A New Year - A New Life

Well now that we're all but finished with the first quarter of the year, I suppose it's time to post some thing...anything.

The big news is as of December 31st I am officially retired from federal service. After almost 38 years, it was time to get out and see what retired life is like. I have had several friends that have recently retired and none of them has expressed regret in retiring when they did. So what have I've been doing these last few months? Actually not a whole lot of anything. Sleeping a lot (Yea! No more getting up at 3:30 to get ready for work). Walking the dogs a lot. Doing more of the cooking.

By Washington standards, we've had a very mild winter. We've had no real snow to speak of. We've already had temperatures in the 80s. Its been mild enough that one of my boat clubs has okayed going out in singles 2 weeks earlier then usual. Singles aren't usually allowed out until 1 April. I've taken advantaged of that opportunity and taken a single out twice so far and looking to do more as time goes by. What I've found out so far on my two outings is that no one is on the water during the week. I have the reservoir to myself. No settling for the sucky boats since others have already claimed the best and are out n the water. No fishermen who seemed to think you're either invisible or think it great sport to wake you. It was incredibly peaceful. I did the seven mile round trip row to Fountainhead Park and back. As I get back into some semblance of shape, I'll stretch those out to eight to eleven mile rows. The old dam beckoned me on Thursday, but I resisted rowing the extra mile that would entail for perhaps next week. I've even been out on the bike a few times. Extra rowing and biking were the two things I was most looking forward to doing a lot more of during my retirement and now that winter is over, it's time to step up and start doing it.

Merry Christmas

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you tonight with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past four years, which I love. They represent to me the meaning of Christmas.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyrics from the song "Welcome, Christmas" from the TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and as Tiny Tim observed: "God Bless Us Every One"

Holiday Tour

Welcome to northern Virginia and the 2011 Holiday House Tour hosted by Jen of Jen on the Edge. The idea is to give the reader an idea of how we decorate for the Holidays.

We decorate pretty basically. We have a tree in the living room.



We did go to LED lights this year as I was getting pretty tired of replacing burned out bulbs and/or strings of lights. I have to say the new lights can be a bit bright. Actually bright may be an under statement. You almost need sunglasses to look at it. We do have a voice activated gizmo that allows us to turn the lights on and off without having to crawl behind the tree to pull out the plus to turn it off and that same gizmo allows us to dim the lights, which actually looks better. That same gizmo also provides hours of fun for Daughter#2 when she visits. She'll lay out on the couch and talk to the tree and turn in on and off and on and off... You get the idea.

We also decorate the family room. Lights on the mantle, stockings hung by the chimney with care...including ones for each of our four dogs. There is also a lighted wreath. The wreath is a fairly new addition.



Finally there are decorations outside to help make the neighborhood festive. We go for all white lights to cover the bushes. We also have two wreaths on the front door.



That's pretty much the extent of our holiday decorating. I can't say that we're very crafty folks so everything comes from the store except a few handmade ornaments on the tree - holdovers from when the kids made them way back in elementary school.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of our house. Things have been a bit hectic this December what with Daughter#2 graduating from the University of Florida with a Masters degree and over the same weekend having my Dad pass away. We burying him later this week.

From northern Virginia (or NoVA as we say in these parts), here's hoping you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and wishing you all the best for the coming New Year!

Is It Dry Yet?

As I sit here this moment, the sun is out and it's a balmy 80 degrees. It's quite the difference from yesterday when it was pouring and rain rates were hitting over 2 inches an hour. Over the past few days area rain totals have exceeded 12 inches. There has been a lot of flooding in various areas, including around the Ft Belvoir area where The Son now works. They closed Rt 1 and the Fairfax County Parkway leaving him little options on how to drive home. After sitting in traffic for about 40 minutes with no movement, he pulled a U turn and went back to work for a few hours. His second attempt at getting home got him lost in the Springfield area, which led to a phone call home. I was able to get him in the right direction and get home - finally.

This is the weekend for the Wye Island Regatta - a 12.5 mile row around Wye Island hosted by the Annapolis Rowing Club. This race has been the kick off race for the head race season for my rowing club for years. It's our novice rowers first introduction to organized racing and what's involved in attending an away regatta (i.e., derigging boats, loading them on a trailer, rerigging them on site ,etc). It's one of my favorite races just because it's so different from anything else we do. For whatever the reason, the club bailed on the race this year. We just couldn't come up with enough men to row a Men's 8+ and we couldn't even get 4 women (our club is like 80% female) to row a mixed 8+. Very disappointing. I hope we can get everyone on board for next year.

