New Years Eve/New Years Day

Charlene had to work a 12 hour shift on New Years Eve day, seven in the morning 'till seven in the evening. By the time she got home, she was beat up, to say the least. I decided that for New Years Eve, we'd have a fire in our 'fire pit' bowl. Got some of those 'bun length' Oscar Meyer beef dogs, gobs of buns, Coney Sauce (kind of foreign in California), chopped onions and shredded cheese. Out here I guess they call them Chili Cheese Dogs but the Victors of the Rose Bowl this year call them Coney Island Dogs or just "Coney's". We even had Jalapeno Hot Peppers for the brave souls. Yea, we all tried the peppers on one dog and went running for the milk - ouch, hot, burn- gimmie some milk, quick! Shopped Target for only the finest bundled firewood. Nic and Trav had their friend, Ryland, spending the night, the three of them gaming, iPod-ing and chugging Dr. Pepper. As expected, Charlene came home beat up and took a hot shower, removing all traces of hospital germs and frustrations. Then, into her 'sock monkey' jammies to continue the evening. It was in the very low 50's outside (cold for us, tee shirt/shorts weather in Ohio) so the fire felt good.





I must say that we really did pig out on the coneys. There's just something about a campfire and cooking 'dogs' that makes such a wonderfully festive party atmosphere. Hard to believe that we went through the entire bundle of firewood but it was worth it. Lots of 'dogs', lots of talk and reminiscing



We all celebrated the New Year/Decade at Midnight. Of course, they all had to wake me several times in the last few minutes before the Giant Ball lowered and announced the end of a very weird decade.

New Year's day was fun. I took all our patio furniture and scrubbed the stains and dirt with bleach and Scotchbrite pads while Charlene took the ornaments and lights from the tree. Throughout the process, I was checking on the Penn State game (Yea! A Big Ten team wins a bowl game!). I took the tree out and Charlene and I cleaned up the mess of needles, put the furniture back in place and she revamped her 'nursing college' bookcase that was overloaded with textbooks. Then........then........ it was Rose Bowl time. Living in the PAC-10 territory, I take a lot of ribbing when Ohio State loses to USC and goes on to lose a bowl game. After USC beat Ohio State early in the season, Ohio State got better with each game while USC got worse. The Rose Bowl this year was a great game - especially the outcome. The 'Ducks' were famous this season for coming from behind and winning the game so I kept thinking, "It ain't over 'till it's over". Hey, WE KICKED ASS, didn't we! I now have bragging rights throughout Ventura County. I think that on Monday, I'll wear my Ohio State sweatshirt all day at work. I won't be sweating bad mouths this time - just sweating as the temps will be in the 70's.
Bitter cold in the Eastern US, nice and warm out here, especially with a warm fuzzy win at the Rose Bowl. A very good New Year's start!

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