Pork Carnitas

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Down Under from Washington State

Lynn & Maddi arrived on time at the “new” Sacramento airport Thursday late afternoon. Ev and I had a hard time finding our way around, because everything is new I guess?? However whoever designs the airports must think we are “rats” and need a maze to run around in!! Guess we are stuck with it now, it is pretty well all built, no room for changes now.
Our first stop?? “Costco”.. where else? Of course “Costco”. We filled up with fuel, got something to eat.. Lynn & Maddi had a slice of pizza and Ev & I had a polish..
We spent a relaxing evening visiting once we arrived home.
Friday I started getting Mexican food ready for Saturday’s Mexican food dinner and celebration for Lynn & Maddi’s visit here in California. Going to slip in Lynn “R” birthday too..  
Late morning Friday we all went to Walmart. Don’t you always have to go to Walmart? Seems like we do.. Lynn & Maddi needed some slippers and a few other things. After a bit of shopping we went up to Brassfields Winery, probably one of the most beautiful wineries in California. And it is in our back yard!!
In the afternoon Lynn, Maddi and I packed up and went down to the Moose and Keys Club to visit some of the people Maddi got to visit over the summer while here. Unfortunately, not many of those warm blooded people were out.. think it was too cold? We did get to visit with a couple of friends.
Saturday morning was a bustling time! Trying to get everything in place for our festivities later in the day.
Lindsy/Chris/Colin were the first to arrive. Ev took out the “Bean Bag” game (in the south it is known as “Corn Holing” this is a very serious game in the south!) Soon Charles followed by Larry/Lynn and then Rich/Judy soon after Rob/Gayle arrived. Now we were all here!
CHOW TIME! Got the Pork Carnitas ready, had some refried beans, cooked up some tortillas and we are ready to chow down! Everyone loved the Pork Carnitas! They did come out great if I do say so myself .
We had a little birthday pumpkin bread w/cream cheese frosting for Lynn. Soon after we retired to the bar area where some of us indulged in some karaoke. LOL.. It’s one of those things, you should have been here to appreciate. We will leave it at that. Moving right along.. Evening went till about mid-night, most everyone left before 9pm, then there were those of us that were staying here all night that sang and entertained each other, very well I might add! Maddi was the best singer of all!

Lynn & Maddi's Visit VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Sunday morning everyone seemed to be up bright and early.. I got breakfast going.. Bacon, some eggs, a bowl of fresh fruit, some toast, wala.. Got everyone feed.. Lindsy/Chris/Colin would be on their way home right after breakfast. That way they could have sometime to rest before getting ready for work on Monday.
Over all Sunday was a relaxing day for me.. I haven’t been sleeping well and then with all the activities it was my time to do “movie” day.. Ev took Lynn up to the casino for a few hours and did some gambling.. Maddi was here with me.. She was watching her programs on tv in the front room.. aaww nice day.. We all enjoyed some left over Pork Carnitas and some beans.. We were good to go..
Monday was a travel day for Lynn & Maddi.. Travel home.. , short lived vacation. However, good time was had by all!
Dropped them off at the airport about 11am.. said our good byes and off they went. Got a call about 4pm all home and safe..

Lynn’s Birthday at Simona’s in Ukiah

Rich & Judy picked us up at 2pm this cloudy Wednesday afternoon and then on to Larry & Lynn to pick them up and head to Ukiah to do some shopping and to celebrate Lynn’s birthday! Of course on the way driving over there, you would have thought that none of had seen each other for months! When actually it was only a couple of days. Chit Chat going on like crazy!
Rich & Larry dropped us off at Penneys’ and asked them to pick us up at Ross at 430pm, that would give us about 90 minutes of shopping.. woo hoo and here we go! Ev decided to come with the girls and shop. The other boys went to “The Office” for a drink.. Of course when it was time to picked up? The boys were late?? Imagine that one.. Their “story” was that they went to Kohls to pick us up and sat there and waited.. aaaww huh.. a likely story.. When I finally saw them while standing in front of Ross they were parked in front of Penneys and Larry was walking out of the building.. I do believe they weren’t listening when we told them to pick us up at Ross. We had all been getting some worried that they had some kind of accident? NOT.. thank God..
We got back to “The Office” sat down and had a martini along with other assorted drinks. We then went down stairs to Simona’s Italian Restaurant..   Simona’s Italian Restaurant was expecting us and had our table ready and waiting.. We all had a wonderful dinner!

