2011 Holiday Newsletter

Happy Holidays!

Well, we ended our last newsletter hoping that 2011 would be better than 2010, and in at least one way it was.  After living 20 years in our "starter home", 10 years of considering new homes and 5 years of earnest searching for a new home (with numerous different real estate agents as well as on our own), we finally bought our "dream home."  This is not news to many of you as we shared our long journey to home purchase over the years. The unobstructable view from the back of the house takes in Mission Bay and the ocean and this is really what sold us on the house.




Dee and her nephew, Matt, with Freddie - not noticing the spectacular view behind them.

  

We closed on our 26th wedding anniversary.




Toasting our anniversary on the patio of our new house at sunset.

 The house itself needs some work to be a little more dreamlike.  We bought it "as is." The "sunroom" needs work, the roof leaks (currently held at bay with tarps) and termites are going to town on it, the sink was leaking, the other plumbing not so great either, weird electrical connections everywhere - some lights we can't turn on, others we can't turn off.  The list goes on.

Other than that - we love our new house.  Any time we are overwhelmed about the the house itself, we just gaze out onto the bay and ocean.  During the summer, we also had nightly fireworks shows courtesy of Seaworld and are looking forward to more next summer. 
Because we have not yet decided on a remodel, we have not done anything with our other house.  We expect that we may have to move back into it if we significantly remodel the "new" one rather than suffer through months of no kitchen, no water, etc. and rather than renting another place.  Therefore, in the meantime, it is our very expensive storage unit.  We expect to either rent it out or sell it once we have decided whether we need it as a backup home.

Les is still at Foley.  Still performing patent procurement and counseling.  He even picked up a client through friends.  However, this has been a significantly down year and we do not expect 2012 to be all that much better.  It is a good thing we have been saving our pennies (well - except for buying a home...)

He is still brewing, judging, and, of course, drinking home brewed beer.

Dee's veterinary relief practice was significantly slow early in the year.  It picked up a little at the end of the summer, but she is still working at a modest pace.  She has plenty of time for jewelry making, but the jewelry sales are not happening.  Dee is also working occasionally at Weight Watchers as a receptionist, both to keep up her own program as well as to avail herself to all that is cutting-edge weight watcher technology (i.e. it is not for the salary!). 

Because of the home purchase, we have not had any big vacations, except that Dee was able to visit her sister Rita in Atlanta and really get to share soccer matches, the zoo, the botanical gardens and several homework sessions with her nieces, Elena and Alex.  She had a great time, especially getting ready for Halloween.



Dee with Rita and Jay at the botanical gardens

 


Alex and Elena hard at work on the gingerbread house

 
Dee's brother and sister-in-law, Larry and Mary, and Mom H. came for a visit just before we bought the house.  We enjoyed going to the zoo and a boat/bus tour of the SD Bay. Larry's favorite was having lunch at the famed Torrey Pines golf course. Dee had the opportunity to arrange a rendevouz for Mom with Dee's cousin Valerie at San Juan Capistrano.  It was a total surprise for Mom, including meeting Val's son, Tom, and the grandbaby!



Mom H. with  Valerie, Tom and Tom's mother-in-law, and the grandbaby



Our friend Barbara came for a visit from Three Rivers.  She even brought some eggs produced by her chickens.  Les' brother Bob has come for visits, including the 4th of July, where we and other friends had  spectacular views of the fireworks from Seaworld, Mission Bay, and La Jolla. We look forward to Bob being back for Christmas weekend.

We had a wonderful time having such visits and look forward to many more guests now that we have a house that can actually comfortably accomodate visitors.

After numerous reminders that we did not need 3 cars, Les finally broke down and sold the Honda.  Naturally, a few months later we are having fatal issues for the Infiniti.

Freddie Mac (FM), the dog, has proven to be no more trainable than in our first impression.  However, he has captured the heart of nearly every single friend we have.  He has spent numerous vacations in Poway at his pied-à-terre with our friends Ron and Judith. 


FM with Judith Roney on Halloween.  He really likes to wear costumes!

Melon, the cat, continues to hide from FM.  Unfortunately for her, Dee has figured out that she is allergic to Melon, which was causing Dee difficulty in sleeping, so Melon has been banished from the bedroom.

Harvey, the African Grey Parrot, is still the same. Still looks like he was in the tumble cycle of a dryer due to his feather-picking, but otherwise a happy camper.

We are happy that our families are all doing well and that we still get to see them from time to time.  We are grateful for the many blessings we have been given this year - both health and happiness.  We hope that you are well also and look forward to a better 2012.





2010 Holiday Newsletter

Happy Holidays!

We are sorry that we skipped our newsletter last year. Too many (bad) things going on (more on that later).