I have to fly to the west coast on business on Sunday, September 11. I can't tell you how excited I am to have to be traveling (flying) on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Sometimes the lack of proper planning to avoid this kind of nonsense drives me crazy. To make matters worse, my boss will also be attending the program review. Totally uncalled for to have both of us there. Waste of time and money. This will probably be my last business travel ever. More on that to follow. 9/11 is also my wedding anniversary so Ann is thrilled I won't be home for that. What's the present for year 37 anyway?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Actually I didn't take a summer vacation, but given school is starting here in a few days, it sounded like a good title.

First off there was rowing. Our rowing season is broken into two parts - sprint racing in the summer and Head racing in the fall. This year we entered two sprint races. The first was the Occoquan Masters Sprint (OMS) held on our home water of the Occoquan Reservoir. It's hosted by the Occoquan Boat Club, also known as OBC. One of the highlights of this season is that Daughter#1 is coaching our Competitive Women. Here she gives final instructions to her "A" Boat before they head off to the start line.

They got a Silver Medal in their race. Nice job ladies.

I raced in an "8" and a Quad. We didn't medal. Here we are taking the "8" down to be launched.

Down to the dock.

Pushing off. I'm in 2 seat.

After OMS, there was Diamond States. That was an away regatta so there was boats to unrig.

And to strap down unto the trailer.

And boats to load onto the trailer.

It was a full trailer in the end.

Once the trailer arrived onsite in Middleton, DE, the boats had to be rigged and readied for racing.

And the racing begins being piped along to the finish like. I hurt my knee getting our mixed "8" out of the water and back to our trailer. I could hardly walk so I didn't managed to get any more pictures.

I also attended a Washington Nationals game vs the NY Mets. Daughter#1's husband is a Mets fan so it's the game we picked to go to. We got there early so we could look around the park. This is a view from the Red Porch in center field before the game

I was there with these guys - Ann, Daughter#1 and her Husband Matt shown here in the Red Porch.

We had some decent seats behind home plate from which we got to see the Nats win in the bottom of the ninth. Exciting ending.

We also have a National's farm team right down the road from us. Less then 5 miles actually. It's their High "A" club - the Potomac Nationals. The Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg showed up for a rehab start recovering from Tommy John surgery. The stadium, such as it is (it has to be the worst "A" stadium in existence) holds 6,200. Almost 9,000 showed up to watch him pitch 3 innings. He didn't disappoint. He struck out 5 and gave up only two weak infield hits. What struck me about him is how big he is. He was easily the biggest player there. After Stephen left, The PNats held on to win. So nice finish all the way around.


There has also been some biking along the W&OD Trail and the bike trail along Rt 123, but no camera so no picture on those outings.

How have you spent your summer?

New Kitchen

We've lived in our current residence for over 28 years now. As we all know, over time styles change and things get old. So it is with our house. Ann has been wanting to upgrade the kitchen for a long time. Sure we've made some changes over the years. We've replaced the old drop down ceiling that had these 4 ft long fluorescent bulbs. We've replaced the flooring once before, but it was still linoleum. We've also have replaced the appliances once before. It should be said that Ann watches HGTV endlessly so it's no surprise the remodel bug hit her big time.

This is what our kitchen looked like before the remodel began. The kitchen is pretty empty as we had to empty everything out so the Contractor could begin the demolition.

After Day 1 our kitchen was pretty much gutted. All the cabinets were gone as were our appliances. The flooring was also torn up.

Day 2 saw the start of the cabinet installation. It was a slow process. Apparently our walls are no where close to square which required a lot of adjustment.

Meanwhile our garage became our storage area. It held the new and old cabinets as well as the new appliances.

Leading into our kitchen is the foyer area. We are going to retile that area along with the kitchen. Day 2 saw the start of the tile removal. I was surprised how easy it came up.

Done in almost no time.

Days 3 and 4 saw further progress on the cabinet installation. I was somewhat surprised they installed the new microwave early in Day 3.

By Friday the work on the cabinet installation was done. We're waiting on the counter tops now. They also took pity on us and put in our appliances so we had a somewhat functional kitchen for the weekend. We really needed the refrigerator. We still don't have a sink so we're really don't have a way to clean up if we tried cooking our own meals and we're not really into washing dishes in the tub, etc. Needless to say we've been eating out for all our meals.