Lynn Birthday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Hashbrown Casserole

This is my cousin Dawn’s recipe.. uumm so good!!

Hashbrown Casserole
http://www.clearlakevacationsonline.com/recipes/hashbrowncasserole.pdf

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Grandson Colin/emergency room visit

Got a call Tuesday evening from Lindsy, asking me if I could come and stay with Colin for a few days.. I said yes and I would be there in the morning. She was concerned that Colin would be in “day care” for too many hours after all the problems with his neck from the week before and he wasn’t totally healed yet.
I left early Wednesday so I would be sure to be there by the time he was out of school at 11:35.. The drive was nice and easy did some shopping on my way down. Once I arrived at Lindsy & Chris home I up packed and went over to get Colin from school.. We had a nice day together.. We took a walk and he rode his scooter.. I had asked Lindsy if she wanted to have Jeff & Cesar over for dinner, I was making Fried Chicken/Mashed Potatoes/Gravy and corn for dinner and homemade pear/apple pie.. She said that would be nice to have everyone over.. Everyone arrived on time.. Jeff’s Dad Mel was visiting here from Boston. Fun evening..

Jeff and his father Mel and Cesar

Thursday the phone rang after Lindsy had left for work and I answered the phone and it was Colin’s doctor calling from Kaiser. I told her Colin was doing well.. and Lindsy had already left for work, she said she would call Lindsy at work.
Long story short, doctor called Lindsy (about 4 times) told her she needed to get Colin and take him for a CT scan in Santa Rosa ER, right now as it could be “LIFE ALTARING”!! Doctor had insinuated that it was possible that Colin had a spinal injury!!!.. As you can image the chaos was on! I went to get Colin from school, Lindsy called Chris to meet us at the ER in Santa Rosa.. We arrive before lunch.. Got checked in.. Took us right away and into the room we went! Doc came in just before noon.. Doc looked like he could be Richard Gere’s brother (only Doc was better looking ).. Doctor was very pleasant with a nice bedside manor and started talking with Colin as soon as he came in, as Colin sat and played his hand held video game.. Doc studied Colin put his hand on his neck and commented to Colin.. “Seems young man you have a slight case of “WHIPLASH”.. A long way from a SPINAL INJURY!! The doctor explained to us if it were a spinal injury there was no way Colin would sitting there playing his video game.. He did order another set of xrays, everything proved to be as the doc said.. and now life returns to normal.. However in my opinion, I think that the pediatrician Colin has been seeing should do another internship in an EMERGENCY ROOM someplace, so she can make a better educated guess other than to think the worst! And scare the “SH-T” out of the family!!
I did recommend that maybe they might want to check into getting a more “seasoned” pediatrician for Colin..  

Colin at the ER in Santa Rosa

Fire Down Below

This morning about 1130am, Ev spotted smoke billowing from down below us about half way between us and town.. He called 911 to report it. The fire crews took awhile to arrive about an hour, but when then did, boy did they get going. Chopper in the air with a bucket taking water from the lake, about chopper dropped of some guys and then loaded their water bucket. In the meantime a huge truck with a dozer on the back came driving up Alta Vista (the street below us). Parked up by the house up there and unloaded the dozer and they all went to work to get that fire under control. Several other trucks joined the force as time passed. Once they started it wasn’t long and they had it out. Probably about 2 hours total.. Some of the crew stayed behind to be sure the fire was out.. Amazing to have a fire this time of the year, January!! We have had very little rain this season. Last measureable rain was probably the first of October 2011.. Since that time we have been kind of blessed with a really nice late fall and early winter, no rain or snow and temps in the high 60’s and low 70’s..
We are all safe and the fire is out.. Hopefully on Wednesday the 18th our rainy season will be here, that is our forecast..

