Merry Christmas!

No Bulldogs were injured in the taking of these pictures (even though they acted like it!) It was quite a trial for them.

Joy would like to say: "Bah Humbug"

Christmas tree 2006

This is my Christmas tree decoration and sheep collection for 2006.
I took this picture with my phone camera, so it's not the clearest, but
I hope you enjoy it anyway!

12/18/2006

I know that it's been a long time since I posted. After I went home in October, we started working some overtime. It seems like we pretty much worked constantly until Nov. 28 - 30. We went up just north of San Francisco along the coast and drove down Rte 1. It was beautiful. We especially liked Santa Cruz. On December 7th we flew to Ohio to spend some time with family and friends. December 12th was Brian's birthday. We ate brunch with Grandpa Rauch and Grandma Betty, did a little shopping, then went to Tony's for Brian's favorite Seafood Fettucine Alfredo. Wednesday was Brenda's birthday. We ate at the wonderful Banana Cafe in German village, went shopping, got pedicures (!!!), and ate at the Cap City Diner. On Wednesday, my brother-in-law Richard had a mitral valve repair at the Cleveland Clinic. They used a robot to go into a 3-inch incision under his RIGHT arm to go in and repair the cords that help the valve open and close. We went to visit on Friday evening. He is doing well except his voice is raspy due to vocal cord damage incurred during surgery. We pray that the vocal cords will heal completely and that his heart is completely healed. Our family Christmas was on Saturday at Don & Sherilyn's house. Here are our only complaints about our time at home: 1) It went entirely too quickly and 2) No snow (actually Brian didn't complain about that once). I, however, took my boots to Ohio all the way from California and didn't get to wear them once. Maybe it will snow next year. We had an uneventful flight back to California. We were very happy to see and de-stink two doggies. They seemed happy to see us as well. We work most of the next two weeks. Contracts ended for three travelers while we were gone. No new travelers will start until after the first of the year. We signed up for some overtime the next two weeks. I did some decorating tonight. It's supposed to get down to 20 degrees tonight! It gets coldest from 2 - 7 a.m., then warms up when the sun comes up. Merry Christmas everyone!