Happy Holidays!We are rushing this to deadline just in case the world ends on December 21.
We started the last newsletter with the great news that we had bought a house with a bay and ocean view and were contemplating a remodel. Since then we have accomplished with respect to the remodel...
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
We've rearranged the tarps on the roof to continue to ward off the leaks when it rains. We spot treat the ceiling when we find little hills of termite "sawdust." We've unscrewed light bulbs on fixtures that seem to have no switch.
But the view is still spectacular.
We have been making some inroads, however. We planted a very nice and productive herb and vegetable garden in planters that use to have ugly shrubs. Tip of the hat to Les's brother Bob who prepared the soil for the adventure. We removed some of the unwanted plant life, including a patch of ice plant infesting the slope behind the house, which we replaced with geraniums and African daisies. Egged on by our friend Ron, Les removed a set of 3 posts that were allegedly placed by the previous owners to hold up the roof - and directly mar the view from the living room. The roof is still up and the view is nicer. The next step was coming home to Ron , chainsaw in hand, eliminating the beam the posts were holding up with a chainsaw. Fun!
On the last day of last year, we bought a new Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to fulfill Dee's dreams of (1) owning a pickup truck and (2) going to the dump - which we did in short order because of all the plant life we removed from the yard and the free compost you can get at the dump.
Les left Foley in March. He is attempting to build a practice but many would-be clients are still scraping by. To achieve more local visibility, he is now on the board of the San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association and continues to serve the IP Committee of BIOCOM, a local trade organization serving biotech companies.
Les has the affliction of "old lady feet" otherwise known as a bunion. Because he was soon to lose employer-sponsored health care, he jumped in for the surgery. It was much more painful than promised (I mean OW!), but Les (and Dee) was lucky as one of the periods that Bob was here for a visit was the week of the surgery. Les had a nursemaid while Dee was at work. Bob cursed his timing. The foot is healed and Les can go back to dancing again. We will not talk about the 911 ambulance trip soon after the surgery...
Les is still brewing. We are still in the homebrew club and go to many of the parties/outings. We occasionally pour for beer events. And, yes, we still drink beer.
Fortunately, as Les was "transitioned out" Dee's work picked up in the summer and she was pretty busy up through November. Now it is trimming back again. Dee is still at the jewelry thing, but sales are no better this year than last.
Dee also had her share of medical mishaps, including a slip-and-fall incident on the way INTO a holiday party. Dee is quick to point out that no alcohol was involved. It had been raining and Les dropped her off in front of the restaurant where the party was so that she could avoid getting wet. While Les was parking the car, Dee slipped on the rain-slicked asphalt and slid feet first into the storm drain. She put her arms out to stop her slide and twisted her thumb back. Looking for the silver lining, Dee is pleased to note that the resulting condition is called "skier's thumb" - which makes her appear more athletic. After several months of misdiagnoses, the MRI proved that she completely tore off the ligament to her thumb. Rather than get surgery (the hand surgeon wanted to do nothing but) which could have resulted in limiting the use of her thumb - not a good feature for someone who does surgery herself. Dee was lucky to have a great vet friend and a wonderful physical therapist that together with several months of therapy eliminated the pain and left the thumb in good shape. Thumbs up!
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| Ginnie Mae |
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| Ginnie Mae kicking back with her one of her cousins, Alex |
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| Ginnie Mae and Freddie Mac jockeying for lap position between Dee, Elena and Alex (Dee's nieces) |
We had many a visitor this year.
Dee's cousin Jeannie and her husband John were in San Diego in March. Dee and Jeannie had not seen each other for... a long time. We went to the Zoo and one of our favorite restaurants in Balboa Park.
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| Jeannie, Dee and John in front of the flamingos at the SD Zoo |
We had our 2nd Annual July 4 party - our new tradition. Because of our location we can see several fireworks displays from the various beach towns and Seaworld. We also got to see the Big Bay Bust - San Diego's infamous 45-second fireworks display from 3 barges where all the fireworks went off at the same time because the computer controlling them all had a corrupted file. Finally, the Y2K disaster we had been waiting for!
Our friend Barbara Sandberg in Three Rivers came in April and in September and brought many eggs from lovingly laid by her pet chickens.
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| Barbara, Les and Dee at The Prado Restaurant in Balboa Park |
Bob came to visit us on several occasions and it was a delight every time (sometimes not for him - see above). He has really gotten into ocean fishing trips for which we are rewarded with fresh fish. He was in town for Dee's birthday. We also enjoyed having him here the week of Thanksgiving and look forward to more of his visits.
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| Bob and Les at The La Jolla Cove |
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| Baeleigh assisting in pulling Dee back to shore while Freddie Mac sits on Dee |
For the week of Thanksgiving we were giving thanks to having so many visitors. Dee's sister Rita and her husband Jay left their daughters in our expert care while they went to Vegas the Saturday before Thanksgiving and then came back the day before Thanksgiving.
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| Bored of looking for shells, the girls exclaim "Mud Fight" and, well... |
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| Dee, Alex & Elena at Safari Park |
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| Elena & Alex climbing the rocks at Shell Beach. Yikes! |
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| Dee and Alex looking for shells while Elena is snorkeling |
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| Turkey cupcakes! |
Bob came in on Monday and Dee's nephew, Matt, came on Thanksgiving Day.
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| A full table: Elena, Alex, Dee, Bob, Jay, Rita and Matt. All turkeyed out! |
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| Meredith showing Alex and Elena surgical instruments. |
Hope this all convinces the rest of you that you need to come visit us.
All-in-all, not a bad year. Looking forward to maybe having fuller employment numbers in 2013. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Best to all,
Les and Dee
Harvey, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, Melon, Lorenzo Lambda and Janice