We were also told on Day 5 (Friday) that due to the wonky outside wall, they needed to come remeasure for the counter tops. This time they brought this amazing looking measuring device.

He had it hooked up to a laptop and right after he finished measuring, he sent the measurements electronically to the factory in Maryland. All in all it was pretty cool.

We still have to pick out tile for the kitchen and foyer areas. We've tried. Oh we have tried, but our counter tops have this unique coloring and for whatever reason we can't hold the color in our heads long enough to pick out a tile. Not to mention we have no sense of style whatsoever. The counter tops are due to be installed on Thursday along with a new sink and by the end of the day we should have a fully functional kitchen once again. The plan going forward is to get a piece of the actual counter top and take it to the tile store with us. Hopefully that will allow the tile "design expert" to pick out a few styles/colors that will work and allow us to pick one.

I will say, this remodel has gone better then I expected. The crew has been super nice and have cleaned up everything after wrapping up every day. That's not to say there hasn't been noise and dust and chaos. There's been plenty, but its all been bearable. Even the dogs have pretty much gone with the flow. I figured they would be barking all day long, but again not so. They've just settled into our bedroom and chilled out. Even taking them out for walks, they've pretty much accepted the crew and not gone after them like the crazy maniacs they can be. But truly I'm ready for this all to be done.

Of This and That

Its been quite a while since I have posted anything. I'd like to say I've been so busy that I've just not had the time. Alas that would be a lie. It's more due to pure laziness. That being said, lets do some catch up. The most exciting news is that Daughter#1's husband has finally found a job in the Old Dominion State and has rejoined his bride after 9 months of being separated. He has given up his sales job to work in a rehabilitation clinic out in Warrenton. He eventually wants to work in Occupational Therapy. This job is a good foundation while he completes the educational requirements. Speaking of Daughter#1, she began a new job this past Monday working at Fairfax Hospital doing some sort of meeting planning work. So far she seems to like it. The added income doesn't hurt either. She has also been named the Head Coach for the Prince William Rowing Club's women program. She was the assistant coach last year and is looking forward to taking over the program and keeping the women as one of the top women Masters programs in the country. The Son is currently between jobs - again. He has a job offer but is waiting for the necessary security clearances to come through. It's for more money then his old job so he's excited about that, but the commute will be a little tougher. He doesn't do well with a lot of free time on his hands so we are all hoping that the necessary paperwork comes through quickly. No new news from Daughter#2 and her husband. They are still renovating the farm house they are living in and renting out their old house in Harrisonburg. She was really excited when they managed to finagle high speed Internet in their remote cableless location. She is also close to completing her masters degree with the University of Florida. I told her she had to go down to Gainesville to do the graduation walk. She has put in a lot of work in getting this degree and she should be able to take the bows for it. A vacation to Florida wouldn't hurt us either. Ann has sold and had closing on her Aunt's house in Cape Coral, FL. Ann inherited the house when her Aunt passed away in August. We toyed with the idea of keeping the house and using it for vacations and winter times especially with Ann and I approaching retirement In the end we decided that we wouldn't get that much use out of it and none of the kids were interested in using it for vacations either. The upside is it will make our retirement easier as it has allowed us to significantly reduce our debt load. As for me, it has been a tough winter. We haven't had much snow, but its been brutally cold for Virginia. I have also been inflicted with an upper respiratory infection. After getting over that, I broke one of my toes in January. Now again I seem to be fighting some sort of respiratory ailment. All to say that that combination has severely limited by off season conditioning to get ready for this year's rowing. I can get out on the water starting tomorrow (although the weather will be crap so I won't actually row, but I could!). My aerobic condition is sucky to say the least. I hope our spring is really nice to allow me to spend a lot of time rowing on my own to get me ready for the competitive season, which starts in early June. Looking forward to getting my first blisters of the season.

A Big Thanks

Holidailies has come to a close for the year (actually I thought today was the last day - instead it finished up on Wednesday). I started a few days late and trailed off a little at the end, but for the most part, I updated fairly regularly. It gave me what I needed most though and thats to start writing again so that was the definite upside. Thanks to Jette and Chip for hosting. Thanks also to you who stopped by for a read and a special thank you to those you left me a note. Comments are always appreciated.

