Christmas 2006

I thought it would be a good idea to have a variety of perspectives on Christmas from the Romig pack. I will start by saying that while it was nice seeing Julie's family, it was a lot of hard work hosting, cooking, and cleaning up for seven people and two eager dogs. For Christmas Eve dinner, I made some steak with baked potatoes, and for Christmas Day, I got the smoker out and cooked a rack of pork ribs and a beef brisket. Julie added some cornbread (thanks to June's egg) and some egg noodles. The boys greatly enjoyed scraps from those meals.
As you can see in the photos, we had a lot of presents, and I received a Nebraska football jersey from the Eureks (Nebraskans) that I will enjoy. This is especially for you Brad!
My final parting thoughts are that while I like the Alamo a lot, I hope to have a respite from touring the site since I have been there four times this month, and I would like to thank all the people who have hosted me for the holidays in the past, especially Verna Juska who was my inspiration this week.

Happy New Year!

Kevin

Painting and the River

Over the weekend, we painted our barn and had some help. When Julie was painting on the low areas and sitting on the ground, Lazie decided that it was a good opportunity to give her some massive kisses. The problem was that he approached her from the front which meant that he rubbed up against the fresh paint. He also came over to me to hang out and stepped in my trim color basket. He may have also had alterior motives. Being that it was latex paint, he got to go to the river to have it washed off of him. Moses was also excited to go, but he was paint free. After some hard swimming, Laz got all the paint off, and was good as new.

Kevin

Mom's visit

My Mom was here over the last week. It was her first time to meet Moses and to see Central and South Texas. It seemed like the highlights for her were seeing the Alamo, meeting Julie's boss, and seeing live music last night at Tavern in the Gruene. The group we heard most was Ded Ringers. It was a special live broadcast of "Roots and Branches" which features Americana bands.
This picture comes from Mission Concepcion in South San Antonio that is part of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. Moses was so sad to see her go that he rode in the front seat the whole way home from the airport. I think she hooked him up with treats because he's so cute and manipulative.

Kevin

COOKIES!

Lazie loves gooey cookies. Mosi loves gooey cookies.

Kevin made his special Verna Juska chocolate chip cookies this past weekend. The dogs are just mesmerized by these cookies and love to sneak bites. Of course, Kevin makes a batch sans chocolate chips just for them!

Bark Cafe

On Sunday, Mom and Dad took us to a restaurant! We actually got to go in and get a burger! This restaurant was so great because it was right on the San Marcos River and I could swim the whole time we were there. Moses was there too and he got in trouble once for running up and bugging the restaurant manager. We got to meet lots of other dogs and Mom and dad kept saying it was for a good cause...the Humane Society. We even got to get our picture taken with Santa. What a great time!

Laz

Review of FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

This movie is the latest film by Christopher Guest-- the genius behind such films as, "A Mighty Wind" "Dog Show" and "Waiting for Guffman." The premise is following washed-up actors struggling through making a B-grade film about A Jewish family dealing with a sick mother and a homosexual daughter. The storyline is preposterous and the acting/directing is awful, but internew buzz creates hype saying that one or more of the actors is in the running for an Academy Award. The plot follows the Hollywood hype machine through until the Oscar nominations. The pack takes turns reviewing the film.

Julie--- It was good, but it could have been better. Definately not as good as "A Mighty Wind" but I got most of the jokes in this one.

Lazarus-- What are you talking about?

Kevin-- This film was definately worth seeing, but it was not as good as some of the other films by Guest. The perfomances by the actors were very good, but some of the most talented players were given minor roles. As I left the theater if felt unfortunately far removed from Hollywood.

Moses-- The popcorn was fabulous!

Photos with dogs

This Saturday, we got up early and took the dogs to downtown San Anotnio to take a Christmas Card photo. Lazarus and Moses were really excited to find new scents and people to meet. Being that excited, they were not really interested being still and posing for a photo-- especially at the River Walk. All Lazarus could focus on was the water and the River which he ended up going into for a few seconds and Moses found pigeons to be incredibly entertaining.
Most of you who read this blog will get a card with a better photo than this, but we wanted to share this one since it won the "booby prize." Also, in honor of Kelly Ripa who once sent a card with all her kids crying saying have a crappy Christmas, this is our attempt at humor.