In her vet business, Dee had a light year in 2009. Even more light this year. In tough economic times people seem to cut back first on pet care. She is still highly visible in the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association, where she was President twice, and is now again Secretary/Treasurer. Every time she thinks she's out, they pull her back in!

Of course, the vet business has been going much better than the jewelry business. Almost no sales in either year. However, she is still making jewelry from time to time and enjoying it.

Be sure to visit our gift shop when you come to visit.

Les is still at Foley and Lardner. Things have also been tough in the legal field, but his practice group has been busy enough. He was also involved in the professional community, having held the position of co-chair of an IP committee of BIOCOM, a regional life science trade association and also chair of the Licensing Executives Society (that's right, LES).

Les also was able to do less evil things as an attorney. He helped pro bono clients get disability benefits, representing them before administrative judges on appeal. That's right, helping to expand entitlements in the USA!

Les was making beer last year and entered competitions. He even won a silver medal in the Robust Porter category at this year's America's Finest City (San Diego, if you have not heard) Home Brew Competition. And he still judges at competitions every once in a while. Of course, we both still do "tastings" often.

We have, over the past couple of years made offers on houses, only to be outbid or have other shenanigans occur that prevented the sale. We were this close (thumb and forefinger almost together) at closing on a house in a short sale shortly before Halloween. The sellers apparently were stringing us along so that they could delay foreclosure and keep both staying in the house without paying a mortgage and having a couple of renters at the same time. The sellers pulled a last second stunt to extract significantly more money from us and we refused. In the end, we pulled out of escrow to avoid having our good faith money tied up in endless dispute. As everyone has told us, something better will come along. Considering the outlook in housing, it seems very likely that a better deal will come just for waiting. However, it would have been nice to have the search over. It was very disappointing to say the least to already have in mind where we were going to put things, what new things we were going to buy, and to have about 1/3 of our stuff packed up just to have the rug pulled out from under us.

So we keep looking for that better deal.

Since our last newsletter, we adopted another dog after Marney's death. Dee wanted a little lap dog. Because she comes across many dogs in her practice, we choose to let the dog come to us. She was working at a clinic down in Chula Vista (not far from the Mexican border). She was leaving work and found a couple standing outside with this homely, scared-looking Chihuahua-looking, nearly naked dog. The couple was crying. They were bereft that they had lost their jobs, lost their house and now were having to move in with a cousin - in an apartment complex that did not allow dogs. They were then contemplating dropping the dog off at the animal shelter. Dee realized that this dog did not have a snowball's chance in Vegas to be adopted and said that she would take him in. The couple went on their way and Dee brought the dog home.

Dee does not have many criteria for what she expects in a dog. However, she emphasizes that the dog should not be white and should not be male (that licking thing? - or is it that thing licking?). Of course, the dog is white (but only where it actually has hair) and is male.

The couple had named the dog Freddie. We were not enamored about the name, but Dee decided a wholly appropriate name for him is Freddie Mac, the Foreclosure Dog. And it stuck.

Every bad habit that Marney had, we had to teach her. She was (mostly) perfect (except for that "biting thing"). She know how to sit, beg, shake, fetch, etc. and loved to do it. Freddie Mac (FM) is the worst dog ever. And Dee loves him (He's so cute!). His only redeeming features are that he knows how to sit, sort of knows how to fetch and when he is bad, he voluntarily puts himself in the crate. Otherwise, he gives you the "What me worry?" look and does whatever he wants.

Harvey, the African Grey parrot, is pretty much the same. Talking all the time and still plucking his feathers, but not his down, so he looks like he was tumbled in the dryer.

Melon, the cat, has little sense of humor regarding the dog, but has learned to better tolerate him. FM will on occasion leap on her to play. She swats him, but because she is declawed, FM just thinks she is playing and gets even more excited. They have reached a sort of detente and get along OK, more or less.

Dot, the rat, died of old age. We think she was ~5 years old, which is ancient for a rat. She was one of our best pets ever and we do miss her. We do not feel that she is replaceable.
Dee got a hoard of betta fish from one of the vets she does relief for. They are pretty to look at and very quiet (unlike FM).

We did get some vacations in. We went on another cruise to Mexico in 2009 (at Halloween). In 2010, for our 25th wedding anniversary (25!) we went to Montecito (small town outside of Santa Barbara) and then in August did a cruise to Alaska.

