Cooking In/Eating Out

Our friends Jeff and Jose and their dog Daisy came over on Saturday, so we'd stop working on the house and finally socialize. We've been trying to see them since before their vacation 2 months ago. Jeff called this week and said, "we're coming." Period. Glad he did!

 - So, we cooked turkey burgers and hot dogs, spanish rice, pasta salad, baked beans, apple pie, wine, iced tea... It was great and a much needed break.

LtoR:Tom,Sprite, Dolly, Rob, Jeff holding Franklin, Jose, Daisy!

Jeff and Jose

3 Dog Chain: Dolly, Sprite, Franklin - yes, they sat that way!

Busy Saturday-Sprite Update

Sprite in Daddy Tom's arms at the Vet

SPRITE UPDATE - 5:30am marked the day's start, even on a weekend day. After getting the dogs organized, making ourselves breakfast and putting in laundry/bed changing, etc. we took Sprite, our almost 14 year old Dachshund to the vet for a follow-up. This was the 7th appt. in 10 days (I think... I lost count because we've been there so many times). He was looking good...finally. He had one area of seepage on his underside, which the vet applied surgical glue as there was no more skin to use a staple. (Ewww). Tom held Sprite for the inspection, and I (Rob) took this really touching picture. Although he's still oozing a little from his tummy, his neck and teeth have healed remarkably quickly. We're still washing his blankets AND bed twice a day from the tummy situation. We did apply a bandage, but it seemed to pull his skin and make it worse, so we're just letting it air out in continually clean blankets.

Tom & Rob at lunch w/Jeff (the photographer)

SHOPPING/EATING - Our friend Jeff joined us for a day of shopping and eating to celebrate the holidays. Jeff was the best man at our wedding and is the best friend anyone could ask for. We did some last minute shopping (But thankfully avoided malls), and enjoyed lunch and dinner together. Of course, he spoiled Dolly and Franklin, and Sprite with treats as he always does when he comes over.

Dolly at the Christmas Tree

Exploring Historic Annapolis



Nice flowers on the U.S. Naval Academy Grounds



Tomb of John Paul Jones, 1st Admiral of the U.S. Navy,
on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy

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Jose  and Jeff on a Naval Cannon



FUN WEEKEND - This weekend our friend Jeff introduced us to his new BF, Jose. Jose is a great guy, fun and easy going. After a nice lunch, we explored the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, then walked through the quaint streets and shops downtown. We posed for some pictures along the way.
 

Tom and Rob hoping they found the Fountain of Youth!

Sitting on the fountain of love. :)

Jose and Jeff at the Fountain of Youth!

Lots of Tree Planting and an Awesome Private Nursery

We've been looking for Leyland Cypress trees as a natural border for our backyard (in addition to the fence) as our neighbor loves to ride his sit-down tractor mower for hours. Rob was checking prices on the Internet and came across a small privately owned nursery, where a guy grows trees for more of a hobby! He sells them at 1/3rd of the cost you'd pay at other nurseries! SO, we bought 9 Eight foot tall trees from the following nursery in Southern Maryland and highly recommend them! Below are the photos from the adventure we had planting them today (we did take a break to have lunch with our friend Phil in the backyard, who needed help with his homework in Architecture; and later, enjoyed a nice BBQ at our friend "Superboy's" house (Rob's nickname for him).
Maryland Pride Nursery is a small, family-owned part-time business located in scenic and historic Southern Maryland. We grow our plants for sale to local customers.
15674 Prince Frederick Road, Hughesville, Maryland 20637, Phone 301-274-0483
Hours: Although we are open from 8am-noon most every day, our hours of operation can sometimes fluctuate depending on our full-time jobs. For this reason, we encourage you to call us to check plant availability, prices, and to ensure we will be here when you arrive. http://mysite.verizon.net/vzess41d/marylandpridenursery/index.html



Franklin and Dolly decided to chomp on some of the tree roots that we dug up while digging the holes to plant the new trees.