I miss the holidays already even though my Christmas lights outside are still burning bright and our tree is still up. Both will come down this weekend. I find that a most depressing job.

Things to look forward to over the next few weeks:

• My alma mater Auburn plays for the BCS Championship on Monday night
• a couple trips to the west coast for business
• holidays and three day weekends
• hopefully a snow storm or two - just don't go overboard like last year
• a nice bonus from work
• good friends and a wonderful family

Oh No - Work

Today was my first day back in the office in about 2 1/2 weeks. Which is not to say I haven't been working. I have, but from home or at least on the days I wasn't off due to the holidays. Today it was back to the normal grind. My 80 mile commute and the 1 1/2 hours in the Vanpool. Oddly it wasn't that hard getting up at 3:30 this morning to get ready. Maybe it was the anticipation of heading back to work. I was even able to easily fall back into my routine of sleeping most of the way to the base. It was a busy day and I'm definitely behind. I got a lot done today, unfortunately it wasn't on the things that really needed working on. Tomorrow and Thursday are reserved for that. I've been assigned an intern to help train and groom to replace me if I choose to retire this year. She seems eager enough so thats good. I also had my end of year review today. It went well. No pay raise this year though as the President has frozen cost of living adjustments for all Federal workers. I'd like to say I'm bitter about it, but I'm not really. There are millions that are literally a lot worse off then I am. My wife and I both have jobs we enjoy and while the pay isn't the same as our private sector counterparts, the jobs still pay well enough. A 2.0% pay raise or lack thereof isn't going to break us as a family one way or another. After a 2 hour and fifteen minute commute home, I can tell I'm feeling the effects of the long day. I'm exhausted and all I want to do is go to bed, which I plan to do right after I post this.

In case I missed saying it, a Happy New Year and I wish everyone the best for 2011 . May happiness be in all your hearts throughout the year. Good night.

New Years Day = Football

If it's one thing New Years Day has always meant to me is college football. All day long. In the old days, a good part of the day might have been spent recovering from the night before. So parking myself in front of the TV was more a necessity then anything else. These days I'm a lot smarter not to mention older. The thought of going out partying on New Years eve has long lost its appeal. My stomach and head are much better off as a result. I was hoping to plop down in front of a fire and enjoy the games, but it actually was too warm here today to even consider having a fire going in the fireplace. So I settled for chips and dip with a turkey sandwich.

The first round of games turned out to be pretty uninteresting for the most part. Blowouts for the most part. I started off watching Michigan State vs Alabama. I was hoping to watch Alabama go down, which is always a treat for me. No such luck. I finished up the first round watching the Florida vs Penn State. At least it was a game for the most part. I was looking forward to the Rose Bowl to see how TCU would do. They didn't disappoint beating Wisconsin. It was a good game, but TCU and by extension other nonBCS teams, showed that they can play with the big boys. So good for them. Oh and the Big 10 Conference - 0 for 5 today. Me thinks that's a conference a tad overrated this year

As entertaining as the bowl games are, the fact that Div 1 football is the only NCAA sport without a Championship is a travesty. I think we will eventually have one, it's just a question of when. This whole BCS thing is just a crock.

Fender Bender

It's been relatively quiet since Christmas. That goes for home cooking too. We've barely have had any food in the house to cook. We've been going out a lot lately. Apparently so is everyone else. Last night we decided to go out for dinner and the first three places we went to all had 50 minutes to an hour wait. What? On a Thursday night? What is wrong with you people.

I did finalyl make it to the grocery store and frankly I wished I hadn't. I ran in and did my shopping. Came out and got in my van. Looked left and right and in my rear view mirror. All was clear or so I thought and started to back out - right into the side of a pick-up truck. Somehow the driver had managed to pull in behind me after I had checked right and left and the way she had pulled behind me when I checked my rear view mirror, the cab of the truck was out of my line of sight and the bed of her pickup was below my rear window level so I couldn't see it. She was quite upset and crying. It was her husband's truck and she said he didn't want her to take it to the store, Why she did then I have no idea. The damage to both vehicles was minor, but needs to be fixed. More so on her truck then my van. This is what the rear bumper on my van is suppose to look like:

This is what the damaged side now looks like. At first I wasn't going to have it repaired. It's more cosmetic damage then anything. After talking to my insurance company though, I've decided to get it repaired. Parking lots are such a pain in the ass.

