Marc's Family in Seattle

OK, so once again, behind on the posts - Marc's brother Joel came to visit us in August - Marc and Joel went to the Space Needle, and the three of us went to Little Mount Si - it was raining, so we couldn't take a longer hike. Marc's parents (Dennis and RuthAnn) came to see us in October, and the four of us went on the Seattle Underground Tour. It was great that family could come and see us out here! [Mike]

The Nieflings

I think that I heard this on "A Way With Words" - nieflings is a combination of nieces and nephews. So, instead of writing a post on "my niece and nephew," I can write about my nieflings. I haven't been able to find a link to that show, but a Google search for "niefling" or "niephling" identifies other blogs. Anyway, Emilie is now 5 and Jack is 2 and a 1/2. This is a recent photo that was taken of them at school.

The Clapper

Does anyone remember the 1970s or 1980s commercial for The Clapper? Click on this link (The Clapper) to see the YouTube rebroadcast of this quirky gadget. Anyway, this morning I was hauling stuff out of the garage to take it to the King County Hazardous Waste Site. Up high on a shelf, I found a Clapper (I suppose I could have sold it on E-bay, but I thought that I would keep this one)! I remember that Anne had gotten one of these as a gift, and for a short time, we put it in the family room hooked up to the fire engine lamp. Unfortunately, it would make the light blink on and off when the stereo was on. Well, we don't have a ceiling light in our living room, and the wall switch does not control an outlet. Thus, when we walk in the house, we have to cross the room to turn on the lamp. Well, thanks to the Clapper, we can now just clap our hands as we come in/out the door! We'll see how it works, I guess! It does seem to be a bit more responsive than the one in the old house, mainly because the wood floors reflect sound better than carpet. Clap on, clap off!

Jukebox Saturday Night

We have a habit of having folks over for dinner, drinking wine, enjoying the new pellet stove, grilling something to eat (last night it was grilled pork tenderloin), and listening to LP records. Anyway, Erin and Chuck represent the first couples dinner party we've had in our house. Erin just adopted a greyhound named Rhea (a potential new pet to pet-sit), so Rhea came along to be with us. We had a great time together, and Rhea was one of the most well-behaved/low-key dogs I've met in quite awhile! Rhea is pictured with the squeaky crab chew toy that she chose herself at the pet store.

Mike y Molly

Hi All - well, it's November, but I'm still posting events from October. This is a snapshot of former classmates, Mike and Molly. We were in school together from 1998-2000 at the University of Minnesota Medical School until I started my PhD years. Molly and I had many adventures then, including helping to teach medical Spanish to other health professionals. To this day, we still make Podcasts and videos for each other in Spanish to keep up with the language, although I will admit that Molly is much more disciplined about it than I am. Anyway, Molly and her husband Aaron came out to Seattle to eventually take a trip around Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula. Luckily they were able to spend a night with us before they took their big excursion - the weather was perfect - in the 50s and sunny - and we were able to walk all around the neighborhood. We snapped a photo of Molly and me at the base of the Ravenna Park Ravine, which is just south of our house.

Lounge Lizard

Mike rightly pointed out that, with the exception of our jack-o-lantern exhibit, I haven't been contributing much to the discussion here lately. Trust there is lots going on, including evening classes at UW, and I will probably have more news to report in the next few weeks. But for now, just a small news brief: Tonight we made a trip up to Lynnwood to get a deal on a new chair. A recliner, to be more specific. It is a little more contemporary, not the traditional cheesy rec-room plush-pillow kind. We chose pattern somewhere in between the red and tan pieces that Mike got when he moved to Seattle last year. (We took cover and pillow to make sure it will look okay.) Even though the won't be ready til probably after Christmas, I was able to assemble a computer simulation on the manufacturer's website as a preview in the meantime. [Marc]

Happy Veterans Day (observed)

Well, I had the day off today, so I booked some chores and got stuff done at home. We were supposed to have the chimney folks out to work on some flashing, but the winds were too gusty. We did have 4000 lbs of wood pellets delivered. They dropped them off at the curbside (the forklift was too wide to go down the driveway), and then I carried them bag by bag down to the garage. Simultaneously, I cleaned out the garage, putting some stuff away, setting some stuff aside to sell on E-bay/craigslist, and throwing out garbage left by the old tenants. I'll probably be a bit sore tomorrow! It will be worth it though, to have all those pellets so close by to keep us warm this winter! Next year I will have the delivery done on a Saturday when Marc and I are both home...