Photos of Fun Saturday Stuff

Today was a busy day as always. We did stuff around the house after making breakfast at home. Then we walked the dogs for about an hour while picking up lots of trash along the main road near us. It's sickening how much trash people toss out of their cars. We managed to get two bags full! On a better note, here are some pictures from today, and we were thankful that the rain held off. They're photos of our dogs Dolly (the Weimaraner) and Franklin (the Dachshund) enjoying time in the front of the house, a photo of our pink azaleas in full-bloom with our flag in the front of the house, our small lilac tree surrounded by purple irises, and mulching. I'll post more stuff tomorrow! Enjoy the photos.

A Great Dog Day and Movie

Saturday was chilly (only 60F with a strong, constant wind) but we ventured out to a dog event in Columbia anyway. We met friends Todd and Erica with their 1 1/2 yr. old son Cole and Weimaraner, "Beamer" for a deli lunch and the dog event. Here are some pictures from the day.

(PHOTO: Here's Franklin (the dachshund) and Dolly (the Weimaraner) squeezing together for a front seat look in the pickup truck (from their big padded dog bench/bed in the back seat)).




(PHOTO: LEFT TO RIGHT: Beamer, Franklin and Dolly enjoyed exploring the dog event and sniffing tails and the trail nearby we all walked on.)



(PHOTO: Tom and Dolly, Erica pushing Cole in the stroller, Todd and Beamer. Franklin was helping Rob take the photo).



(PHOTO: Nice picture of Beamer enjoying the day)



(PHOTO: Franklin and Dolly striking a pose)

COFFEE TIME! - We were joined at the dog walk by our friends Jim, his sister Lisa, and their mom Jill, with their dogs Fredo and Bella. We later enjoyed coffee, cookies and stories about travel for a fun end to the afternoon.



GREAT MOVIE! - We wound up the evening watching s great movie on the USA Network that was in theatres in 2007. It was "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of a western from 1957. This version starred Christian Bale (of Batman movie fame) and Russell Crowe. SUMMARY: A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Weekend Fun

SUNDAY DOG WALKS AND STUFF - This weekend we were busy as usual, but took time out to enjoy several dog walks and admire the beautiful trees blooming all around the neighborhood. Here's a photo of us on our Sunday morning dog walk, and a stunning tree around the corner from our house. We enjoyed dinner with Tom's parents after a busy Sunday afternoon of more house stuff, blogging, etc.
A USUALLY BUSY SATURDAY - As always it was a busy day. Up at 5:30am, fed the kids, grabbed Dunkin' Donuts on the way to grocery shopping (done by 8am); walked the dogs, swept and mopped the floors, bathed the dogs, moved the lawn, dog walk #2 and #3, baked brownies, made dinner for Jeff, Jim and Terry who came over, and collapsed watching a good movie called "Night Train" (starring Danny Glover).
CHOCK FULL OF IBUPROFEN - Tom is experiencing back pain from mowing and gardening yesterday, while Rob's TMJ jaw pain has been tough the last 3 days. It's tough to get old! We're both chock-full of ibuprofen this weekend.

Fun on 2 Sunny, Mild Days After Christmas!

(PHOTO: Franklin the Dachshund and Dolly the Weimaraner enjoying the backyard in the sunshine and mild temperatures today)
This weekend we've been blessed with temperatures near 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) after last weekend's blizzard and 19 inches (48 cm) of snow, so sidewalks are clear, streets are clear and only snow piles remain unmelted.
SATURDAY - We met our friends Steve and Jane at Panera Bread (our favorite breakfast place) and our friend/roommate Darold joined us yesterday for a fun 2 hour breakfast! We walked the dogs, then went to Tom's parents and he installed the new shades we bought them for Christmas, followed by dinner at Outback Steakhouse (thanks to a gift card we received). We ended the evening watching the MOVIE JULIE AND JULIA - which was really cute and entertaining. We recommend it!

(PHOTO - Dolly sniffs the tulip bulbs to ensure they're of good quality so we can plant them. She's a good inspector!)


SUNDAY - The sun is shining today (Sunday), so after a breakfast at home Tom and I walked our dogs (Dolly and Franklin) on a 3 mile walk and returned a DVD we rented. After opening some great Christmas presents from my brother Doug and his family in Mass., a lunch of leftover turkey and soup and quick read of the newspaper, Tom and I cleaned up the backyard - I went "dog poo hunting" and Tom started planting daffodils and tulips. I helped Tom plant to make it go faster. We were done with planting (of about 200 bulbs) by 2pm ET, and the dogs came inside with me to write this blog. We've been outside about 4 hours today, which was a nice change over the last week.

