Christmas the Recap (and photos!)

The trip to Yakima was an easy one. The weather service said to leave Friday so I skipped work and headed out after a long visit with the cat. It only took 2 hours to drive over the pass and it was lovely - bright, dry and little traffic. As I headed over the hills from Ellensburg into the Yakima Valley - this was the view
pretty! Socked in, but pretty.

I haven't seen the sun since, but we did have a white Christmas. Upon arrival I checked out the house and the new dog. He's a nice dog and well suited for my parents lifestyle. I fell into like with him instantly and as you can see he has personality. Unfortunately Bear is a little passive. He and I went for a walk on Saturday morning and we ran into the dog who lives up the lane. That dog was a friendly but aggressive male with sexuality issues. He instantly mounted my mom's dog and started to assault him in an unkind way. Bear froze in his tracks and only faught back upon penetration. I was horrified and tried to get the big dog away but it was clear that I was not in charge. Finally, the scary lady in the house with the flamingos came out and shooed the rapist dog away. She shamed me by being able to shoo him away by yelling from afar when I had been so ineffective in my attempts.

Upon the return to the house I told my parents about our horrific outing and dad said "yeah, we shoudl have told you about that, we usually walk the other way." Thanks for the heads up!

We spent Christmas Eve with Glenda the good aunt and Sandy & Ed. They watched football and after it was clear that we would not win the game we played board games. Mostly it was fun. One of the "sisters" tried to pitch a fit at dinner but we were able to get out of it without a major blow out. (Sometimes it's a little volatile in our family - the aunts don't have the best 'go with the flow' skills and when anyone tries to take over and manage the other sparks are guaranteed.)

Mom, Dad & I opened presents that night and everyone seemed happy wtih their haul. Mom and Dad bought me some nice queen sized sheets and I think its a hint to get a bigger bed so that they can be comfortable when they visit. That's ok, it's on the list.

We had dinner at Sandy & Ed's and played cards until dad was ready to drop. My cousin Vernon brought his girlfriend and she was subjected to all the stories but I think we came off less crazy than we actually are. It was nice to see him so happy.



It was snowing like crazy this morning so I quickly packed the car and left. I don't have studs on my tires and didn't want to have to chain up. I did stop near Cle Elum to pop the chains on, but found out the VW Golf chains don't fit the VW Jetta. I decided to just go and found that 400 yards down the road the worst was over. I had planned on stopping and buying chains - but decided to wait until I got home. Who wants to pay the "its snowing and you need them so we can charge you anything" price? Not me.

I did take some pictures before I left.



Grape vines







These are the trees in the pasture behind my parents house. Our first dog Barniby Jones "Barney" is burried in this grove. A nice place to be if you ask me.