Fire Down Below VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Diversified Week

This week has been quite diverse..
Charles called early in the week and asked us over for dinner on Wednesday at his house.. Dinner at 6pm..We arrived and Charles was the perfect “host”.. He invited us into his warmly decorated home, still lingering with some Christmas decorations, giving his home a well lived mood. Charles proceeded to pour us a drink.. Me with my usual brandy and Ev had a vodka/cranberry with a splash of grapefruit a little different spin.. We chatted probably way too long before it was time to get the dinner actually going.. Instead of barb-q we did broil… Guess that kind of tells the story.. We all sat down at the table and enjoyed dinner together. Of course the drinks were taking their toll by this time for me anyway and soon to be on our way home. Seemed as soon as we got home it was time to hit the “hay”.. It was already past 10pm.. OMG past our bedtime!! It was real treat for us to have Charles cook for us.. He really did a great job and the food was good!

 

 
Before I was awake fully I could hear the phone ringing.. Oh I was not ready to get up and it was only about 7:15am.. However I jumped up to answer the phone, but had “rung” out.. checked the caller ID and it was Lindsy/Chris.. I was really awake by now, think I hope all is ok.. Called them back.. Lindsy answered and she was stressed and she informed me that Colin had been up all night with pain in his neck.. Chris was going to take Colin into the doctor at about 930..Lindsy’s big boss was coming in today and Chris had major stuff going on and they wanted to know if I could come down and watch over Colin.. He had a terrible stiff neck, “wry” neck, was the diagnosis..?? Guess you will have to look it up..He was in a terrific amount of pain.. poor little guy… Good thing for pain meds.. By the time Lindys & Chris got home, I pretty much everything under control.. I had the hose ready to squirt the dog with, if she started her barking fits. Colin was sacked out on the couch, comfortable with his pain meds.. Dinner was almost ready.. Made us some of my Easy Enchiladas..Had enough hamburger I also made up my Meatloaf for another nights dinner.. I had also got the house in order so Lindsy wouldn’t feel the least overwhelmed after such a stressful day with no sleep, Chris too was relieved that things were in order and dinner was ready to eat when he arrived home.. We all had a cocktail, relaxed for a little while then sat down to eat dinner, the Easy Enchiladas..Early evening, everyone was tired.. Friday, Lindsy & Chris back to work and me and Colin hanging out.. Still he was not feeling well. We went to McDonalds for a treat and then stopped at Kmart and then he was done.. we went home. Chris was home, so I went back out so I could visit my friend Linda Madden who was here in Petaluma to take care of her mother’s estate. Linda’s Mom passed in mid-dec.
 
It had been a few years since I had visited with Linda and it was nice to see her. We visited and talked about her Mom and life in general.. Our visit was short and sweet.. It was great seeing her!
Got back to Lindsy’s and heated up the left over Easy Enchiladas.. Chris went back to work, and Lindsy and I sat down to watch a movie.. When there was a knock on the door.. It was Julia (Colin’s step Grandmother, Nama) coming by to see how Colin was.. She ended up staying for a few hours so we didn’t get to watch our movie.. there was always Saturday night..
Saturday the kids (Chris & Lindsy) too Nonni (Me) out to lunch at Applebees.. Colin was feeling a bit better.. After lunch Lindsy and I went shopping for a few hours while Chris watched over Colin at home. Colin still didn’t feel well.
We got home just in time to put the Meatloaf in the oven and get the rest of the food ready before Chris had to leave for work. Just as we got dinner ready, Jeff, Cesar and Jeff’s dad Mel came by to visit for a little while.. Jeff’s dad Mel is 82 and visiting here from Boston. Mel was delightful to listen to, he had many many stories to share. We all had a nice visit, everyone snacked on the Meatloaf..