(PHOTO - Tom and Rob planting those bulbs in the backyard!)
BACK TO WORK - After a week off, Tom and I both return to work tomorrow. We can only imagine how many emails are waiting for us...

Saturday Tasks / Recovery

(PHOTO: Tom raking the backyard this morning when it was still in the 40s outside-BRR!!)
Yesterday, I (Rob) was feeling poorly. Asthma was in overdrive and I was all congested in my chest, and really worn out. I left work at 2pm, picked up the dogs from daycare and drove home where I collapsed into a 2 hour deep sleep until Tom came home from work. Thanks to advice from our friend Lynn J. I loaded up on Mucinex, drank gallons of water, used the heating pad and vaporizer, my inhaler and ibuprofen and woke up this morning feeling much better.
Today, Saturday was filled with tasks to do, and I didn't want to be around anyone to spread something if I have it... so we canceled lunch with friends. After breakfast we dropped over Tom's parents' house and helped rearrange some furniture; then bought a lot of ornamental grasses at a nursery. We cleared the backyard of leaves (Tom raked, I just bagged them as not to aggravate the asthma) and got 8 bags full.
(PHOTO: The bags of leaves before we loaded them in our truck and took 'em to the dump)
After I made lunch, we drove to the dump and rid ourselves of the leaves. We worked in dry cleaners, prescription pick up (for me), a call to our friend Ben in the hospital, a dog walk, dog baths, removed the outside awning, put away the Halloween stuff, laundry, and Tom planted the vegetation we bought.
(PHOTO: Dolly and Franklin enjoyed wandering the yard while we were cleaning it up)
(PHOTO: The tall grasses we bought for the backyard)

A little black cloud

See this? It's a little black cloud. Seems like it has been following us around this weekend. We all have those times when most things that we try and do don't go our way. This weekend was one of those. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Franklin our dachshund got sick 4 times, and we had to miss a costume party (anyone that knows me, knows I live for them). Yesterday, we also didn't go to the PETCO Halloween event either.
Today, Sunday, Franklin was feeling better, and was keeping food down. That was great, so we took a 1.5 mile walk with the dogs now that the sun was shining. We walked to the local Farmer's Market and a woman working one of the booths asked if Tom and I were at Petsmart 2 years ago as Aquaman and a Skeleton. She remembered!
Doggy daycare was having a Halloween party today from 12-2pm, and that would take care of my Halloween-cravings after missing them yesterday. So, we headed north to the daycare, grabbed Dunkin' Donuts sandwiches and coffee and got on the highway into dead-stopped traffic.
There were no accidents. It was only 1,000 people trying to take the one exit to go to the last day of the Renaissance Festival - which just HAPPENED to be our exit for the doggy daycare. We waited in merging traffic lines for over an hour then gave up- by then, the Halloween event was more than 1/2 over, and the next exit was 10 miles down the road, which we took anyway. It, too, was jammed. We decided to go to Tom's parents' house and drop something off we had in the truck... but the only road to their house (which was a back way to the Renaissance festival) was ALSO dead-stopped. After waiting 30 minutes in that traffic, we turned around and went home. I was really, really, unhappy (I'm being nice here).
Next, we had a 3pm triple-birthday party to go to at our friends' Mike and Heidi's house (my godson was one of the birthdays). As we were going out the front door of our house to head to the party, the storm door wouldn't open. The lock jammed the door was locked. We had to go out through the garage, and then Tom decided to fix it (otherwise we wouldn't be able to get in through it). With the party looming closer, I drove to the event and Tom stayed and fixed the door (it took 1 1/2 hours). I stayed at the party for an hour and came back to join Tom and his folks for dinner.
I hope the forecast calls for "no black clouds" tomorrow- this weekend, that little bugger stayed overhead too long.

