Oliver Teo

Well, we've been busy I guess, considering it's been a month since our last post! I thought that I would add a pic of little Oliver Teo, born right at the beginning of Nov. I work with Oli's mom Maria - she is one of the 4 women I work with this year that had babies this fall. Little Oliver was pretty cute, so calm, and so well-behaved -- I think that I must have held him for at least 45 minutes, and he just snoozed. Well, will have some holiday postings, I suppose!

Mike&Oliver

Honeymoon in Fargo

Photos from top to bottom:
1) Erin and Chuck's Wedding at the lakeside (Pelican Lake)
2) Mike and Marc in Molly and Aaron's yard - we slept in the tent - it was great!
3) Molly and Aaron - Mike went to medical school with Molly.
4) Mike and Molly
5) Marc and Molly
6) Canoeing on Spirit Lake
7) Mike with Chloe - the B&B dog

Well, after we were married on a Monday, we flew back to Seattle. I worked on Tuesday, and Marc attended orientation for graduate school. On Wed we flew to Fargo. We spent two nights at a B&B in Minnesota, then went to Chicago/Milwaukee for a day on Friday to visit one of Marc's friends. On Sat we went to Bemidji, MN to visit Molly and Aaron, then on Sunday we went to Detroit Lakes, MN to attend Chuck and Erin's wedding. We returned to Seattle on Monday, and the dogs were happy to see us!

Happy Veteran's Day

Well, happy Veteran's Day to all! It is a holiday for me, so I'm home with the dogs. Marc is at work. Anyway, this last weekend Marc and I assembled a shed that we had purchased for the bikes, lawnmower, etc. Basically a place to shove all our junk as we clean out the basement in preparation for the remodel. Hopefully we can start on Jan 1! I also snapped some photos of our fence which we stained last month - it will stay this nice rich cedar color and won't gray like most unstained cedar items do here in wet Seattle.

See old post for pics of fence when it was new:

http://mikeandmarc.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-fence.html

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Bailey turned 11 Nov 1. Jane and I walked the dogs down to University Village (shopping mall nearby - high-end stores, outdoor type mall, dogs welcome at many stores. We went to Mud Bay Pet Store and bought pig ears for each dog as well as picked up some samples. I then took Sprout for a lap around Williams Sonoma to see what was for sale. We walked home, and then later that night, Jane and I sang Happy Birthday to the Bailey and then gave him a pig ear to munch on - it kept him busy for 40 minutes! Jane and I worked on dinner and a pumpkin pie. All in all it was a great visit! Bailey was happy too!

Happy Halloween

Well, I'm living up to my stereotype - obnoxious pet owner and gay pet owner. I never thought that I would break down and buy a dog costume, but I did. Oh well! Bailey and Sprout looked pretty cute. Jane came to visit this weekend, which has been fun. Last night we went to the neighborhood Halloween party. Then late that night Jane and I went to the Granite Curling Club - I've started to curl again! Hooray! Today is Nov 1 - Bailey's 11th birthday. I suppose we'll get him a real dog treat (vs carrots). Have a great day! [Mike]

Pregnancy Prosthesis

Well, this year 4 of my coworkers have had babies. Needless to say, I've had to attend 4 baby showers this year - amazing! As a joke, I bought this fake belly and boobs from the costume store. I wore it to one of the showers. As seen in the photo is my fake belly mirrored against Robyn's real belly. I also took it to work where DT dressed up as a pregnant retired Hooters girl. It was Halloween and we had a party at work. Silly! Now I need to sell this on E-bay to get rid of it! [Mike]

Hiking at Tiger Mountain

Our friend Sean came to visit us last month. Mike met Sean in Minneapolis, then when Sean moved to San Diego, Sean and Marc became friends. We were blessed with great fall weather - very sunny. We headed to Tiger Mountain, one of the closest hiking places in Seattle. Within 25 minutes of leaving home, we were at the base of the mountain. We got started late, so we didn't make it to the summit, but it was nice to be out in nature for awhile!

Bawlmore

Baltimore is supposed to be 3 syllables, but it seems that those from Maryland chop it into 2. I recently went to the American Society of Clinical Pathology meeting in Baltimore. I hadn't been there since 2005 - when I interviewed for a residency of Johns Hopkins. The meeting was down in the Inner Harbor, and I have to admit, it has been revivified and a pretty neat place! In my free time I walked around the cobblestone streets of Fells Point and browsed the record stores and antique shops (purchasing nothing of course). For dinner, some of the Washington folks went for crab and seafood - one lone picture captured - Larry, Monesh, Jennifer, and Mike. It was a great time! Who knows when I will be back... the flight from Seattle to Baltimore requires a connection and is quite a long trip! Mike

Roses

When we moved into our house, there were a number of rose bushes in tough shape. Frankly, we thought that they were all spent - a master gardener looked at our yard last year to give us advice on what to keep and what to chop out. She thought that the rose bushes were likely just the root part of the graft (rose bushes are often grafted) and that no flowers would come. Well, our first year, we got a single yellow rose, 8 feet off the ground. When we cut all the trees and bushes down in anticipation of the fence, the rose bushes took off - but no flowers. Oh well. Then, the rose bush least likely to bear flowers (it was small, shriveled), burst out two bright red roses in early September, right before we got married. I suppose that it was nature saying -- good luck in San Francisco! I had hoped to catch a photo, but by the time I had a chance, a windstorm had blown all the petals away - so I captured a photo of the petals. That's all that remains until next year. Oh well! Still lovely to have had a couple of roses this year!

