Christmas (caution: some spoiler alerts for young ones)

I suppose the picture would suffice but here are the words:
Presenting Snowball. I would have preferred a name such as Josef or Big Dog but Dexter's hamster-Dexter's choice. Snowball is a large Syrian hamster, five feet tall and sleeps where he wants. These hamsters are solitary animals, mostly nocturnal and can not live with other males- which allows Dexter the opportunity to bond with him, or Snowball will have a lonely existence.

We hid Snowball in the apartment for two days, shuffling him and his cage to various rooms depending on the proximity of the boys and time of day. They did not seem to notice when we would speak to them LOUDLY when Snowball would run in his wheel, unseen but possibly heard in a closet, or be bothered by the constant playing of a radio- or when the cats would circle and sniff ("which one of you guys farted?"). Days before Christmas, we draped a small table in the room where our tree is- a place of destination for which the hamster could rest, hidden on Christmas morning.

The sounds of unwrapped presents, holiday tunes, Seattle pancakes did not reveal a sleeping hamster. Dext, happy enough with his bounty from the Big Guy was being a trooper in hiding his disappointment, until.

Also of note is an air hockey game which is turning out to be of sounder quality than expected, but the greatest facet of this piece is that Dexter took it upon himself to put the beast together, and did. Well done! Certainly skills inherited from the Dempsey side of the family.

Oliver mostly had his Santa list fulfilled; classic Monopoly, Kirby Wii game, Legos, Webkinz, and a tradition that goes back a few years, pissing the boy off. When Santa brought Oliver a Shrek Chia pet in '09 instead of a Scooby Doo Chia pet, Oliver has always held a bit of a grudge. Each year the Santa team intentionally delivers one of the smaller requests incorrectly; close, but not quite. Last on this year's list was the request of Club Penguin cards. Hope you enjoy Webkinz cards. This will be addressed in your letter next year Santa. Good luck.

A grand Christmas for us. We hope the same for you.

Where Ya At?

Well, I'll tell ya. This is where I'm at. It's nearly Christmas. Oliver is falling out of his shoes in anxiety. Dexter is playing it cool but definitely in the moment- especially with school on break.

We have the biggest tree we ever have had- which was a difficult choice as we found one about 4 feet tall, just 2 feet shorter but $30 cheaper. However we could tell that Dext had his hopes up for a big tree this year but felt guilty in deciding on the one he really wanted. Fortunately Captain Mike leaned in and whispered that we should get the bigger one, for Dext. Sounds good to us.

The busiest time at work for me, and Cai- two weeks of expecting the worse. Good thing I have kids for Christmas would only a headache but yet still, it is a heart affirming time- and fun. Crazy big stuff did come in a daily basis- room sized rugs, refrigerators, wine cabinets, bookshelves...but our team goal for these two weeks was to not get mad at each other and we were successful. One day we had 375 packages which including the several step process for each of them was a push to get them all completed for the day but we did. Our new facilities director, Amber may have been the secret to our success as three weeks prior she was able to get Cailin full time status, changing our outlook completely.

Just like Ronnie Lott (sorry folks-another sports reference) I was ready to take on whatever the day, or UPS man brought straight on.

Although my joke (it's not really true) is that everyone else at my work is 25 having more in common with Justin Bieber than they might with me, they really are a nice crowd of people.

Maria is happy to have some time off to spend it with us and friends that we do not have the opportunity to see enough. Marcail and Blythe came into their once city of residence and visited several times, notably one grand evening with our circle of friendships established 25 years ago. Anne, Traci, Marcail,Gemmie and families have aged well, I think.

Niners!! Saints!!

Niddy!! She, of who introduced Maria and I- showed up (from Atlanta) when Dexter and Cai volunteered outside the SPCA holiday windows (with the cats and dogs) at Macy's to spend time with us. She could be mistaken, in her good humored enthusiasm and demonstrative speaking,as a human Muppet. I sometimes think that when she really gets going, that Dr. Niddy might actually elevate. Plus a darn good interviewer!

One night Allison and John showed up for PG& E Polenta (it's really a polenta dish from Point Reyes Station Cafe). Friday the 16th a big box from Sarah and Drew arrived with immense goodness and goodies. It's great to have Andrew back in the SF office (have fun in Hawaii) although because of our work volume, I haven't yet been able to make daily stops to visit.

After this week we plan on going to Cambria on the central coast for New Year's. This is a December ritual for us; Robin's, the Main Street Grill, Linn's, the Tea Cozy, elephant seals, the baseball card shop, big yard at Pine Acres and the cozy stroll through town, despite the chilly temperatures brings joy and comfort. Also where we spent our (budget) honeymoon.

Earlier this month we saw the great Eddie Palmieri (playing with two other of my favorites, Hermann Olivera and Jimmy Bosch- D & O, when you read this look those names up!) at Yoshi's- this as a courtesy from some of the nice people that were part of the Slide group.

Dad's been watching the black and white episodes of Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel. I'm usually washing dishes during Have Gun, Will Travel but thoroughly enjoying the quality of these older episodes of Gunsmoke.

As I was running around shopping and errand doing today, I felt grateful for the life i have, the people i know, the family that surrounds, concluding that 50 was very fine and where I'm at us where I want to be.



A Christmas spoiler story (so stop here if anyone needs not read this):

Two years ago just after Thanksgiving, I was sitting in the cafe at work with Dexter and turned to him to suggest that he should start his Christmas wish list for the big guy. He glanced over and with a big grin said, "I'm looking at him". No! you have to play along. For his brother, he has played along.

I guess the Raisenets as deer poop didn't fool him back on the balcony of New Orleans, 12/25/07 . I thought I was being clever. However in careful observation, he said simply : "those are Raisenets".

The Elephant In The Room

At long last, I have finally done a top notch job in providing our turtles (how long have we had these guys- 15, 20 years?) a nice place to live? Reptiles are strong and reptiles are messy. We raised them when they were as small than the size of a quarter. Nursed them from the lethargic state that they had been in by rubbing meat on those mouths until they ate, provided a sun lamp to charge them up and gave them clean water. Llater a filtration system to keep their water reasonably so. Sold in the streets of Chinatown in little plastic cartons piled ten units high in rows of six or seven but with no instructions on how to provide care and life for these near lifeless babies.



Of course the realization that these guys (actually two females- occasionally laying an unfertilized egg or two) may outlive us. Over time their habitat have grown in size but because of their natural messy reptilian ways, the sunlight bringing algae on the sides of the tank and recently, the lack of a working sink (that's the big one!) in their area has made their home kinda funky. For too long. Now the size of a pot pie (smaller turtle) and a mini pizza (larger) I've been relieved that their shells are hard and healthy. Eyes clear and appetite present except in the winter when they hibernate ,eat and move less.



I know Maria has stayed out of the room feeling that the turtles, unofficially named Bud and Lou were not doing well. Dexter has decided that he wants to use this room as his room so it's been time to make it a good room. Dext has also been persistent in getting to me to tackle the task and this Saturday we dedicated ourselves in doing so. The past weeks spent accumulating supplies but now I could not stall any longer.

Devising a plan of transport (buckets of liquid sludge with intentionally blurred vision and slow breaths) using various tools for intense cleaning, we were able to wash their habitat surprisingly thorough. However, the state of the tank was worn; the seals were stripped and while probably still very functional, the thought of turtle waste leaking is not an appealing (nor healthy) one. So Sunday we went out to get a new habitat.

Going spare with the design; room to swim, room to sun, with a quiet powerful filter. It looks great to us. We think they like it and despite the changes in their usual quiet of winter, Bud and Lou are once again back in the groove. The elephant has left the building.