Merry Christmas

Gus usually writes this, but I (Peggy) would like to add my thoughts as Christmas approaches. First, I must say that I already feel so lucky to have the chance to live on the other side of the world. The Australians are a unique and friendly people. And their dialect of English is very much like them. British English is proper and somewhat stuffy. American English is concise and to the point. Australian English is colorful and leisurely. There are still times when I have to stop and think and even ask because I have not understood what was said to me.
Second, I must say that Christmas is not the same Christmas without family. I’m missing all of our family and friends. And the 95 degree weather with 95 percent humidity is not really helping. It seems a little strange to be sweating on the golf course 3 days before Christmas. Today we had our first real rain, so the rainy season is finally beginning. That’s good because the weather will cool off a little. Australians do celebrate Christmas much the way we do, with lots of parties and gifts and cards and decorations. The traditional food is very British and, like the British, they take Christmas Day and Boxing Day as holidays. The school year is over in the middle of December, so a lot of families leave to go on holidays (vacation). Nothing much happens from the middle of December until after New Year’s, and many businesses close for the week between Christmas and New Years.
To all of you reading this, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May our paths cross again soon.

Hamburger with the Lot

Today at lunch I tried for the first time a typical Aussie burger called "Hamburger with the Lot". It consists of meat burger, tomato, beet slices, lettuce, onion, fried egg, bacon, pineapple, cheese and BBQ sauce. It is a lovely meal.

Sunset at Nhulunbuy

Sue, Beemer and Simon arrived in Sydney Friday October 26. Peggy arrived in Sydney early Monday October 29 went to visit the dogs at the Quarantine station for about 20 minutes and returned to the airport for her flight to Nhulunbuy, Gove. The dogs will stay in Sidney and will fly to Nhulunbuy on November 25.

We are in our permanent residence now. It is a 3 bedroom house with a back patio and a back yard. The dry season takes a toll on the grass and since I moved into the house 3 weeks ago I have had to water the lawn every day to get it to grow back up. It is looking better and will be nice and green by the time Sue, Beemer and Simon arrive.

The weather is beginning to change. It is the middle of a very mild spring similar to south Texas. The days are getting a little longer but it will not change much since we are only 12 degrees south of the equator. The temperature and humidity have increased as the summer season approaches (nights 25 C, days 35 C). Late December is the beginning of the summer, rainy, humid and cyclone season.

Life here is not dull at all there is always some event going on. October 6 there was a night party to celebrate 100 years of safe swimming in beaches around Australia that are supervised by life guards. The party took place at a remote beach known as “little Bondi” after a famous beach located in Sydney known as Bondi beach (pronounced Bond-eye). This was an amazing event, 300 people attended, guys dressed in shorts, shirt and bow tie, ladies in black dress. A great band composed of people that work at the refinery.

I am playing volleyball in a tournament held on Wednesday nights. Friday nights we go to the surf club to socialize, drink a few beers (tinnies), hamburgers (tomatoes, lettuce and beets. Yes, beets, Australians love beets in their hamburgers), sausage, chips (French fries). We also attended the local community theater a week or so ago. Fishing is a favorite sport. I have been fishing once since I arrived here. I did catch a nice red fish but that was all.

Peggy is getting use to driving on the left side of the road and trying her best at not getting lost around the city. She has a valid Nhulunbuy drivers license now. She started working as of Tuesday November 12. The lady just doesn’t want to stay still for a minute. She traveled last night to Darwin to meet a few people that she will be working with. Darwin is the biggest city closest to us and is located about a hour and a half west of us by plane. She is coming back tomorrow morning Tuesday 20.

We continue getting used to the Australian accent. It is a challenge but we are beginning to pick on a few words, so no worries mate. Soon you will notice a few changes in our vocabulary. So far all is lovely. I'll quit for now and go for a morning tea. Cheers.