Kevin

Puppy-itis

This is what I faced this morning as I was starting my last long Wednesday of the semester. I knew something was wrong when Lazarus came slinking into the bedroom with a look like, "I didn't do it." When I came to check why Moses had been surprisingly quiet for about 10 minutes, I saw the couch looking in disarray and Moses having significant evidences of guilt. I got the duct tape out to put it together so Lazarus could perch on the couch and look out the window this afternoon, but Mom will likely have to do some domestic work tonight with the needle and thread. I am sure Mosi will be blissfully in her way.

Kevin

Roasting marshamallows

On Saturday night, before USC's triumphant win over Cal clinching another Pac-10 title, we toasted marshamellows over an open fire in the limestone firepit I made with extra rocks we have in and around the yard. Julie used her expertise to be the fire queen and had a couple of interested brown heads. The warm marshamellows were a bit hot for Lazie, but Mosi loved every second of it. Moses was so enchanted by the slighly carmelized white goo that he did not even run off out of our yard.

Kevin

Laz at Texas State

Lazarus came in with me today. We are going to have lunch at Sonic with Julie and visit her at Remme Corp. Then, we are going over to the San Marcos River and go swimming because this might be the last day for a while in the 80s. We will then head back to New Braunfels and pick up Mosi at the vet where he had his 5th of 6 dips to heal his mainge. Laz was so excited to walk across campus and he is itching to do more exploring in the building.

Kevin

Mom's new cowboy boots

We had a great weekend. Our grandparents came from Colorado and visited. We got a bunch of new sniffs, scored big time with some doggie bags, and got a lot more attention than usual. I got to play tug with Grandpa and got a lot of pets from Grandma. Moses and I even got to go to Lucy's daycare on Saunday and Mom returned with treats from North Star Mall and new cowboy boots. They are red and fun. I wanted to get in the picture as she posed, but Moses was more interested in playing with the camera in Dad's hand. I was a little sad this morning because our visitors were gone, but Dad said that it might be warm enough tomorrow to go swimming!

Lazie

Cowboys, see ya!

Even though I was Bill Parcells for Halloween, I was happy to see the Cowboys beaten by the Redskins on Sunday. Julie and I stopped at Texas Stadium on our drive to Oklahoma and put a Redskins "blessing" on the stadium and the Cowboys offices. It might have worked since Dallas choked and Washington won on an improbable play. My buddy, Jim and his girlfriend Tess were at the game in Landover and he shared this picture with me. I went grocery shopping after the game proudly wearing my Redskin hat getting dirty looks from the Cowboy fans. It is fun not feeling like we live on the edge of the cultural world anymore!

Kevin

Our burn

As good Texans who clear brush, we had a large-scale burn in the back portion of our property on Saturday. It was a good day with decent moisture contenet in the air and low winds. I helped gather sticks to throw into the fire, and Moses was in charge of keeping deer away. You can see him in these photos sitting at attention. He is wearing his new collar that is a more comfortable training collar. I am just happy we are doing more "rooting" around in the back part of the yard.

Lazarus

Trip to Oklahoma

Julie and I went on a trip to Norman, Oklahoma last weekend to attend the Southwest Division of the Association of Geographers meeting. I presented a paper on methamphetamine treatment in North Dakota that kind of closed the book on my North Dakota academic experience. Lazarus and Moses stayed at Dogboy's Dog Ranch in Pflugerville, TX and had a good time going on hikes. We also got to see some family who lives in Oklahoma City. Julie and I ate dinner at Cattleman's Cafe in Oklahoma City on Friday evening.

Kevin

Julie's New Job

I have started a new job this week. Things are going well so far. I really like it and my coworkers are nice too. I get to sit near a window and my computer screen is nice and big. No more squinting at a small screen! I miss all my boys during the day, but Laz and Mos have been enjoying our morning walks. Luckily, I've been arriving around 9:00am, and that seems to be fine! I negoiated for Friday's off so I'm excited for the weekend!

-Julie