2017 Holiday Newsletter and 2016 Year in Review

Aloha and Happy Holidays!

2017 Harvazinski-Overman Holiday Newsletter

It is beginning to look like a tradition to publish these every other year.

We shall resist the temptation to do so and hopefully be back on track next year.

So we will have to start with...

2016 Year in Review

Well let's see, we started off the year with preparing for and having open heart surgery. The bad news Les was in a "little bit of heart failure" due to a mitral valve prolapse. The good news is that it was entirely and permanently fixable.  Problem was fixed and, eventually, back to normal.  Many thanks to Les’s brother Bob who took off from work and traveled down to San Diego to help during recovery after the surgery.

Oh yeah, the remodel.  
So in our last episode we had just received the cabinets for the kitchen. 2016 saw the kitchen (mostly) completed. Dee is very proud of the spring hinges on the door to the pantry, kindly installed by our friend Ron (still need to finish the door frame, though).

Vinyl plank flooring

Cabinets, appliances and granite installed

Pantry door

Range hood with custom chimney

We also got waterproof vinyl flooring that looks like wood – the waterproof nature has come in very handy.

We had to fashion our own stainless steel chimney for the hood from a sheet of stainless.  Again, thanks to Ron for the precise cutting and installation, as well as his neighbor Roy for the bending expertise.

Rooftop deck

We also tiled the pantry with help from our friend Rochelle - which convinced us to pay someone else to tile the family room as well as the backsplash in our kitchen. 

So Phase I of the indoor remodel was (mostly) complete.  We installed glass panels around the rooftop deck, making it a little safer to hang out there.

Dee continued to work as a relief veterinarian and at Weight Watchers. She continued her service on the board for the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association as Secretary and Treasurer.  

Les continued his solo patent lawyer practice.  He was President of the San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association (and kept monthly meetings going despite the medical interruption).  He was also Vice Chair of USE Credit Union board of directors.  He was finally able to get brewing again now that the house was no longer a continuous dust storm.  He judged several beer competitions.

We went to a Billy Joel concert in May (anniversary) and it was surprisingly great.

Elena and Alex pose on a concrete hippo

We had some visitors during the year.  Dee’s sister Rita and her daughters, Elena and Alex, visited during July. Dee also went with them for a few days in L.A.  Nephew George was briefly in town on business and also visited us at the same time.

Our friend Barbara visited end of April and Dee returned the visit later.

We saw Bob several times: in addition to helping out in January, he also visited us for the 4^th of July and Thanksgiving weekends.

Our friend from back when we were grad students, Kathy Beifuss, visited in June to run the Rock and Roll Marathon.  We joined her by dropping her off at the start and meeting her at the finish line.

In December we had a working vacation in Maui.  Hard work! 

Pangolin

Here is a picture of Dee’s latest favorite odd animal, a pangolin.  The zoo has one of the very few in captivity.  Dee has visited the zoo several times just to see it up close when the keeper has a show and tell. Weird little dude (the pangolin, not the keeper).

In late October we noticed that our dog Freddie Mac was having a hard time getting up on the furniture, and he was drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot.  Also, he had started eating voraciously and gained weight.  Dee tested his glucose and it was fine – no diabetes. Turns out he has Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS).  He had gone blind in a matter of weeks.  We got his weight under control.  Then checking his glucose again found he was now diabetic also.

Because of all of Fred’s health problems…

2017 – The Year of Fred

Freddie Mac

We were of course concerned that Freddie’s SARDS and diabetes issues would shorten his life.  This concern was underlined when in March he was diagnosed with “a little bit of heart failure” –which in his case is not correctable.  So Dee announced that 2017 would be “The Year of Fred” and that we would accommodate him due to his time being short.  Now we let him sleep in bed with us – which he shows his gratitude by growling at you if you sidle up too close to him.  We would give him any food he wants, but his diabetes limits him to a specific dog food.

We put a water dish in the master bath tub so he can get water at night.  Amazingly, he figured out himself that he could pee in tub drain if he could not go outside.  Dee was very proud.

Freddie Mac’s health seems to have stabilized and we celebrated his 11^th Birthday on July 4.

It is beginning to look like 2018 will also be The Year of Fred.  Maybe he is trying to milk this thing.

New steps

Phase 2

While Phase 1 of the remodel is not entirely complete, we proceeded to Phase 2 – the front of the house.  The steps to the house were always a concern because they were an odd depth (more than a full step, but less than two steps). The planters were not attractive.  The dirt patch abutting the house had some sort of Roman aqueduct arrangement to divert storm waters to the back yard and was an eyesore and a trip hazard.  We got Dan, Gerald and Ricky back to demo the concrete steps, the aqueduct, some of the planters, dig up the vegetation in the rest of the planters, and install a respectable drain system.  Then we got a ton of concrete to make new, less awkward steps, expand the driveway, and a new walkway against the house.