So for the bad news. Dee's Dad passed away in 2009. Les's Mom passed away in February this year. These were both very difficult and we miss them. Dee went back to New York multiple times when her Dad was in ill health and then for his funeral and memorial. Because Les's Mom lived just 5 miles away, we were involved in her declining health issues daily and were there with her until the end. We had become use to talking to her every day and visiting with her almost every week. The holidays we would see her more often, making it even more difficult after her death. Her little clique of friends at the retirement community months later remarked about how she was the one that really kept their group together. In addition, Dee's Uncle Harry, her godfather, passed later in the year.

Overall, not a good time. We miss them all.

We hope for a better 2011. We wish you the best for the holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Les & Dee

2008 Newsletter

Happy Holidays!
The Holiday season sneaks up on us every year. Only it seems to be getting sneakier. We started writing this on vacation (YES – a real vacation!) and we actually finally have a moment to bang this out. We went on a cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and back in 5 days with another couple, our friends Ron & Judith Roney. The picture is us showing off the lobster dinner, one of many we had in succession that night. This cruise was a trial run – we plan to take an Alaskan cruise in the future but decided we needed to determine whether we could stand to be on a boat. We had a great time, so expect a future newsletter to include a description of our Alaska trip. Until then, we are working off the pound-a-day weight gain.

Dee is still dividing her time between veterinary relief work and jewelry. She had her jewelry in The Candle Shop in Lakeside until she found out it was closed and the proprietors were going through a nasty divorce. Fortunately, the wife was able to track down some of Dee’s stuff and return it to her. Dee is still looking for new venues for her wares, but a little more wary. Dee is still active in various jewelry-related organizations including the Bead Society, Metal Arts, Art Clay, Mineral & Gem and others.

Dee is now Past-President of the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association (SDCVMA) – for the second time. You might have thought this was the end – some of us did – but no. She is now Treasurer and, some guess, working her way back to President. No big pet food deaths or lawsuits this year, so it was a pretty quiet tenure. But there is always next year.

Les still enjoys working at a big global law firm, just not the same one he was working at the beginning of the year. After 118 years, Heller Ehrman folded its tent, i.e. the partners voted to dissolve the partnership. Not entirely the doing of a down economy, but it certainly didn’t help. Fortunately, it was not too long before he was able to land at another law firm, Foley & Lardner, which is 50 years older than Heller Ehrman was (older must mean it will last longer right?). We feel very fortunate for him to be able to land another position so soon with an economy in such a down spiral. Several of his colleagues are still looking and we wish them all the best.

Les too remains involved with trade organizations: He is now chair-elect of the San Diego Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and co-chair of the BIOCOM Intellectual Property Committee (BIOCOM, based in Southern California, is the largest regional life science association in the world). For the second time running he is a San Diego Daily Transcript (a local business paper) Young Attorney finalist. As long as they keep calling him “young” he will keep running. (“Young” is defined as an attorney less than seven years from law school graduation.)

Les continues to compete with his brews and he received a few awards at this year’s Great American Beer Festival and still judges competitions from time to time. This tends to get him greater recognition by his peers than his legal pursuits.

Les’ Mom was in the hospital with a recalcitrant pneumonia, followed by several weeks in a rehabilitation center. She conveniently decided to do this while Les was between jobs, so we were able to help out. She is on the mend and we hope that she will be back on her beach walks soon.

We have not yet gotten a replacement for Marney (the dog) who died more than a year ago, but Dee keeps threatening to do so. In the meantime, we still have Harvey (the African Grey parrot), Melon (the snowshoe cat) and Dot (the hooded rat – shown investigating a potted plant). Melon (formerly known as Haiku) has recently shown a surge of personality (after a couple of years): She routinely comes out to the living room to sit on a lap and often noses her way to the outdoors – but does not venture far. She has a very weird affinity to plastic bags – nuzzling and licking them – even though we remind her that a plastic bag is not a toy! She also licks the bathtub after we take showers (Mmmm…Soap scum!)

Bob, Les’s brother, was working in New York City and then Ann Arbor, Michigan (he’s a contract radiology tech) and made occasional visits. He recently came back to California – in Bakersfield. We hope that this will lead him to another job in San Diego shortly (meanwhile he will visit us at Christmas).

Our friend Barbara Sandberg visited us from Three Rivers (Dave decided to stay home to mind the pets). We enjoyed having her here, especially as an excuse to go again to our favorite restaurants. Dee also visited the Sandbergs and their burros (Burrito and Taco) – the picture below was dubbed, “Dee attends the Democratic Convention in Three Rivers” since the rest of the people in the area seemed to be Republicans.

As we said last year, we have been almost two decades in our “starter home” so we are thinking it is time to get the next house. Prices continue to go lower (less outrageous) and, as long as we can hold onto jobs, more affordable. We hope you weren’t holding your breath last year, though.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2009!

Love,
Dee and Les
and Harvey, Melon, and Dot.