Saturday, December 30, 2006

3 Weeks Old

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The puppies are three+ weeks old now, have moved to the larger playpen and, today, started solid food. I can't believe how big they have become.
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Friday, December 29, 2006

"Peti-"cure

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It's time to get the puppies' nails clipped because they are clawing me to death when I feed them. I guess when you have a dog's nails done it's really a "peticure."
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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Seasons Greetings, 2006

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A slide show of the cards we received this year.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

More Jammin'

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This is another bit from the Christmas with my father, after he had tired out, the young folk took over and had their own jam session, with him as a delighted audience. Date: 1987
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Monday, December 25, 2006

Deck the Halls

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We actually decorated our tree on 12/23, but I'm just getting around to posting the video now.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Night Before Christmas

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I debated about posting this, since it is so very dark, but since this IS the night before Christmas, as I post this, and since this is Walt, in 1987 (when all the kids were grown) reading the poem to them, I decided to go ahead and post it. Maybe more for archival purposes than anything else.
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Saturday, December 23, 2006

DILO 12/22/06

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Every season, Flickr has a DILO (Day in the Life Of), where photographers record their day and then post photos on Flickr. I did that, but I also turned the photos into a slide show.
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Friday, December 22, 2006

Egg Nog Gala 1987

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Starting in 1977, our kids put on a show every Christmas night for some 10+ years. This is a video I found from 1987, when the show had evolved from a mixture of skits and music to strictly music (I use the term loosely). I really miss those galas.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

The Best Christmas

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I posted a version of this video in January, but it was taken with a videocamera pointed at the television and trying to record a video. Now I have ripped it from a DVD and not only is the quality better, but I've been able to improve the appearance (lightening it).

This was written to accompany this entry of my journal, where I explain that this was my father's last Christmas, several months before his death. The previous Christmas he had been so drunk that he couldn't remember his grandchildren's names. By the time of this video, he had been sober for several months.

He was a huge jazz fan and played a passingly good piano. Music was his passion and he felt that his grandchildren only liked rock 'n' roll, because they were teengagers. He had no idea how musical they were, now talented they were, how they shared his passion and how they could enjoy music with him.

This video builds as he realizes that he can actually "jam" with his grandchildren. I am just so happy that I had a video camera with me that night. It was one of very few happy memories I have of him.

He died a few months later. I don't remember seeing him again after Christmas, and we had a huge battle which left things terrible between us when he died. But I have this.

I have this.


Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Marie Makes a Pie

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Marie, a high school girl from Mexico, was living with us in 1987 while she finished her senior year in high school here. In December she was still "settling in," but decided she wanted to learn how to make pumpkin pie--so naturally I recorded it.

What does Marie do now, nearly 20 years later? She runs an award-winning restaurant near Sacramento. 


Tuesday, December 19, 2006

10 Days

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This entry was going to be longer, but the cord that connects my camera to the computer is on the fritz and I need to shop for a new one. In the meantime, here is a record of how the puppies are growing. Ten days old now.
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Monday, December 18, 2006

Grooming

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With Christmas coming, and many people going to meet Lizzie for the first time, I decided to take her in to be groomed--first time I've ever taken a dog to the groomer.
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Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Best Stuffing Ever

This is a rerun of a video I posted last year, but Holidailies suggested an entry about a holiday recipe, and this is the my favorite.

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For years, I've wanted to make sure to preserve my mother's turkey stuffing recipe.  There were the years when her 2nd husband was alive, when she spent every holiday with his family, so I had to learn to make my own stuffing, and went through several permutations, but the last couple of Thanksgivings, we have been back at her house and she's made her own stuffing again.  Funny thing is that, though it tastes every bit the way I remember it, I've come to like mine better.

Still, for the ages, here is what I felt for many years was "the best turkey stuffing ever" (I'm sure she's cut back on the butter in later years.... :) ) 

Saturday, December 16, 2006

My frustrating day

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Well...just watch the video and I'll tell you all about it.
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Friday, December 15, 2006

Comcast Problems

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This actually accompanies a journal entry, about my problems with Comcast. This was a very brief video clip that I made to prove to Comcast people how completely unwatchable our television has become.
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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Life with Lizzie

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I decided to just film a few minutes of Lizzie's day. This is an exhausting dog, even if all you're doing is sitting there watching her!
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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Lizzie Cam #2

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Hmmm...why is the puppy formula disappearing...?
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Monday, December 11, 2006

The Christmas Puppies

We'll have puppies for Christmas after all.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Anything Goes

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Here is the title song from "Anything Goes."

