Been a little quiet out here. As in, dead still. Donette left on a KC trip a few weeks ago, saddling me with the overwhelming responsibility of taking care of the dogs, the house, AND myself. Not sure I really managed any of the three, but I tried. Sort of. For an added bonus, I had a little house guest for the weekend, my friend’s dog Renfield. He isn’t too much trouble though, and he does a great job entertaining Quinn. Tired doggies are good doggies. Other than being a very accomplished bed-hog, I’d say he was a welcome addition to the household for a few days. Other than that… Well, nothing. For a little perspective, my big excitement for the weekend was making chicken and rice Saturday. (I used legs instead of wings, as I’ve got a lifetime supply of them in the freezer.) Luckily it came out pretty good, otherwise the whole weekend would have been ruined. The rest of the weekend was filled with movies and… more movies. Generally speaking, exceptionally bad movies. Can’t really recall any that I would recommend.

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Man, it’s snowing again! As in, really snowing. Accumulation already and it’s still coming down hard. Color me displeased. As a little insult to injury, I’m sure the mailperson will label our driveway “inaccessible” and not deliver the packages I’ve been waiting for. What a joke. I would drive down our road in my little convertible with no hesitation, but if they see so much as a snow flake they won’t deliver. I need my toys man! They’ll get here eventually I suppose. Sometimes they don’t, but I’m always hopeful.

Well, despite missing my update last week, I really don’t have any material to work with here. Not so much as a picture. The constant rain has kept us at home for weeks now. That’s not even a standard pkenagy.com exaggeration, we’ve been completely homebound. This weather is just not something we’re accustomed to over our 10-year-stay here, and I do not like it. Sloppy mess. Personally, I spent the better part of my weekend re-doing my home network. Trust me, that is not something you want to hear about. According to our trusty weather sources, the rain may end later this week, or at least provide a little break. Get ready for an over the top update next week, because we’re ready to really bust out! (Sneak preview: “We went to Bones on Friday and then watched TV the rest of the weekend. The end.)

Happy New Year!!! Initial review, it’s going to stink. Definitely off to a sketchy start. But hey, it’s only a few days in, maybe it needs to get warmed up.

We sent off the old year in style at least. We packed up the puppies and headed down to a friends house in EDH for dinner, in what I like to refer to as The Fancy Area. They put together one heck of a meal for our little two-couple NYE party. I will just go ahead and label it “extravagant.” We kicked off with some steamed mussels in green curry, with a 2010 Dom Perignon we happened to have in the fridge. Took a little break, then on to lobster and crab bisque. Course two was over-the-top delicious also. Then to dinner… Ohhhhh the dinner. We had Japanese A5 wagyu, king crab legs, and lobster tails, with twice-baked potatoes. Maybe the best meal I’ve ever had? Right up there, for sure. I love seafood, so that was all a treat. I’ve never even had the wagyu beef, so I was excited for that, and it lived up to the hype. Great treat, for sure. I’d get it again, just need a special occasion to fit the, ummmm, rather exorbitant price tag. After dinner, we turned on the obligatory NYE shows and did our best to ring in the new year. I “almost” made it too. I was nodding pretty hard around 11:30, so I went ahead and called it. So close.

Meanwhile, while we enjoyed our decadent dinner, it was raining outside. And raining, and raining. I do believe I heard “record levels” mentioned, although I won’t swear to that. It’s a fine mess, at any rate. Lots of road closures and flooding all around. There was a huge mudslide somewhere up the hill from us, and we got back home to a washed-out driveway and a few tons of mud where a drainage ditch had been before. Yuck. For about 5 minutes, I naively thought I could dig a channel through it and get it draining again, but it’s so soupy it just filled right back in. Not to mention, it was about 15′ wide and 4′ deep. Yeah, lot of mud. Luckily my neighbor had some big toys, and he’s helping me dig out of the semi-disaster. Two more weeks of rain forecast too, hope it doesn’t fill right back in.

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Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We certainly did, although I have to admit I’m always glad it’s over. It’s exhausting! Running all over the place, shopping, visiting… Eeesh. We made it through though, unscathed for the most part. Friday night we stuck to our usual schedule, which is an early dinner at Bones. Pretty standard-issue Friday night there, with the exception that the jukebox was broken so it was rather eerily quiet. Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up for a surprise visit, so that was certainly exciting! Quick tip; Never wear a Santa suit to the bar… Everybody will want to take a picture with you. Poor guy probably has a sore leg from all the… ahem… “plus-size” patrons sitting on his lap. Seemed to take it in stride though. I guess if you’re Santa Claus you get used to it after a few millennia. One of our waitress friends even had a bag of homemade Christmas tamales for us, that was a nice surprise!

Saturday some friends were having a big Christmas Eve party. By “big,” I’m talking 30 people. At once. All in the same place. Yeah, I had to graciously decline that one. While it sounds like everyone had a great time, and great food, it all sounded just a bit overwhelming. I opted to stay home and fix a rib roast for the two of us instead. I went to pick it up Thursday, and the girl at the meat counter rather apologetically admitted it was the last one they had, and came in a rather unimpressive 2.5 pounds. Hey, it’s for two people, that’s perfect! It was somewhere between a really big ribeye steak or a really small rib roast, but I was glad to get one that size. In something of an experimental cook, I threw it in the sous vide for 8 hours while we watched football games, then finished it in the air fryer for 10 minutes. Success! It was pretty darn good, and perfectly cooked. A rarity for me these days.

We kicked off Christmas morning by ourselves, with the pups, opening presents and listening to some festive holiday music. A nice, relaxing start to the day. We all got lots of nice gifts, puppies included. While I have to think they really don’t grasp “Christmas present,” they sure do seem to enjoy unwrapping them. Big fun right there. We sat through a few more football games, then headed out to dinner over at a friends house. They’d been smoking a 17 lb brisket all night, and it came out great. I am not sure bbq quite qualifies as a traditional Christmas dinner, but it should. Had some beans, mac ‘n cheese, slaw… Good stuff.

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