she booked 2 other short trips so he will be with us again. I'm so happy she felt confident and trusted us to keep him safe. That face Russell is a 5 year old Black Lab. He's very large so there might ...

My younger brother is the stadium manager for the UW's Huskies in Seattle, although he will be retiring soon. Last year the stadium upgraded the locker room and it was recently ranked 17 out of 25 for college football facilities. The short clip showed him opening the doors when the players saw the new locker room for the first time. Click on the twitter link. I believe you can see it even if you don't have twitter. They also will be playing in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day after beating out their rival, the Washington State Cougars a few weeks ago, who will be playing in the Alamo Bowl. The kitty cats are not pleased. New locker room for @UW_Football #PurpleReign x #uniswag pic.twitter.com/MvYGAAiJwg In other sports news (look at me, being all sporty and stuff), my hometown high school team won State in their division. The Eastern Eagles (Faith's college) are advancing to the semifinals in their division. Our Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team has been undef...

Last week was busy but pretty uneventful. We had Angel, our friend's ball obsessed dog with us again. She's getting more comfortable with us and even comes up to us for pets now which makes her a more enjoyable guest. Our many, many time repeat Kuma is back for a week and I'm currently sitting for Sasha and her ornery cat brothers again. I won't be home until December 8th! Since I don't have any new dogs pics to show you, here are my newest rocks; all Christmas/winter themed.