We're hitched!!!

It was everything we ever wanted in a wedding and a great day with family and friends! No need to say more! Mike & Marc

E-collar for Bailey

Poor little Bailey - he began limping on Monday night. I was worried that it was a problem with a herniated disc, but once he started licking his paw, we figured out what the problem was - he had an infected sore between his toes. Thus, he had to make a trip to the vet, get a wound debridement, a shot of antibiotics, and a 2 week prescription. He now has an E-collar and looks pretty cute! It's kind of funny to see him try to crawl under the chair, bed, etc., but keeps bumping the collar into things. He should make a full recovery, but must not walk to vigorously for the next few weeks (which he is excited about).

Seattle free stuff

Seattle is notorious for putting free things out on the street - people who are moving get desperate to get rid of stuff, so they put it on their front lawn with a big sign marked "free." On Labor Day, Marc and I were walking down the street with the dogs when we noticed the bureau on the street. It is a bit beat up - the finish has been stripped, so the grain is quite raised, it has some water damage, the pulls are missing, and it is a bit "loose." Well, I figure we can put a piece of 1/4" plywood on the back to straighten it up, and we can then sand and pickle or paint the wood. With new pulls and drawer liners, it will be a nice piece. I told Marc that the sad thing is that we will probably move it from house to house to house and have it for 50 years! Will let you know when I actually get it fixed up! Mike

Wine tasting with the best-friends-in-law

We met Chris and Megan at Mark and Amy's wedding - Amy is Marc's sister, and Mark is her husband. Mark went to high school with Chris. Chris and Megan are traveling physical therapists, and they have been in Olympia, WA since earlier this year - we ran into them at a roadside lookout in the Olympic Mountains (see previous post). Anyway, we invited Chris and Megan to come see us in Seattle before they left for their next work assignment in Wisconsin. We drove over to Woodinville to visit a number of wineries to taste wine - including, Januik, Silver Lake, Columbia Valley, and Chateau Ste Michelle. I had never been wine tasting before, so it was fun to try the different varieties. We came home with some purchased wine and spent the evening sipping wine, eating a great pork loin, and listening to records for the rest of the night. It was great to see Chris and Megan again - hopefully we can visit them next summer when they go to Alaska! [Mike]

Summer rainbow

Last Saturday Marc and I took a long bike ride to attend two parties. His work hosted a party on Bainbridge Island, so we biked from our house to Downtown, then took the ferry to the island. From there, we biked to and from the party. Once we returned Downtown, we then headed south to another party. A light rain/mist began as the sun was setting, creating a magnificent double rainbow. We captured a couple of shots, but it doesn't quite do it justice... it was pretty intense in color!

Steely Dan in the rain

Steely Dan in the rain... Well, when I was at Children's Hospital, Sally, Loree, and Laura invited us to go to the Steely Dan concert at Chateau Ste. Michelle, this great local winery. Now, it only rained 2 days over the last 40 or so, and of course, it happened to be on the day of an outdoor concert. Oh well! It was a great concert - the musicians were great, and Donald Fagen sounded exactly the same as he does in recording. Unfortunately, they did not play "Rikki don't lose that number" or "Reelin' in the years," but they did play a slow version of "Do it again." It was great to get out and see live music in the company of friends, good wine, and great food!

Beach Weekend

This weekend we headed down to Long Beach ... Washington, not California. It's about three hours south of Seattle by car, and basically comprises a bunch of beach resorts located on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and Willapa Bay (picture above). Unfortunately, there really isn't any swimming allowed because of the cold water and rip tides. But it's a great place to relax and even fly a kite if you like.

We stayed at a little place called the Shakti Cove.



The dogs had a great time at the beach.





We also tried out the forest loop trail at Leadbetter Point State Park, at the very tip of the peninsula.





I think we all agreed (including the dogs) that next time we we'd like to stay a bit longer! [Marc]

Summer Haircuts

Well, one of the drawbacks of long-haired dachschunds is that they overheat in the summer! Thus, I took Bailey and Sprout to the groomers this weekend to get them shaved. They turned out so cute! Little buzz cuts for dogs! Bailey, our little diva, of course, squirmed around the hold time and two people had to hold him while he got chopped. Oh well, I only get them groomed twice a year!