Warrey Christmas 2011

       Warrey Christmas  2011

Merry Meet to you and yours in this calm and mild December … actually it was pretty darn calm and mild, weather wise, the entire year and I’m not complaining one bit!  While the rest of the nation was wicked hot, wicked cold or dealing with wicked-witch-of-the-west winds we here in our little pocket of the Pacific Northwest waiting for our turn of wicked something…that never came. In fact it took so long to warm up in the Summer the tomato plants I was finally able to plant told me not to hold my breath on getting any actual tomatoes to eat since they would be ripe right around the time of the first fall frost.  I never realized tomatoes were so cynical but it turns out they were right; smarty plants.   So now the snow skiers are whining about the lack of snow but I could have told them not to bother since I have studded tires on the car, thus ensuring no need for them, of course.

Other than the innocuous weather things around here were pretty good in 2011..  Steve, aka World of Warcraft  extraordinaire, took on the onerous task of ‘re-doing’ the deck.  It’s a big deck with lots of wood surface that had to be stripped, primed and finally stained.  It turned out great, especially since I was not involved in that project!  I was, however, perfectly encouraging to his efforts to get the second coat of stain on by informing him when he missed a spot; and then ducked quickly … those paint brushes sting!  (Hey, like how I got the tomato plants and the beautifully restored deck at the same time?  What can I say, it’s all in the timing … and word wrap).  Steve still does battle with the dreaded Scotch Broom but I have to say he is making headway… another 20 years and he could win!

When I’m not cheering from the deck sidelines I’m floating to and from my job in West Seattle.  This year Ryan is working at the studio as well so we get to commute together; thrilling as that is for him I’m sure he’d rather be driving his new car!  This spring, after careful research and ponderous choices he found the perfect car… a 2008 Lightning Red Subaru Impreza!  It’s really Impreza-ing too!  (Oh come on, you know you wanted to say that too).  He’s having a blast and building credit… yeah car payments!  LOL

Baylee the dog and Bobby the Kat have survived another year of never getting any rest and nearly starving to death, according to them.  Baylee, who is 11, finds her best nap times are in the middle of our king size bed stretched waaaaay out so that the humans barely have enough room on either side of her; not that it’s an issue with Her but she does heave a heavy Sigh or two when her humans whine that she’s being a bed hog.

I put her ‘favorite’ jingle bell elastic collar on her and took this picture… notice how it’s got lots of room around her neck?  Yeah, well when we put it on Bobby’s neck there was a lot of room too but when he got it lodged around his middle, there was no room at all; in fact it fit quite snugly. When he ran around the front room it was like Santa’s reindeer at full speed. So I say to you Bobby Kat, you Sir, are not starving to death! 

Oh, I forgot to mention that Steve has become quite the Chef this year!  He got me a magazine subscription to the Food Network and while looking through them he saw a few dishes that sounded good enough to make… so he did!  At first he was unsure of just how to go about it but I was, again, amazingly encouraging and told him “Dude, you know how to fly big Airplanes!  Follow the instructions and it will be fine!”  See, who could not succeed with such gentle guidance?  So he proceeded to go wicked on mashed potatoes with sour cream, butter, horseradish and crispy fried bacon!  Now he’s all things crispy bacon, including fried green beans with red pepper flakes, onion and… more Bacon!  While I take all credit for his monumental cooking success I will give him credit on finding the best and most versatile fatty-Mcfat-fat meats of all times.  Can’t wait to see what he comes up with next month.

I hope your year had times of calm and mild, with a side of bacon.  We wish you a happy and successful New Year with love and laughter to help you along the way.  Know you are loved and if that’s not enough… there’s always the Food Network, (and bacon). 

 

                                Dee Dee, Steve  &  Ryan