Jim and Linda Really Travel
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Jim and Linda by a big tree in New Zealand.
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Yet Another Photo of Us in front of a Big Tree
Jim and Linda continue trying to make up for lost time, criss-crossing the planet in their goal of seeing at least
50% of the bird species of the world. This year, when both passed
triple prime birthdays, they upped the ante, with three foreign trips and several closer to home:
All this left our intrepid birders hundreds of species short of their goal. Stay tuned.
Some trip photos:
Besides birding trips, we had two family weddings, sort of, in 2014:
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Abe and Marilyn
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Wedding Party
In August, we braved the Texas heat (how quickly we forget!) to travel to Corpus Christi to take part in Stanley and Stacy Holder's nuptials.
Stanley, aka Bubba, was our foster son years ago in Austin. Jim was part of the wedding party, as shown in the accompanying photo.
In October, we traveled back to Austin for celebration of Abe Dillon and Marilyn McNealy's marriage.
They sneaked in a quick wedding a year ago, so this was sort of an Anniversary celebration.
We frittered away the rest of the year playing with grandchildren and celebrating various holidays.
Claire and Ron: Yet Another Adventure in Remodeling
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Purple Haze at Year's End
Claire and Ron's remodeling of Rancho Relaxo, their weekend place near Philo in Mendocino County,
to have bedrooms and a bath on the second floor is almost finished as we write this. We can hardly wait. The project has proved
again that Pournelle's Law of Costs and Schedules ("Everything costs more and takes longer") still holds.
Claire also had a
triple prime birthday, a different one from Jim and Linda.
Claire and Ron continue at the same jobs as before. Children's Hospital of Oakland (CHO for short) merged with UCSF Medical this year and looks to be bit more financially secure thanks to an infusion from Marc Benioff, who became an eponym after donating millions. The new name for CHO is UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland.
Ron continues at Advent Software. His work oftem involves travel, but not to interesting places such as Colombia. Instead, he goes to Las Vegas, etc.
Scarlet and Nico
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Nico about One Year Old
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Scarlet Mugs for the Camera while Jim Checks Email
We realize now how much we missed of Kai and Kiera's early years. It's different when you live close and see them changing almost daily. Thanks to their parents complex schedules, we have had numerous babysitting "opportunities." This carried over even to Sayulita, where we kept the kids one night so the youngsters could enjoy a night on the town.
Charles and Amy
Charles got replacement bees for his hives, and we got some of the honey, so all is well on that front. Meanwhile, 3D printing, which may still turn out to be the Next Big Thing, seems to need some work to make it user friendly.
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The 10th Annual Iron Chef Party
Charles and Amy continued their Christmas tradition of an Iron Chef party. We failed to place again, but at least
we got votes this time. Charles won the prize for Best Use of Ingredient after notifying everyone that the host was eligible to receive votes. His ingredient was cranberries, which he used to accompany pork belly! Anything with bacon is usually a winner.
Kai and Kiera
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Kai in Tree at Point Isabel Dog Park
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Kiera in Tree at Point Isabel Dog Park
Our older two grandchildren are growing up. Both are in school at nearby Harding Elementary, a short walk from home.
The school has a lot of activities for parents as well as children. Charles works with the Dad's Club frequently.
The photos prove that Kai and Kiera know how to get a rise out of Nana. These trees are really not big enough to support two growing children, but no harm was done.
Comensals
We reduced the cat population at our home to one, as The Min succumbed to a recurrence of mammary cancer.
Now we have only Cash to carry on the feline tradition.
Chipper meanwhile continues to protect us from dangerous animals in the yard, including his old nemesis, the Striped Skunk.
This year saw his fifth encounter. And poodles are supposed to be smart?
Somehow, even Cash is not immune to chasing skunks, as we discovered late one night. Applying Nature's Miracle Skunk Remover to
an angry cat is fraught with peril, as Jim discovered. Fortunately, his wound healed in time for our trip to the Cauca Valley.
On to 2015
Standard apology for the lateness of this report. Hope you have a wonderful 2015. We look forward to welcoming any visitors to our home in Oakland whenever we are there.
Drop us a line and let us know if you like this report. If you think we should simply use Twitter and Facebook instead, we'd like to know.
