Daffodils and a Camellia Bush

OK, enough about the weather! Truth is, no place is perfect. Those in San Diego love the sun, but complain that it's never green and there is no change in the seasons. Those in Minnesota (that arguably do have more sunny days during the winter) are getting snow at the end of April (I was always excited to see winter come and then really excited to see it end). One great thing about the gray and the mist is that it makes this the Emerald City. Our yard and neighborhood look great - look at our backyard. Marc snapped some pics of the camellia bush blooming, as well as some of the daffodils. Ah, spring is upon us! [Mike]

Let the Sunshine In!

Things are looking better this weekend! It's been a busy week, and the weekend ahead will be too. I was in Vancouver briefly to help moderate a conference session this week, taking the bus up on Wednesday night and the train back down Thursday evening. The trip back was beautiful, at least the portion of the tracks near Bellingham, immediately along the shore Puget Sound. Watch the sun set over the islands. [Marc] P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!!

So Ready for Summer

... but it looks like yet another rainy weekend ahead! [Marc]

New fence

OK, to be brief - original picket cedar fence built in 1920s. Rotten post. The yard was overgrown. Marc did 100% of the work - he coordinated to have things clear-cut, then a contractor to put in the new fence. It looks great! Enjoy the pics!

Inactive blog...

OK, Hi to all out there who have been regular readers of our blog! Sorry for the delay. Feb 3rd was the last posting, so I guess that it has been 5 weeks or so. So much for the weekly postings! Well, so much has been going on and so much to report. First of all, our chunky dachshund lost all his weight - he started out at 22.5 lbs and now he's at around 16 or so. Yeah carrots - I gave him carrot sticks versus Beggin' Strips as treats. He's much livelier and happy! Marc thinks he wags more. Probably so! We had my sister Jane come to visit. Marc and I took our own trip to Palm Springs. We enjoyed the sun. We also had the fence rebuilt - it looks amazing. All of these things will eventually appear - with pics. Oh, and another good thing happened - I lost my computer on the bus. Fortunately the people of Seattle are honest - so someone turned it into Lost and Found and I got it back. I leave you with a pic of me and the hounds - we have all these traffic calming devices in our neighborhood which Jane has relabeled as dachshund-calming devices. Will try to keep up with the posts! Mike (and Marc)

Skinny Sprout

Well, when we got Sprout he was just under 22 pounds, and his target weight should have been around 16 or so. He couldn't roll over (he'd get stuck on his back), he couldn't crawl onto his dog bed very well (he looked like a beached whale), and he couldn't go up and down the front steps - I had to carry him. Well, I figured that the main problem was overfeeding and lack of exercise, so I have been working on him over the last 10 weeks to slim him out. It wasn't too hard - mainly just fed the dogs separately (he was eating all the food), measured exact amounts with a dry measuring cup, and cut way back on treats (few Beggin' Strips - he gets carrots instead). Admixed with this were a ton of walks. Well, the results have been enormously successful, and the dog can run and play and jump like a little puppy! It's great! Now I just need to work on my own portion control - too many sweets at the hospital and living with Marc brought me the "Coupledom 15." Oh well! Thank Marc for the Excel spreadsheet - Sprout is in red, Bailey in Blue. We tried to bring Bailey up 8 oz or so to make him look less ribsy.

Christmas Road Trip

Well, my apologies to the devoted blog followers - I have been bad about putting posts up in January. Sorry! The impetus for this post is that Yahoo Photos has closed, and they made us switch to Flickr. After giving an introductory free trial, one must now pay $25 a year to store photos. Thus, I figured that I might as well make a video of our trip back home for all to see. Anyway, our trip was pretty fun - Marc flew to Lincoln, NE on the 20th, and then he spent the 21st with his folks and sibs. On the 22nd, I flew to Minneapolis. Jane and I drove from MSP to Bow Valley, NE, which is where Marc's paternal grandparents live in an old Nebraska farmhouse. We spent the evening reuniting with Marc's extended family. Jane, Marc, and I all stayed in Crofton, NE at the Argo Hotel, which is this great vintage hotel/B&B. We made it back to MSP on the 24th, and spent the 25th at Katie's house with my family. We got to see friends, including Paula and family, then we made it back to Seattle on the 28th. On the 29th we adopted the dachshunds. It was a great season!!! Enjoy the photos and video! Mike and Marc