HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Let's see if we can rescue this "New World" in 2010?

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Christmas Eve

Our Family Christmas Tree.

Instead of having our cards on the mantel this year,

I made a tree out of ribbon and bamboo to clip all the cards onto.

Christmas corner.

Living room disorder, otherwise known as present opening.

Shirts shirts and more shirts....

Shearling slippers and dust buster...I was planning to quit dusting in 2010. Now I need to reconsider that decision.

The old office

The new office

We got a new printer/copier/scanner/fax machine and a big, flat, wide screen that makes us look wide.

Never mind the dusting next year, I'll have to run more to look narrow on the wide screen.

Our new office gives us much more room in the little nook we have set aside for it.

The babies had a good Christmas run this morning with us.

They made a new friend along the run. We met a little husky pup looking JUST like Buck.

Buck and Spitz got their fancy Christmas dinner and crashed out early, so they missed the present opening extravaganza.

Merry Christmas and good, silent night!!!

Silent Night

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Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas!

Hanukkah in Palm Springs

Our vacation started with a hike. Teri and Ben showed us their favorit spot in the desert.
We hiked up to a beautiful lookout to see the San Jacinto and San Gorgonio mountains after the storm passed.
The desert had a little flood but the creek Teri walked us to dissapeared. When it's flooding, creeks are usually running more. This one must have ran so fast it ran away from it's bed. It took the bridge with it too.
No kidding. Teri said there was a bridge and a creek and we couldn't find either of them.
???

At least the mountains were still there and what a view!
Teri with Ben and Buck & Spitz

After the hike, we moved into Teri's house. I had to get away from the cold and the snow and the mud. That's not for grandmas. Grandmas like country clubs and knitting in the sunshine.

Buck and Spitz didn't mind soaking up the sun, laying around Ben's pool, sniffing up his yard, sharing his toys and looking for things that Ben was hiding.

Buck found a flat and dirty rawhide that was burried for a long time. He brought it to show me it and I was very proud of him :)

Spitzers found the rawhide Ben left for him. It wasn't hard to find, since it was in the middle of the yard, but he was not certain that he can chew it. When he found out that he can have it, he spent most of the day happily chewing it.

Buck is waiting patiently until Spitz is ready to share.

Thank you Teri for showing me what a darn good idea it is to have a home in the mountains and one in the desert.

Happy Hanukkah !

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Let It Snow??????

Sunday afternoon in the park, before the storm.























Are you ready for lots of snow Spitzers?
















Monday morning 8:00 am.


















Buck wants to be warm.


















Inclement weather for Spitzers.

This was after I finished shoveling 7 inches. Now it's almost 10 inches and I'd rather be skiing. Spitz doesn't want to leave the house. Buck can't wait to go sink through the neighborhood.

Heck with the shoveling, we are going on our doggie walk!

3:00pm. Walking in the pouring snow was absolutely beautiful.

Buck was sinking up to his tummy, running through and biting the snow, loving life.

I was following the trail he made and Spitz was dragging himself after me, sinking up to his neck.

We had a great time.

Made it back to the house and shoveled the walkways again just in time before the bogus snow started coming down. Wet, slushy, heavy, white stuff = bogus snow.

One of the babies threw up out on the yard. Maybe Spitzers. I didn't see which one. Spitzers get very stressed out when the weather is like this. They are both cuddled up next to the pantry now, waiting for some dinner to come out of there.

Snowy Family Sunday

We had the first snow this season. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning,
Pine Cove had 7 inches of snow fall.


















Above: We are standing on the rock, where Jenna was sitting 5 years ago at Christmas time, drawing the view.


















Above: Taquitz Peak before the sunset.

Thanksgiving Tasties

Our babies are so abused.

Daddy gives them peanut butter which sticks to the top of their mouth so they keep licking it and licking it. They get some turkey and ham bites as a reward for entertaining their parents.

Texas Week

The new solar field testing trip began with a family mini vacation.
We always wanted to see Tombstone and we ran right into it on our way to New Mexico.

Friendly town!

Let's step inside.

No, we did not take the ride.

This is Lili. She is walking around and showing off her little western outfit made by her mommy and collecting donations for the animal shelter.

My doggies go: Looook at Youuuu! How much do they pay you to wear that silly outfit?

Before the gunfight.

Buck and Spitz did not like the gunfight act. They tried to hide and to run away.

Scene from Tombstone.

This is the wagon I would like for my front yard. It's not for sale, neither do I have room on my front yard. Oh well....sigh.....

Wonder if the substitute teachers are still allowed to carry guns into school?

Our short old west vacation ended with a long drive to El Paso, Texas.

The first night, we got smoked out of the La Quinta Inn and escaped to the smoke free Residence Inn Marriott. It was a difficult decision to make that move especially for me.

Hanging out all day for 4 days in the clean and beautiful Marriott was a hardship and we all suffered so much.

Buck was looking out the window every night after dark thinking: It's time for daddy to come home.

I spent the mornings in the fitness room and in the swimming pool, while Spitzers and Buck got bored watching Animal Planet and took their beauty nap.

The boys are cuddled in for the night. Where do I sleep? Floor or sofa? Hmmmm...

Mark's office in south-west New Mexico. He took the family to see how he spent his days out on the sun, getting a tan, in the sand dunes and lovely but thorny bushes, playing on a tractor....

Doooon't go there!

They should keep these fields in Iraq. That's where they need them. No?

Spitz is looking for excitement and would like to explore the White Sand area, so I keep him on the leash.

Buck is running around on the solar field site not wanting to blow up.