Jacob House VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After all the company left we got to WATCH OUR MOVIE!! Very relaxing.. awwww….early to bed..
Sunday work up about 7ish, took a shower and was on my way to my sisters place to visit her for breakfast.. She had me pick up a bottle of champagne while I was at Trader Joes. I had no idea that the champagne was for us!! We cracked the bottle open and drank to whole bottle!! Kim fixed us a nice breakfast and then I was on my way home. Had to make a few stops on the way home.. Got home and happy to be here!! Poor Evee was so lonely without me.. He was home with the dogs and I was with so many people.. I was so happy to see him too!!

Artichoke Frittata

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Artichoke Frittata
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Girls just “wine” a have fun!!

What a glorious day we all had on Sunday. We had our Rob Roy Philosophical meeting earlier in the day then stopped by Faith & Rudy’s for some of their St Helena wine from their vineyard! What a nice treat. The day was sunny and warm! The guests were bright and fun! Host & Hostess are so gracious!
Met Faith & Rudy at Walmart..a few years back. Purely by accident.. Everett saw Faith in the paint department and had to comment on her “hair” and how lovely she was..and he wanted her to meet his wife (me) our hair color was similar! So that was the beginning of our friendship and as they say the rest is history.. Now we met on the second Sunday of the month with the Philosophical Society each month. and sometimes in between.
Last night we enjoyed dinner with the Rudy & Faith and Jim & Shirley at the Brewery in Middletown.. Had pizza, GREAT PIZZA!! and more wine..
Meeting Jim & Shirley was another qwerky meeting..
We had been at a Christmas Party at the Moose (same year we met Rudy & Faith). We were leaving and Ev saw this couple going to the car (we never had met Jim & Shirley at this point). Ev proceeded over to them saying “Are you two busy New Year’s Eve, would you like to come with us to a party:? Can you imagine??.. and they said YES they would love to join us!!??They never saw us before in their lives!! And so they say the rest is history! We have been friends ever since! And then it turned out that Faith & Rudy and Jim & Shirley were already friends, so we all spent New Years Eve together!! Great people and lots of fun!

Girls just "wine" a have fun!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Rob Roy meeting 1/8/2012

We had our first annual meeting of the Rob Roy Philosophers at the Rob Roy Golf & Country Sunday January 8, 2012. One of twelve this year. We meet the 2nd Sunday of every month.
We had a GREAT turn out!! We had 28 members/guests! It was great to see all of you! And wonderful to see possible NEW members too!!
View Photos of our meeting below..

Rob Roy January 8, 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Fun in Somerset!!