A Follow Up and Things

In a follow up to yesterday's post, Maryland gave Coach Friedgen a proper send off by beating East Carolina 51-20. I was happy to see plenty of Maryland fans had brought along "Thanks Ralph" signs. I'm glad his team was able to send him out on a high note. The team has a lot of young talent. Ralph didn't leave the cupboard bare for the next coach. Things should be bright for next year if the new coach is any good at all. Maryland has said they want to name a new coach by January 4 - the official start of recruiting. Lets hope they stay on schedule.

Given the name of this blog you would think I would mention rowing every once in a while. Well it is winter and the temperatures have been below freezing for an unimaginable time for Virginia. For sure on water rowing is done until 1 April, weather permitting. So it's time for that all so popular winter conditioning. Like in most years past once our last race is over (1st weekend in November), I fall off the wagon during the rest of November and most of December only to try and drag myself back out of the fitness abyss. I have dug my erg out of Daughter#2's old bedroom put on a new handle and did my first 5,000 meter indoor row yesterday. It was painfully slow, but not unexpected given the long layoff. It's just about getting a bit faster and stronger with each workout. I'll be doing another 5,000 meter row tomorrow. If I manage anything close to respectability for my age, I will certainly post it here.

Today was also my last workday for the year. I'm off until Monday and low is the work backed up. That first week back is going to be pure hell. Retirement is sounding better all the time.

End of an Era

Tomorrow marks the final game for Ralph Freidgen as coach of the Maryland Terrapins. His team will face the East Carolina Pirates in the Military Bowl in nearby RFK Stadium. He was fired after refusing to retire by the brand new Athletic Director Kevin Anderson. That after Anderson declared The Fridge would be back next year. Anderson comes from a similar position at Army. Army! Well qualified I'm sure. Ralph deserved much better then how he is being treated by his alma mater. He was just voted Coach of the Year in the ACC after what I believe was the second biggest turn around in NCAA history. Who gets fired after being named Coach of the Year? The man took the Terps to 7 Bowl games in 10 years. Thats pretty remarkable given Maryland's football history. When it comes to football, Maryland isn't Texas. It isn't USC. They have a hard time recruiting the blue chip football players. Maryland is first and foremost a basketball school. I've been a Maryland season ticket holder for over 30 years now. I've seen the ups and downs of this program. More downs then up. Ralph was a bright spot during that run of years. The rumors have it that Mike Leach recently of Texas Tech fame will be the new head coach. That he will bring some sizzle to the program that was lacking under Ralph. That he will fill the seats and empty luxury suites at Byrd Stadium. He might ultimately be able to do that, but he will have to fill some big shoes to do it.

Ah The Weather

Nothing like discussing the weather to make for a snoozefest of an entry. I was thinking of writing about the weather as I was walking the dogs at 7:30 this morning. I walked three of our four dogs at the same time to minimize the time I had to spend out side. While we didn't get the snow that those to the east and north of us got, we certainly got the wind and the cold. The cold as propelled by the wind became that stinging, biting cold that hurts your face just to be out in it. It was hard to judge which was producing more liquid - my watering eyes or my running nose. As we walked along I kept repeating my silent mantra to the dogs - "Please go....Please go..." Of course they took their own sweet time about it. By the time we got back home, my cheeks and chin were numb as were my hands. And to think I get it to do it all again tomorrow as the winds will remain and the temperatures will be dipping into the teens. Such fun and what a wonderful vacation time.

Christmas Aftermath

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We did here at the old hacienda. While not quite the mayhem as when the kids were little. it still ended up being exhausting as ever. I was up at 6:30 to prepare the family breakfast (for 6 of us) while Ann handled all the dogs. Five of them in all. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and OJ. We retired to the living room to dive into the packages left to us by Santa Claus. As we started the only one not in attendance was The Son who, although up, was running behind and still at his condo. He did tell us to go and get started and so we did. We had opened almost all the gifts by the time he arrived, but we sat him down and let him open all his presents. By the end I think I can safely say that everyone was quite happy with the presents received. After all the presents had been opened, Daughter#1 and her husband retired to the kitchen to prepare appetizers for the family to enjoy while the Christmas dinner was cooking away. We enjoyed a game of sorts (the name escapes me) the The Son managed to win. By late afternoon the turkey was ready and The Son had made his garlic mashed potatoes and we sat down for dinner. After saying grace for the many blessings we enjoy as a family, we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. That included apple pie ala mode and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert. All I wanted to do afterward was to lay around and take a nap before heading to bed. After tending to the dogs one last time thats exactly what I did. I was in bed by 9:30 and glad of it.