Español - Septiembre 10

Nhulunbuy es una ciudad muy pequeña pero tiene las comodidades de una ciudad grande. Tiene dos tiendas de comestibles. Una de ellas tiene también artículos de ferretería y artículos para el hogar. Los precios son un poco altos comparados a las ciudades grandes. Uno puede caminar a cualquiera de estos lugares y la mayoría de la población aprovecha de esta oportunidad. Hay 4 restaurantes y he encontrado La Rouse un restaurante bastante bueno para el café y los sanduches. Existen varios clubes que incluyen golf, tenis, aquaticos, picina. Todos son rasonables en precio.

El sábado pasado se celebró el relay por la Vida. Es un evento que tiene por motivo el reunir fondos para ayudar en el estudio para combatir el cancer. Duró toda la noche y la mañana del domingo. Participaron la mayoría de la población.

Al frente de mi apartamento está la playa, he puesto algunas fotos, es muy linda, muy tranquila. Invita a apreciar la naturaleza. El atardecer es muy imprecionante, no hay mucha gente en laplaya y me siento muy agradecido a Dios por tener esta oportunidad.

English - September 10

Nhulunbuy is a small town but it has most of the conveniences that you have in big cities. It has two grocery stores. One of them is like a mini combination of grocery store and hardware store. The prices are somewhat high. Most everyplace is within walking distance and most everybody does a lot of walking. There are about 4 restaurants and I have found La Rouse to be a nice place to have good coffee and sandwiches. There are several clubs, a surf club, a tennis club, a swimming pool club, golf club. All of them are very affordable

Saturday night and Sunday morning the Relay for Life was held at the local stadium. This is event raises money for cancer research. Lots of people from the community participated in the walk. It is nice to see the contribution made by the citizens of this community.

The beach in front of the apartment where I presently live is wonderful. The water is clear blue and the sand is very white and fine. I have published a couple of pictures of this site. I will take some pictures of the town

Nhunlunbuy, NT Australia

Saludos a todos ustedes, familia y amigos. Un resumen de mi estado actual. Les hablo desde la peninsula Gove en el Territorio Norte de Australia lindado por el Mar de Arafura. A 12 grados bajo la linea Ecuatorial. Este lugar se lo conoce comúnmente en Australia como el Tope Final. La ciudad se llama Nhulunbuy, se pronuncia “Nulunboy”, tiene 4000 habitantes. El territorio pertenece a los aborigenes. La compañía de aluminio ALCAN paga a los aborigenes por ocupar la tierra en donde la Rifenería se encuentra y también por todas las casas y edifícios que existen en esta ciudad. ALCAN gobierna la ciudad. Los 4000 habitantes no incluyen los aborigenes, los cuales no son muchos. La mayor parte de la gente no son originales de aqui sino simplemente vienen a trabajar para ALCAN por un período de 2 a 10 años. En general toda la gente es bastante joven. ALCAN paga muy bien a toda la gente para que vivan aqui y poder operar la Refinería.

La naturaleza de este lugar es maravillosa. Las playas son muy virgenes, la vejetación es abundante, las carreteras muy primitivas. Se viaja distancias muy cortas y se necesita veículos de 4x4. A eesta ciudad solamente se entra por avión.. Hay cuatro vuelos diarios, los cuales viajan a Cairns y a Darwin, ciudades grandes que quedan a dos horas de distancia al sureste y al noreste respectivamente. Sí, existe un acarretera de unos 700 km de distancia que llega a Katherine pero solamente se puede viajar en la temporada seca y solamente con permiso del gobierno, vehículo de 4x4 y tanques de gasolina extra.

Me imagino que ustedes s preguntan el porque estoy aqui. Es porque siempre me a gustado la aventura, el conocer lugares nuevos, gente y cultura nuevas. El explorar y gozar de la vida no necesariamente desde el punto de vista de lujo sino desde el punto de vista de saborear la naturaleza, gente nueva y cultura. Y a más de esto tengo una mujer que también comparte conmigo los mismos deseos. Por el momenmto Peggy no está aqui pero llegará a mediados de Octubre.