On Tuesday morning after talking with Judy on the phone, I called her back to let her know that I would like to come up to Tony’s and visit them all on Wednesday and wondered if that would be ok? OMG, Judy was so excited! as I was too! I had been so sick for weeks it seemed and never thought I would ever get over that “crap”! Finally I was feeling so much better and I was truly ready for a “mini vacation” and some fun times! So was Judy.. she had not felt well either most of the Christmas holiday season and also was finally feeling better.
My first concern going up to Tony’s Somerset Cabin that there would be a “bed” for me to sleep in.. Judy was more than accommodating or at least she thought she was.. Here is what she had to say.. “you know Tasha is leaving on Friday night so you can sleep with Tony”..uumm..?? No I said that I wasn’t going to sleep with Tony, so she said ok” I will sleep with Tony and you can sleep with Rich”, by now I am so cracking up!! I said “no that I was not sleeping with that horney bastard”!!<<laughing my ass off! So then I say, “how about Rich sleeps with Tony and I sleep with you”? she says’ oh yeah that works great’!! LOL.. As it turned out the first night I slept with Judy, Rich slept in the well house (with heater, electric blanket as well as a down comforter). And Tony had his bed with Tasha, as Tash wasn’t leaving till Friday.. and the down stair bed was where Neil and Terry were sleeping.. Well on Thursday night Neil & Terry left so I slept on the air bed that night, then Friday night I got the well house.. LOL.. The well house was the BEST!
Wednesday I arrived pretty early.. got there about 10:30am.. about a 3 hour drive, 150 miles from our door to Tony & Tasha’s cabin.. As it would be when I arrived really no one was ready for the day…? We ate breakfast, cleaned up and were finally out of the house by 1pm!!!? uummm.. Rich was our driver for the “ladies” day out shopping.. Rich drove us to Amador City, Sutter Creek and Jackson for a fabulous and fun fun day with the “girls” and of course Richy too… We visited shops taking photos as we went along! One store owner was so excited we were having fun she asked to take our picture so she could post it on FB!! It was a fun day!
It was kind of late when we arrived back at the Cabin, but soon we got the dinner rolling! We were having abalone, provided by Neil and some nice Tilapia.. Everyone pitched in to get the dinner ready. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner together and enjoyed sharing stories of the day!
This was pretty much how the rest of the week went.. We had a fabulous time! The weather was wonderful, 70 degrees! In January”?? NO SNOW or rain! Incredible!
Judy, Rich and I did shopping on Thursday in Placerville.. After shopping we headed up to the Placerville Moose lodge in “Camino”, (Placerville Moose in Camino???). We had a couple of bloody mary’s and headed back to Placerville. We met with Tony & Tasha for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant.. Marvelous food!
Friday morning Tasha was leaving for home, she had some comments to take care of on Saturday, she was so sad to leave..Rich, Judy and I took a drive up to Tahoe for the day to visit Rich’s cousin Jill.. As we were driving to Tahoe as we reached the summit we noticed that there was NO SNOW anywhere! Tahoe looked like we were in July instead of January.. so sad.. really.. Some of the resorts are closed already, many businesses were gone, lots of foreclosures.. sad times for many. Truly a sign of the times! and even the weather wasn’t cooperating, to make things even worse!
We met with Jill at her home and all went to lunch a local café.. We all felt that we were “stimulating” the economy by either eating or shopping at Tahoe.. For which we did both.
Jill was a great lady! She is funny and very entertaining and I could so tell she was Rich’s cousin! They look like they are related! We had so much fun that day! Rich & Jill sharing many family stories..
After lunch we all went shopping.. Love to shop at the place “side street” in Tahoe at the shopping center of Raleys by the stateline. Judy treated herself to a very lovely gift that she so deserved.. A lovely mink vest.. at a very incredible deal.. guess that Tahoe is in “die or straights” they are giving away the stuff!! Well, not quite.. but you get the general idea.. We really had a great day and it was great fun to meet Jill. What a fun gal!
On our way home as we came into Camino we stopped at the PLacerville Moose.. had a martini and back to Tony’s we went. We needed to get home because new company was about to arrive.
we were only home a little while when Jeff & Jeanine arrive. Long, long time friends of Rich & Judy and Tony! Everyone was so excited to see each other! I don’t think they had all been together in about 2 years.. It was a warm and wonderful evening watching everyone catch up on the life and times of the past couple of years. Jeff & Jeanine have 2 lovely children.. Jake 8 yrs old and Julia 3 yrs old soon to be 4 in Feb..
I needed to get home on Saturday, so I got my breakfast, got my bed made in the well house, got packed and was ready to go about 11am..
I really had a fabulous mini vacation.. Thanks to Great friends that are more like my family.. I guess you could say they are my “adopted” family.. I sure love all of you so very much! Thanks you all for everything and fantastic few days!