Because of the threat of a major storm heading up the coast, Daughter#2 and her husband decided to head home to Harrisonburg Christmas night rather then stay the night. They ran into the leading edge of the storm during the drive home. The pickup they were driving skidded on the slick surface about 30 minutes from home and hit a concrete wall. They were safe, but the truck was undrivable. A call was made to his parents to come rescue them. They finally made it home around midnight.

This morning Daughter#1's husband was kind enough to make us blueberry pancakes. That was the last thing he was able to do before being felled by the stomach virus that has struck Daughter#1, Ann and myself in the past few weeks. I feel for the guy as I know what he's going through. The good news it doesn't last more then 24 hours.

Christmas Eve Thoughts

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you tonight with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past last three years, which I love. They represent to me the meaning of Christmas.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyrics from the song "Welcome, Christmas" from the TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and as Tiny Tim observed: "God Bless Us Every One"

Christmas Movies

I was going to write about our family Christmas traditions tonight, but frankly the day got away from me and now I'm a bit too tired to think and write about them. So I'll just talk about a subset of our Christmas traditions, which is Christmas movies. I'll be the first to admit I'm a sucker for a good Christmas movie. I'll watch them over and over every year without fail. The first comes out on Thanksgiving because the movie itself starts on Thanksgiving Day. Sometime between getting the turkey in the oven and starting to peel the potatoes, I'll watch "Miracle on 34th Street".

I watch the 1947 version with Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn and Maureen O'Hara. In black in white and not "colorized". Occasionally I'll watch the 1994 remake with Richard Attenbourgh, Elizabeth Perkins and Mara Wilson, but I prefer the original.

The next four I watch in no particular order. It's whatever strikes my mood at the time.

First up is "Love Actually". I love this movie. Love the stories, love the music, love everything about it. The scene at the end where Colin Firth proposes to Aurelia always gets to me.

The next one I just watched tonight - A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott as Scrooge

I'll watch other versions if I see them om TV, but I happen to own the above version and I've watched it a lot. I've given a copy to Daughter#1 as well. I really like the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Cratchit, but it's hard to find on TV. Some trivia - Gene Lockhart also played the Judge in the 1947 version of "Miracle on 34th Street".

The next two movies took me a while to warm up to. I really didn't like them at first, but having watched them a few times I've really gotten to like them. The first of these is the "Polar Express".

It's the one Christmas movie I watch that I don't actually own. I have to catch it on TV. At first I didn't like the animation. It looked kind of creepy. However over time the message of believing and being able to hear the sleigh bell won me over. At times I think its a bit overdone and could have easily been shorten by 30 minutes, but thats just nit picking. Besides who doesn't like Tom Hanks?

The next movie, which I bought about two years ago is "Prancer".

At first glance it appears to be just another cheezy kid Christmas movie, but Rebecca Harrell's performance as Jessica Riggs will win your heart over. We should all believe as sincerely as Jessica. Watching her save Prancer as he in turns saves her will bring a tear to your eye.

This final movie is what the family gathers together to watch every Christmas Eve before we turn in for the night to await Santa's arrival. Even now that the kids are adults, we still watch it as a family. The movie - "One Magic Christmas".

It has sort of a "It's a Wonderful Life" twist to it. It's always interesting to contemplate how changing one small thing changes all that follows it. The scene where Mary Steenburgen (the Mom) reads the letter she wrote as a child to Santa that her own child has brought back from the North Pole is the high point of the movie for me.

What Christmas movies are your favorites?

A Dog's Christmas

Today was my last day of work for a while. I don't have to commute down to my place of work until after the New Year. That being said there is always work to be done around the house. The first and foremost is taking care of our pack of dogs. We have four total.

The old lady of the Group: Rosie She turns 17 in February. She's a Schnauzer mix.

Mischief personified: Emily on the left Amy on the right. Miniature Schnauzers. They will turn 3 in February

And the only other male in the house besides myself: Scruffy. He's 11

All our dogs are rescues.