Comparto con todos ustedes la impreción muy grande de estos 5 días en este lugar. No extraño el no tener un celular, ni no tener 130 canales de televisión, ni no tener McDonalds o 100 restaurantes más. No pueden imaginarse lo bonito que es el ver a los niños jugando en la calle, a los padres caminar de un lugar a otro en lugar de manejar. El ver gente leyendo libros sentados al frente de sus casas. De no tener que preocuparse si alguien le va a demandar, a robar o a matar.

Mientra escribo estas pocas letras escucho a boleros cantados por Luis Miguel, a canciones cantadas por Frank Sinatra, Tony Benett, Dean Martin, Ill Divo. Estoy a 12 grados bajo la linea Ecuatorial, en el trópico, en el medio de naturaleza primitíva y al mismo tiempo gozando de avances tecnológicos que también devemos apreciar. Aprecio todo esto mientras como una simple cena, tomo un buen vino Australiano y dedico un poquito de tiempo a todos ustedes que tanto quiero.
Mi familia y amigos seguiré compartiendo mis impresiones de este lugar a travéz de este medio de comunicación. Dios mediante.

Arrival at Nhulunbuy, Australia

I arrived to the Gove Peninsula Sunday night 8:00 PM Australia time (14.5 hours ahead of CDT). It is a long trip from the US. I immediately hit the bed to be ready for my first day at work on Monday. Jet lag woke me up at 3:00 AM; my body was telling me that it was daylight.

Life is proceeding well, I now have a car, getting used to driving on the left side of the road, have obtained a drivers license, opened a bank account, a post office box (P.O. Box # 2077, Nhulunbuy, NT, 0881).

The refinery and the town sit on leased land. The aborigines own the land. A permit is needed to access sites other than the town and the refinery. The permit costs $ 80.00 (Australian dollars) for accessing the beach and any other recreational facilities. Nothing can be done without the permission of the aborigines.

The town is small, 4000 people, it has most of the basic needs, there is no real poverty and it is safe to live in. I have not seen a police car yet. I presently live in an apartment until our house is renovated. It is expected by October 1st but who knows if this will happen. Things move a bit slower down here. I can walk to any place in town for exercise or just to go to the grocery store, bank, church, etc. People exercise outdoors, walking, tennis, golf, fishing is big sport here. I guess I have to learn to fish since I have never been into this sport. The weather has been great, average 85 degrees and a shower or two. We are in the dry season; the wet season will start around January. It is interesting how quickly one finds out that you can do without many of the amenities that we have in the US or in big towns worldwide. I have not missed the cell phone, driving every where, tragic news. I keep up with big news, my buddy George is in Sydney and has created plenty of excitement. There are only 3 TV channels in the local television. I am planning to get Satellite TV once in the house.

I do miss my wife, family, dogs and friends, yes in that order….

Gus

Leaving Kestrel to Australia

This summer has gone by very fast getting ready for our trip to Australia. The date came before I was ready and I left Peggy, Sue, Beemer and Simon all by themselves this past Friday August 31st. It will be a month in a half before I see my wife and 2 in a half months before I see my dogs. This is the longest that I will be separated from them an d I will miss them every minute. Peggy is left with the task of having hour belongins packed and shipped to Australia and to storage. In addition of taking care of the dogs and shipping them to Australia in mid October.

Leaving my friends at Kestrel was not easy either. We have only been 8 months at Kestrel but in this short time we have met great people and acquire wonderful friendships. The past week in a half have been full of farewells, dinners, "milkins and grazing". My guess is that we are going back to Kestrel as soon as this assignment is completed. I am going to have to go on a big wine diet in order to loose the pounds gained due to all these wonderful friends.

This past week was absolutely hectic not only packing up for my trip but on Tuesday we sold the Honda CRV and on Friday morning we sold the BMW. The motorcycle was shown to a couple of people but my guess is that I will keep it until I get back to Kestrel. I finally finished packing for my trip at 11:00 AM when Peggy, thanks to Peggy, reviewed the tickets and let me know that my flight was leaving at 2:30 and not at 4:00 PM as I have mistakenly read the tickets. I have been planning to take the plane for an hour flight and instead ended up going up for 20 minutes. The highlight of the flight was that I rolled the plane 4 times. This is the first time that I have done it by myself. It was absolutely great. It was very sad to leave Clotilde in storage for the next 2 years. She will be well taken care by our good friends at Kestrel.