Kale and swiss chard in lower tier, citrus trees in the higher tier

The plants in the front of the house are still a work in progress: the top tier is succulents, the middle is dwarf citrus trees (lemon, lime, orange), and the bottom tier is vegetables that do not require full sun (kale, swiss chard, lettuce, herbs, cucumber). We have had some success with tomato plants and eggplant.  We just ripped the vegetable plants out in December to start new plantings soon.

Speaking of the planters, Les was pulling weeds from said planters and miss-stepped.  On his birthday.  Assuming a sprain he ignored his foot hurting until Dee pointed out that the line of black and blue across his toes may indicate something else.  Sure enough, he broke his foot and had to wear a very fetching sandal for a couple of months. 

Not having enough hobbies (sarcasm), Dee took classes in woodworking and ceramics.  The woodworking class was OK and Dee made a beautiful bench, but the instructor was not a lot of help and she felt like she was not getting adequate instruction.  The ceramics class, on the other hand, is taught by someone we know from a drawing class we took together decades ago.  In addition, she is taking the class with her friend Donna, a high school classmate of hers.  (No admission to the number of decades ago.)  They reconnected just a few years ago not realizing we lived in the same neighborhood until there was a reunion in town.  Dee is having a great time in that class and has made many ceramic pieces.

Dee still makes time for work (more sarcasm).  Still working at Weight Watchers, but less so, and was fortunate to find at least one vet client that is very close to the house – so at least it is an easy commute.

Having a shortened commute for at least some of her work days has been very fortunate.  In September, Dee was driving our truck when stopped in traffic on the freeway.  A car rear-ended her at full speed.  No air bags deployed and her seat belt did not prevent her from doing a face plant on the steering wheel, rearranging her nose.  It was very scary and she was lucky to be driving the truck to absorb more of the impact, buckling the frame and bed (things may have been much worse in the sedan).  Her nose has since been realigned (mostly) but she is still very nervous about driving, especially on the freeway.  The truck is still awaiting repair.  Parts had to be ordered from Toyota and they won’t arrive until the end of December.

At the end of October, Les joined a global law firm (CKR Law LLP) as partner in the new San Diego office.  The head office is in NYC and in stereotypical New York style, they made him an offer he could not refuse. The transition is continuing, but we are hopeful that this will be a very beneficial move.  And, yay, we now do not have to purchase health insurance off the Covered California exchange.  He is also now Chair of the board of directors for the credit union.
Les is still brewing and judging beer.  He and brew buddy Jonathan have made several hazy IPAs lately (all the hipsters are drinking this) and made an excellent coffee porter using Kona coffee Jonathan brought back from Hawaii.  

For our anniversary we saw a local production of Jersey Boys.  In August we received comped tickets to see Ira Glass in a show “Seven Things I’ve Learned.”  Les and Ira went to the same schools growing up.  Ira admitted he did not remember Les from way back.  Les reminded Ira that Les did not have a nationally syndicated radio show, nor did Ira’s mother keep him up to date on Les’s career since high school.   

Stanley Park

In September we went to Vancouver for a conference and extended our stay.  Vancouver has some beautiful parks and botanical gardens, aquarium and an excellent “first peoples” museum.  Of course, we had to sample beer, and on recommendation from beer club peeps, found Storm Brewing – a tiny little brewery in a dingy industrial area where you can only buy growlers, but can taste several of their beers.  They have many rotating taps where they change the beers every week and will try just about anything in beer.  We tasted chicken wing IPA, lavender lemonade pilsner, mint julep ale and more. 

Brother Bob visited 10 days in January during a respite between jobs.  We had a great time and he spent a good amount of time helping to organize the garage and other stuff. We now need him back.

Allison and Ginnie Mae

Niece Allison visited in February while working at a conference.  We had her over for dinner and Ginnie Mae could not have been more excited.  Dee showed Allison Ginnie Mae’s clothes closet while they discussed the importance of a well-outfitted dog and sent Allison home with a strand of pearls for her own dog, Gracie.

Lifeguard freeing Willy

Brother Larry, sister-in-law Mary and nephew Andy visited us in May, before going on to visit nephew Matt. We were walking on the pier in Pacific Beach and saw a lifeguard rescue an endangered black sea bass tangled in fishing line ($10,000 fine if you kill that fish). We also went to the Zoo Safari park (no lifeguards to free anything there). We had lunch on the patio at The Lodge at Torrey Pines, which overlooks the famed Torrey Pines golf course. Larry would occasionally glance back at the course with a sigh and pine for his golf clubs. Maybe next time we can arrange a foursome.

Our friend Barbara visited in June.  In August, Dee and Barbara went for a short vacation in Monterey and visited the aquarium and Carmel By The Sea.

Warning for the unannounced

Nephew Matt visited us for Thanksgiving weekend.  We are always happy when he has time to break away from rocket science to join us.

We hope you aim to visit us too.  Just remember to call first!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Another sunset from the back porch