Ann and I take turns walking the dogs or at least letting them out to take care of business. Scruffy gets the longest walks as he's the biggest dog by about 30 lbs and he's also the easiest to walk. At 17, Rosie isn't that interested in walking. She's more about the treat waiting at the end of the walk. The twins can walk as far as Scruffy, but walking them is a disaster waiting to happen. If we run into someone, they go berserk with the barking, pulling on their leashes and carrying on. Their bark is just at the high pitch level thats it's like fingernails on a blackboard. No one wants to hear that. Especially first thing in the morning. So Scruffy gets the long walk. Since its currently Canadian weather here in Virginia, I limit the walk to one mile round trip. We walk to the local elementary school, which is a half mile away. This time of year school is in session so there are two crossing guards at the school. One always carries a treat for the local dogs. Obviously she is a dog person with three of her own. Scruffy eagerly awaits for her to dig into the pocket of her uniform to produce the prized treat. He gets a bit mystified on weekends or school holidays when we walk to the school and there isn't a treat waiting for him. Last week, after giving the Scruffy his treat, she said she had something for us. She went to her car and brought back this enormous chew bone. She told Scruffy he had to share it with his sisters. We placed it under the tree too hand out Christmas morning. Its for a Dog's Christmas.

Organization from Chaos

For years our kitchen pantry had been a thorn in my wife's side. She hated how it looked. She hated how disorganized it was. Hated how it was just a giant mess in general. You couldn't grab an item from the pantry without several other items falling down off the shelves. It was that bad. Of course not so bad that she was willing to take on a job she felt a bit overwhelmed by. Ann had been not so subtlety hinting to Daughter#1 that she would love it if she would take on the project. Its a project right up Daughter#1's alley what with her anal ways and all. Heck she has already sent us all itineraries for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However Daughter#1 has been pretty busy with the move back home, starting a new job, coaching crew and starting back to school. But tonight after dinner she dived right in. Determined to get the job done before the rest of the family arrives on Friday. After the first few minutes I was drafted to help out. Shelves were emptied. Old stuff thrown out like the jar of oregano that expired sometime in the 1980s. Other things placed aside to be donated. Spices arranged alphabetically. Different things grouped together logically (i.e., things for baking, soups, oils, etc). In a little over an hour we had a decent looking pantry ready for the big cooking days ahead. Thanks Daughter#1. A look at the finished product. I just wished I had taken a picture of the mess before we started.

Fosters and Rescues

I mentioned in an earlier post, how we enjoy getting Christmas cards. How they help set the mood for the holiday and how it lets us reconnect with old friends, even those we haven't seen in years. The other day a card arrived and I didn't recognize the address. It had a Virginia return address but it was from a town I wasn't familiar with. Upon opening it, we discovered that it was from the woman who had fostered one of our dogs before we adopted him. Back in 2009 we had lost our miniature schnauzer Winifred after 17 years. We still had one dog, a schnauzer mix, Rosie, that we adopted through the Mid-Atlantic Schnauzer Rescue . Ann decided she was ready for a bigger dog. One that she could take walks with. Not that you can't walk with miniature schnauzers, but they can be, shall we say, a challenge at times. I thought a second dog would be good if nothing else to be company for Rosie. Because I'm allergic to some furry animals, cats especially, it was important to pick a breed that has minimal shedding. Schnauzers had filled that bill hence why we had picked that breed in the past. As it turned out I had been donating to a local rescue organization HART - Homeless Animal Rescue Team. Occasionally I would visit their page to see what dogs were available. I came across a dog that would seem to fit the bill. He was a terrier (low shedding) and mid-size (about 45 lbs) so Ann could have a dog to walk with. He was a Wheaton terrier. We ended up adopting him this past February. Here was Scruffy on his ride home

And trying out one of our dog beds.

Anyway back to the Christmas card. In it, the former foster asked how Scruffy was doing and how he had been a favorite foster of hers. She had fostered him for just over a year. It was obvious she missed him. She asked if we could send her a picture of him. So today we broke out the camera and took a few pictures of Scruffy in front of our Christmas tree.

Ann was off camera bribing him with a treat to look her way while I took his picture. This of course drew the attention of our other dogs. Thats Emily in this picture with Scruffy.

I hope she enjoys the pictures (we sent her three). My hat is off to those who take in these unwanted pets and foster them until they can find a forever home. It must be difficult giving them up when the time comes. She did a wonderful job with Scruffy. He 's about the most well behaved, laid back dog ever. We're so glad we found him and he us.