Tony & Tasha's VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Wine Tasting with New Friends

Got a call from Scotty from St Louis on Tuesday late afternoon and wanted to know if we could meet him and his “sis” Lori at Brassfields for some wine tasting in about a half hour? It was 4pm..
Our day had consisted of finishing putting away Christmas decorations, me fixing some Turkey soup. Lee & Laura were here picking up some of the soup when we got the call.. We were so unprepared! However as you know we are “impromptu”!! <<laughing So what the “hell”.. Told Lee & Laura we were invited to wine tasting,, gotta goo.. they are so great.. “oh yeah no problem”.. Got ready and away we went! Meet both Scotty & Lori (first time I had met them, and Ev first time meeting Lori). We drove up at the winery, and saw they were walking around outside enjoying their wine.. We walked up and immediately hit it off and before long we were drinking, laughing and truly enjoying each other company!! Lori was busy cutting up cheese and serving it with crackers! Not only to Ev & I but also to some of the other patrons as well as our host at the winery!! As you will see by the photos we truly had a GREAT time! It was so nice to meet them and hopefully we will meet again sometime soon! Thanks for a GREAT time guys!

Brassfields Wine tasting with Scotty & Lorre VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Happy New Year!! 2012

I just can’t believe here we are in 2012! Wow! We are so excited to the new adventures and fun new challenges that await us this New Year of 2012!
Ev and I have a few trips planned already for this coming year. I will be going up to visit Rich & Judy at Tony & Natasha’s place in Somerset on Wednesday, after I get all the Christmas decorations down. I will go and Ev will stay home. Ev is going to get the truck power steering fixed! And I will vacation.. sounds more fun to me! Tony & Tasha has a cute log cabin in Somerset, CA.. right between Placerville & Jackson.
Our next trip will be in February to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in Vegas. Lindsy & Chris will join us too as it also their 7th wedding anniversary. They were married on Maui a few days earlier than Ev and I. Lindsy & Chris Feb 16, 2005 and Ev & Linda Feb 19, 2005. Our friends from Reno, Mike & Maryann will also be in Vegas at the same time to celebrate Maryann’s birthday Feb 14th. Sounds fun huh?
Then in June Chris’ sister Carrie will be married to Jason on the 10th. I will be doing their flowers. Then we will take off on an extended vacation. We will travel with truck & trailer to Hat Creek area for a few days then up to WA state to go camping with brother Rick & family/friends in Conconully, WA around Father’s Day weekend. We probably won’t be home for the 4th this year.. However I am sure we will have lots of fun in WA! On our way back home will spend more time hopefully around the Hat Creek area and do some fishing..
That’s it so far…

Between Christmas & New Years

We had a nice Christmas again this year. Hopefully next year I won’t get sick. After everyone left on the 26th I hit the bed for a couple of days to get rested up before our next party!!
We got an invitation to dinner at Bill & Eva’s “summer home” in Hidden Valley Lake on Wednesday evening. Eva served a couple of very good “Hungarian” dishes.. She served up 11 people for dinner.. Great host & hostess! We met some new people, friends of Bill & Eva. Charles was also a guest, and you know how entertaining he is.. It was a very nice evening.. see pics below:

Bill & Eva VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We were also invited to Gil & Christie’s down here in the Keys for dinner on Friday evening. They fixed up some good ole comfort food old American fav dish Meatloaf with potatoes and veggies.. Some good wine and good conversation, what else could you ask for? Very nice and relaxing evening.
On Saturday evening Ernie & Shirley were having a New Year’s Eve party with a different spin. They were having a wine tasting and sit down dinner. I believe there were 18 of us for the wine tasting. So fun! Just so you know Jerry & Sandy brought the “2 buck chuck” Charles Shaw for the white and red (they brought it as a joke).. and if you can believe it!!?? The “2 buck chuck” Charles Shaw WON! in both categories, red & white. The more expensive local wines?? opps..
There were 14 of us for dinner. Ernie & Shirley really out did themselves. It was so fun and great hosts!!

New Years Eve 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL