Day 163

Ahhh. Home again, home again. It’s a new year. So far I’m doing well with my resolutions. 2009 is going to be a good year.

Let me tell you about my Christmas vacation. I spent 2 weeks away from Duluth visiting family. After a quick weekend trip to visit Aaron’s family – I continued home for an extended stay with my parents. Bagley loved being at my parents. He got to go outside and frolic with their dog Blue and when he got too cold he got to come inside and be pampered (ie he got to crawl up on the couch and somebody would grab his blanket and tuck him in so he could take a nap and warm up). My kitties ruled the basement and made it their own. They found ways to get up into the window ledges and tease the dogs while they were outside. Boo took a liking to the fish tank and spent many evenings trying to play with them. She ultimately broke the glass top of the tank after slipping and landing funning after trying to leap into the window. Spook just chilled. She found a comfortable spot on the hot water heater and just hung out.

My parents’ pets (the Blue dog and the Oreo kitty) had differing opinions on their guests. Blue liked Bagley and was curious about the kitties – but when they told her they already had a dog in their life and knew how to handle them she became a little bored with them. Oreo despised all three - And vowed to stay outside until they left. This caused some issues for him because it was cold. And one afternoon after returning from town he crawled up under the hood of the jeep to warm up. He was still there when I went to start the jeep to go visit friends in Mitchell. I heard the sound and I knew it was not gonna be good. I saw Oreo dash out from under the jeep and take off for one of the sheds. He was limping, but he was still much quicker than I. I searched and called for him but he would have none of it that night. It was several days later before I finally caught up to him. No cuts, no severed limbs, but he was still limping and I was pretty sure he had a broken front leg bone – so dad took him to the vet. Sure enough he had a broken bone. They splinted him back together and when I left on Saturday he was once again ruling his roost even if it meant he thumped around the house with his huge purple club leg. He goes back in another week to see how he is recuperating.

I got to see all my siblings and play auntie to all my nephews and niece. The three littlest ones arrived with their respective parents on Christmas day. Three little kids make lots of noise. The oldest was a chatter box. He is currently working on potty training so we got to do the potty dance when he was successful at making it to the potty. We read stories, made pretend food, and hunted and ran from monsters. He entertained his little sister and they both laughed lots and were rather out going. He’s at the age where he remembers more things and wants to meet new people. She’s at the age where she doesn’t care much about anything yet. My other nephew was at the age where the only person he wanted to hold him was his mom. And when mom left the room that was bad and scary and usually required some sort of crying. But I’m sure in another couple of months he’ll will be babbling and liking to play with new people. The little ones left on Saturday and my two oldest nephews arrived with their dad. The oldest was all about hunting – which Bagley and Blue loved. He wasn’t able to get any pheasants that weekend but he did bring back several rabbits for Blue to chew on and then throw up. My other nephew likes to play games so we played several rounds of There is a Moose in the House.

After all my siblings and their kids left it was just me and my parents again. I chauffeured my mom around and we went to the community center and walked on the track, went after Christmas shopping, and window shopped for new furniture for their house. I also spent an evening in Mitchell dining with friends from school. It was great to see the Jeff, Carl, Phil, Hafner, and Jung again. Hopefully I will get to see them again when they come up for a concert in the Twin Cities in February.

I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents. We went to town and had dinner at a local sports bar then home. We watched The Dark Night and my dad went to bed before midnight. My mom and I stayed up and made it to 2009. Dick Clark sure looks old.

Then Saturday I packed up and came back to Duluth. I made pretty good time despite the frizzle. The kitties whined for the first 45 minutes then decided to nap for the next 6.5 hours. Bagley pretty much did the same. We beat the snow storm to Duluth. Saturday evening it started snowing and we ended up getting another 6 inches of snow. Sunday I did my best with the snow blower. Neighbor Steve was nice enough to clean my sidewalks and the alley way – but I did my parking spots. And once again the snow blower backed me into a snow bank while I wasn’t paying attention. But I figure its sill early in the winter – I’ll be showing it who’s boss before April is done.

Well this is certainly long enough. So The End.

Oh wait. Aaron is doing well. He wasn't able to call on Christmas day because the line for the phone was long. I was slightly bummed but I did have lots of family around so it was Ok. We did get to talk during our usually Sunday time slot. He seems to be doing well and I know we are both looking forward to the end of his deployment this year.


237 Days to go.