Sunday Part3: Baltimore's Comic Con and Costume Contest

Here's part 2 of the photos from the Baltimore Comic Book Convention Costume Contest. I had to get a picture with Chris, one of the other contestants dressed as a Green and Blue Lantern (from the "Blackest Night" storyline: http://www.dccomics.com/sites/greenlantern/. In that storyline, A Blue Lantern's Powers are: The blue ring creates constructs that soothe its target based on that target's hopes. Green Lanterns powers are will-power based.
http://www.dccomics.com/sites/greenlantern/

PHOTO: Iron Man (left) a Spiderman in a black suit; and Iron Man's nemesis: Arsenal (who possesses a flame-thrower, multiple gun systems and a toxic gas dispenser.)
The Iron Man and Arsenal costumes were hand-built over 4 months from parts from Home Depot by the wearers!

Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Quinzel) is a supervillainess of Batman. Her name is a play on the word "harlequin," and she's clad in the manner of a traditional harlequin jester. She's a frequent accomplice and would-be-girlfriend of Batman's nemesis the Joker. This costume was perfect, and she had the wacky personality of the character down pat! I was glad she won.

Here's another photo of Iron Man's nemesis, "Arsenal."

Weekend! /Eyes/Foster Dog/ The Little Things

The weekend is finally here, and it's a relief. It's been a busy week at work, with the boss being out, and me (Rob) running the newsroom.
POINT AND CLICK SYNDROME - Tom and I have noticed a pattern at work with responsibilities, the "point and click" forwarding syndrome. Both of us experienced stuff that was forwarded around our offices this week from person to person (we were copied on the emails); until finally people sent the respective things to us to do- and we wind up doing them. SO, where did "Passing the buck" originate? I found out it comes from playing Poker! If a player didn't want to deal he could pass the responsibility to the next person by passing the "buck" (short for a Buckhorn knife that was placed on a table to show who deals next). (Image: Buck Passing, Credit: Dilbert)
TOM'S VISION - Tom's eyes continue to improve daily since his cataract surgery- although a lot slower than hoped. He still sees "rings of light" around lights. He needs lasik surgery to remove scar tissue that formed around both new lenses the surgeon implanted. They said scar tissue only happens in younger people (so there's a positive!).
FRIDAY NIGHT - Our friends Todd and Erica drove to our town with their infant son Cole and we had a nice dinner at the Outback steakhouse. Nice way to end a week, and Cole is adorable. We ended the night watching "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium" as usual.
(PHOTO OF "Betty" at a shelter currently - we'll get her later this week).
FOSTER DOG UPDATE - We haven't met and picked up our foster dog yet, because of logistics. Details are still being worked out, but we'll likely get "Betty" the short-haired, red dachshund this coming Thursday.
IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS - I was talking with Tom the other night about sending flowers to our folks and some friends- so we did that yesterday. The reactions were funny. My mom saw them and cried out of happiness. Tom's folks said "What are these for?" and our friends H&R said "Why did you send these?" I think that's funny, and I really think that they need to be spoiled a lot more. :) **Speaking of, Tom went and got a haircut this morning at 7:30am while I walked the dogs, and he came back with a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee for me! That's my kind of love.
CLICK FOR CHARITIES - Before I forget- you can click on a website daily to give 1)free bowls of dog/cat food 2) free mammograms 3) kids books: I go daily to: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_home_from_bcs_thankyou_sitenav

Sunday - Gardening Day

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Maryland - crystal blue sky, sunshine, and a high temperature near 73F. After a fun breakfast meeting with friends Steve and Jane at Panera Bread (our favorite hang out), we headed home and got the dogs- then drove to Home Depot for flowers. We spent several hours digging up old flowers at Tom's parents' house and planting new ones. Here's Tom digging up the old flowers. I (Rob) was on trash duty (because my green thumb is an old, dead, grey thumb!).

Franklin and Dolly sat outside of Tom's parents' house while we did the gardening. They were well-behaved and enjoying the outdoors as much as we were.

Here's photo of some of the new flowers Tom planted. The sign that marks the entry way to their 55+ community also needed flowers, so we planted those, too, and added a pumpkin.

Another picture of Dolly and Franklin enjoying being outside with us. Once we finished, Tom's folks took us out for a great big lunch. Then we headed home where I downloaded the photos for the blog, and Tom planted more flowers in our backyard! We need a nap!