I left San Antonio at 3:00 Pm Friday and here it is Sunday 2:00 AM Victoria time in Cairns, Australia. It is 5PM Sunday in Cairns and still have to fly 2 more hours to get to Gove (Nhulunbuy). It is a long 42 hour trip. Oh well, it will be a great experience. more to come later...

July 25 - Kestrel

It has been a while since I updated this blog and lots of activities have taken place at our home. Our daughter Christine, Rudy and Diego came to spend the July 4 week with us. We baptized Diego. This was great!. We had relatives from both sides of the family visiting us and meeting Diego. In addition we also had the opportunity to introduce our family to some of our neighbors. We had a lot of food and as always plenty wine and beer to drink. Unfortunately Emory and Anne did not make it down here because Emory was not feeling very well. He ended up going to the hospital but he is doing much better now.

Plans for our trip down under are underway. I am leaving August 31st and Ms. Peggy is leaving October 13th with the dogs. It is not easy to plan and gather all of the stuff that has to go to storage and to Australia. We are just beginning to make some sense out of all. The dogs have their "visas" but we are still waiting to hear from the Australian government about our visas.

The weather around here has been very crappy. Lots of rain and although I have been able to work on the yard and some improvements have been made there is still a lot more work to be done. Hopefully I will have a couple of weeks of dry weather when I am able to finish the landscaping.

We will keep you informed of our progress.

Australia

I have been given the opportunity to work for ALCAN in Australia for a approximately 2 years. Peggy and I assessed this offer and have accepted. It was not an easy decision since we will be leaving the comforts of our new house, family, neighbors, airplane!!!!. However, this opportunity only comes once in a life time and we believe that in addition of a challenging job we will have the opportunity to visit new places in this wonderful Earth.

The location is the Gove Pennisula in the Northern Territory of Australia, the town is Nhulunbuy, here is a link to our location:


Australia Satellite View

I will be leaving September 1 and Peggy October 13. Peggy has to wait in order for our three dogs, Sue, Beemer and Simon, to spend the minimum of 30 days in quarantine in Sydney. So, there is a lot of work to do between now and September 1. We will keep you informed

We are home!

We arrived home at 11:30 PM Monday 28th. It is 42 hours since we left northern Australia. We are a bit tired so I will wait until tomorrow to provide more information about our trip.

Darwin

It is Sunday 27 of May, 2007. We left Nhulunbuy tonight at 8:30 PM. It was a bit sad to say good by to our good friends Dave and Sue Buick and specially to Bob, their dog. I do become attached to the canines very easy. Today was also a good day, we played a 9 hole round of Golf. It has been 15 to 20 years since I played last, I didn't do to bad. The course is nice, we saw a few parrots and kakatoos. The kakatoos (spelling?) are the white birds that you see in the US in pet stores, they are every where here. After golf we went back to the house for brunch and took care of our suit cases. In the afternoon, we took a short walk to a beautiful house owned by Alcan Gove. It overlooks the town and has a nice view of the ocean. The afternoon was pleasant, a few crackers, a bottle of Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc complemented the evening. It was time to go back to the Buick's home, have dinner and get ready to leave to the airport. It is 12:24 AM in Darwing and we are wating for our Qantas flight to take us to Sydney. Until then, good night.