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Maple Leaf Rag

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Back to the Jazz Choir. This is the Maple Leaf Rag, which the kids once performed on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans. (Unfortunately no video of that)

Friday, December 08, 2006

A Charlie Brown Christmas

This is a repeat video, but I pretty much covered my very favorite Christmas party last year and don't think I can improve on it. So, as we get ready to go off to it again, here is that report.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Bedtime

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I've never known a dog to enjoy a bed like Lizzie does.
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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Last of the Rainbow Puppies

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This is my goodbye to Pinkie, Golde, Blue, and Panda.
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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Why they have to leave

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This is the real reason why the puppies have to leave.
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Fighters

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Remember those teeny, toothless, barely mobile little lumps of fur that moved into our house five weeks ago? Look what they've become.
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Monday, December 04, 2006

Fighters

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Remember those teeny, toothless, barely mobile little lumps of fur that moved into our house five weeks ago? Look what they've become.
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Sunday, December 03, 2006

Babysitters

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Sheila and Lizzie make fine babysitters--as long as they are supervised.
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Saturday, December 02, 2006

Puppy Teeth

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The puppies have discovered they have teeth!
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Friday, December 01, 2006

Anything Goes

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Another clip from "Anything Goes." This is the title song.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Tupperware

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Back in the mid 1980s, I was involved in my first Gilbert & Sullivan parody (I have since done many of them). We decided we could use a song about Tupperware. This was the very first time I ever re-wrote lyrics to anything. I recently re-discovered the video and decided to post it.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

"Mama" Lizzie

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Lizzie can, at times, be very maternal, for puppies who aren't hers.
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Playtime for Puppies

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More of the puppies' growing abilities to play.
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Monday, November 27, 2006

grunt...grunt...grunt

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This may be one of my shortest, and most favorite puppy video of this batch of puppies. (It should be pointed out that I know some people hate videos of people's pets, but there are others who LOVE puppy videos. I aim to please!)

Sunday, November 26, 2006

3 A.M.

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This is what I do at 3 a.m. What do you do?
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Saturday, November 25, 2006

The Puppies' First Thanksgiving`

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As I said yesterday, the puppies were the hit of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2006

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Here are highlights of Thanksgiving (minus the puppies, who were the hit of the day and will have their own video tomorrow)

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Dem Bones

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I don't know why this was such a hard video for me. This is the Davis High School Jazz Choir one of the years when David was in it. In the middle of the video there is a point where all the guys are in a pyramid, the girls are stretched out across the stage and David is in the middle dancing solo. I just lost it. It's not that I haven't seen video of him since he died, but for some reason this one brief segment really got to me.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Blue Gets Trapped

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This is the second day in a row that Blue has been "trapped" in the feeding cage. Watch him try to get out.
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Friendship

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Yesterday I posted a video from Tom's Senior year. Today I post one from David's. He played Billy Crocker, a lovesick stowaway on a cruise ship. 

Here, Billy, Moonface Martin and Reno Sweeny profess their friendship. 


Monday, November 20, 2006

Kiss Me Kate

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I have posted a lot of video of Jeri, Ned and Paul in performance, but all of the kids performed at one time or another. Here, for example, is the high school production of "Kiss Me Kate," done in Tom's senior year.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Firsts

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Amazing how fast puppies grow.? Here are a series of firsts, all of which happened today.
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Friday, November 17, 2006

Relief

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Sometimes relief is just a push away.
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Thursday, November 16, 2006

A Relaxing Evening

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You probably sit down at night and watch TV to relax. This is what things are like in our house at night!
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The Reception

This is finally the last of the wedding week videos. I cut down a 45 min. video into something under 10 minutes. Mostly it was just a good time that was had by all.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Rainbow Puppies

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They came with identifying ribbons, which became their names: Pinkie, Blue, Golde and, because she lost her ribbon and because she was black and white, "Panda." They are just barely more than a week old at the start of the video and the video ends one week later. It's amazing how much they have grown and matured in only a week.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Expletive just barely deleted

Something has gone wrong with my video camera. It won't play videos any more. It plays them but with garbage in the middle so they are totally unviewable. It's not that it's not recording right. These are videos I have already transferred to my hard drive. I don't know what the problem is.

But for now, posting videos is on hold until I can figure out whether this is a fixable problem or not.

DAMN. I hate it when this sort of thing happens!!!!

UPDATE: It's amazing what a head cleaner can do. I'm back in business. Thank to everyone who suggested I try a head cleaner.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Devastatingly Gorgeous

The morning of the wedding: We head off to the beauty parlor to get our hair done.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Rehearsal Dinner

Probably more of family interest than anything else, but this was the dinner we held after the rehearsal.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The lap of luxury

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It was my very first pedicure. I went with the group from the wedding to have finger- and toe-nails done. A new experience for me. Nora was very funny.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Monterey to SF

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After we left Hearst Castle, we drove up the coast (I was driving, so couldn't take video) to Monterey, then did the 17 Mile Drive in Carmel, and on to San Francisco before turning around and driving back to Santa Barbara again.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by basykes with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Caramel

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A break from trip videos. This is the little dog that we fostered overnight. Thank goodness it was only overnight.