Happy Chinese New Year!!

.        . Year of the horse - 2014. 

Even the Chinese have gotten in on it.  Go Broncos!

Super Bowl mania

I have been wondering all season if it might be a Denver v Seattle Super Bowl this year. It was not settled until the final seconds of the 'Final-four' games.

Now what?  I was born in Denver & I've been a Broncos fan for 60 years (since I was 14 and learned about football). I've been living in the great state of WA for about 5 years. Seahawk Superbowl mania is intense here. Manfred suggested he root for Seattle while I root for Denver, but I think we should root for Seahawks in the first half and Denver the 2nd half. 

I made this pic on my iPad, using Diptic. 

 

And this in Pages, for instant Alpha, on iPad. 

Mercutio is fine

He brought in a bird last week, the first in a long time. I was glad to see he is still hunting.  Seems he spends most of his time sleeping, but he is not getting fat. 

Happy 2014 !!!

Wishing everyone health and prosperity throughout the new year.

Seattle was foggy, which made the fireworks look fuzzy and mysterious. 

Christmas was merry

Manfred cooked the traditional turkey, stuffing, yams, cranberry, etc.  It was so good. And we have been eating leftovers since. Yum!

  

 

  Best Holiday wishes to all. 

Yesterday we had pizza while watching the end of the NFL regular season.  Our 2 teams are #1 in the AFC & NFC.  Ergo, both have bye next week, and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. 

Christmas preparations

The Tree and the house are decorated, Bill is here, Manfred is baking stollen and thawing the turkey. 

  All is good. 

Let it snow

Woke up to snowscape in Port Orchard yesterday. By noon it was mostly gone. 

  

  

Today the weather is very dark & grey.  Thank goodness for Xmas lights. 

We are working on Xmas decor, tree, etc., and Xmas cooking. 

Bill is coming on Monday, Dec 23. 

Unthinkable loss

  What the ...?  Last week, when Denver was winning magnificently, it wasn't broadcast in our area. This week, on Thursday Nite FB, we were all set to watch them win at home against an inferior team, but noooooo.!??!  Electrocuted by silly San Diego in Bronco Bad Land.  27-20 - Pathetic. 

Kathy and Doug came and got their truck, but Bill didn't see them. !

Back from SoCal

We went to Tijuana, Mexico, because Manfred broke two of his beautiful new teeth. After our trusty dentist had fixed them, we went to stay with best friends Charles and Diane Fitzgerald in Encinitas, near San Diego. Then we all drove to Palm Springs, where Bill Jones had already arrived from British Columbia. So we were now 5 happy people driving on to Indio, where we had reserved a WorldMark penthouse apartment, with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a hot tub on the balcony. 

 

We had a very nice time, enjoying the resort and the spa. The highlight was attending the Palm Spring Follies -- a traditional follies show, but all the performers were over 50 years old. It was a fab show,

 and Manfred got a hug from one of the "showgirls."

Kathy and Doug visit

   
Bill's sister and her husband spent the night on their way to Florida. Much fun, but too short. Doug is a wood carver and also paints Pacific NW native art:

Whazzup?

Got new glasses about a week ago - they are better than b4.

Bill has managed to spend all and go into red.
His sister & her husband are coming to stay here next week
The shed and outdoor outlet got wired up for $250, but now we have to pay.

I've been installing led bulbs in various lights.

Get your luggage here

Our carry-on luggage site is operational and open for business.

 It's called travel-smart-luggage.com. 

It's all about traveling smart, which means 

CARRY-ON LUGGAGE ONLY!

Which means:

* No luggage charges

* No searching for the right carousel 

* No waiting for your bag to finally appear

* No damage from the gorilla they keep in there. 

* No chance of your luggage going astray. 

The amount you save on luggage charges will pay for your new bag on the first trip or two. 

We travel so much that we wanted to help others to get good prices on

 .   luggage that will save them money and make their travels more enjoyable. 

Also, we get to try out various bags at great prices. 

Go and check it out. We've put everything on sale, just to get it started. 

: )

Happy Halloween

Also our 32nd anniversary. 🎃

Bill bought a smoker

He and Manfred have been working on it, and some of the salmon, for two days.

They are still soaking fish in brine. Will smoke later today. 

My glasses are still lost. Need to get new ones. 

Birthday dinner

October 16, 2013
Went to the local Mexican restaurant, Puerto Vaillarta, for birthday dinner. : D

Very good but huge, and Manfred ate all my leftovers. : (

Didn't get to do juice fast Wednesday or Thursday so it's today, Friday. 

Can't find my glasses, which are there on my sweater. We searched all day yesterday. 

Bill came yesterday, on my birthday. Will probably stay a couple of weeks. 

Fasting

On October 9 we started a new rule:  no solid food on Wednesday, or if not Wednesday, Thursday.  Juices and other drinks only. 

Visit w/ Robin, meet Natalie

Yesterday we met with Robin in SeaTac and met Natalie for the first time.  I hope we will see a lot more of her. 

Back home again

We'll probably be here most of the time until we leave for Mexico the day after (American) Thanksgiving.

We got back late, after an enjoyable drive along the Columbia River to Fairview, then a stop in the Apple Store in Tacoma. There I tried to find out why our devices wouldn't charge on some adapters, and Manfred and Bill went to Red Robin for burgers.

On Thursday, we drove north along Long Beach to WorldMark Surfside, which is also a golf course. Good views of water, but further away. Smaller, older resort.

Broncos are 3-0 after beating Giants (with the other Manning) last week and the Raiders last nite on MNF. Sportscasters can't say enough about how great they are, but the last 2 games were too easy. They got away with mistakes. Better opponents will make them better, I hope. Seahawks beat the poor Jaguars in another too-easy game, and are also 3-0. Jaguars have bad hats, makes them look bad, play bad. ;)

WorldMark in Long Beach

On Monday we drove to Long Beach, WA, leaving at 11a.m. and arriving at 4 p.m., having stopped for a leisurely lunch on the way.  This is at the mouth of the "Mighty Columbia" river, and we (including Bill) are staying in a WorldMark resort here.

Today, we drove across the 4.1 mile Astoria Bridge to Astoria OR and down the coast to Seaside, where there is another WorldMark resort. I like it a bit better than the one we are in, because you can see the water from the lobby and most of the rooms. We saw their penthouse, so we are really looking forward to staying in the penthouse in Indio, in December. 

But we haven't really experienced the longness of "The Longest Beach in the World," yet (28 miles). We have only experienced the width of it, which is long enough -- about half a mile at low tide -- when we tried to walk straight out to the water. It's drivable all the way, if we can convince Manfred that the salt won't ruin his car. 

  

  

This is exactly how it looked today, cloudy. 

Season opened well -- Yayyyy!

The Broncos creamed the Superbowl champion Baltimore Ravens. The same Rotten Ravens that squeaked the Broncos out of the playoffs in double overtime last season.  Vengeance is sweet, especially at 49 - 27. That's after giving the Ravens a free turnover touchdown, and throwing away a turnover TD given them by the Ravens.

 the horse got a lot of exercise. 

Peyton Manning threw for a NFL record tying 7 touchdowns, w/ 0 interceptions.