TOP END - EL PUNTO FINAL

Saturday, Sue, Dave, Peggy and I drove to Rocky Point, a 40 minute drive although the distance as a crow flies it is only 25 km, using a Toyota 4 WD. This is the place where you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The scenery is just amazing, most of the roads are there because of previous bauxite mining. The sorroundings are full of eucaliptus trees. All the areas that have been mined have been rehabilitated with seeds of previous vegetation, in this case eucaliptus. We saw Dingos, wild dogs, and fresh tracks of Buffalos. After 40 minutes of driving we suddenly come up to the beach and the ocean. In front of us is the ARAFURA SEA, on our left is a river dicharging to the sea. Dave advises us not to go in the river's water because of the crocodile population. The sand is fine and almost white, the water an aquamarine color, clear. Bob the dog inmediatelly gets out of the car and runs to play in the water. He likes to chase sticks, however when I throw a stick to the water the sticks sinks and Bob can not find it. We get back in the car and drive along the beach towards the south east. The topography changes, a cliff appears in front of us, again the view is fantastic. We drive down to the beach and make camp for a picnic. We set up a nice wine, cheese and grapes. A wonderful Sauvignon Blanc, The Crowded House, from New Zeland. This wine can't get any better, nice bouquet, taste of pears. Then to swimming, It is safe to swim in this area, no crocs!!. Bob is real surfer, Dave puts him on top of a surf board and Bob goes into the ocean. He really enjoys it. I soon find out that he also is the lifeguard because when I start swiming away from him and deeper into the ocean he starts crying and barking. He does the same for anyone of us. After swimming for a while, Dave pulls out a kite. I have not flown a kite in years, this one is far more advanced than the kites I used to build back in my childhood in Ecuador. Made out of fiberglass, it is strong, and made to be flown in this type of winds. It takes a while to learn to control this kite and it is good exercise. I enjoyed it, I ask Peggy to add this toy for a father's day gift. A nice wish, maybe I'll get one. It is mid afternoon, we leave the beach and start our travel back to town through the bush. The Northern Territory has a lot to offer, this area is known as the TOP END and not the OUTBACK by the Australians. I can understand why the aborigines want to protect the area from tourism. We would not have had the opportunity to see this virgin land if it would have been filled with hotels, shops etc. You just have to see this area with your own eyes to appreciate the beauty of mother nature. THANKS DAVE AND SUE!!!

Friday 25

Our visit is winding down, we have a few activities today. The town of Nhulunbuy although very small is very pleasant. The people are friendly, observing a few runners, bikers both women, and men on the roads give us the impression that the place is safe. From the top of a small hill where an overlook platform is located we could clearly see the region's layout. To the west is the Gove refinery, 10 km, in fron of us and north the town, to the south nothing but vegetation. The ocean surrounds the city and there is plenty of beaches to visit. We will do this this weekend. We are enjoying the company of Dave and Sue Buick. They have taken us under their wing and we are staying at their home. Bob, the dog, is happy running around the house and in their backyard. He is slowing down a bit due to his age. More to come .....

Wednesday 23

We arrived to Gove (Nhulunbuy) last night at 8:00 PM our time via Cairns. The time since we left San Antonio was 47 hours. We were very tired and had no problem falling sleep. This morning I came to the refinery at 7:00 AM and have spent the day in meetings. It is an interesting place, more to come tomorrow.

G'day mate,

Gusa and Peggy

Sydney

It is 9:30 AM in Sydney, we arrived about one hour ago. The approach to the Airport is from the east and on the right we could see downtown Sydney. The city is extemely clean. The driving is on the left side of the roads. Beautiful Fall temperature, 62 F, clear skies. The people are very friendly and helpful. Now we are waiting for our next flight to Cairns located on the north east corner of Australia. We'll be there for about 6 hours and may have a bit of time to go to the city and have an afternoon snack.

We are not too.... tired, maybe because of our stop in Honolulu and the sleep that we had in our trip from there to Sydney.

Honolulu

It is 4:15 AM Monday morning, we have been away from home 22:00hours. Left San Antonio at 9 AM to Phoenix and then to Vancouver where we arrived at 1:30 PM Vancouver time, went through Canadian immigration, and costums. We took a taxi to Richmond Center, it has been raining quite a bit and the light coats we packed came very handy. Walked a bit around a mall and had a late lunch. Then, back to the Airport. Had to go through USA immigration and costumes because we where in Canada flying Honolulu which is US territory. Now we are in Hawai, got off the plane, did notget the usual Hawaina welcome with dancing girls and lai flowers. Rest for 45 minutes before continuing to Sydney. It is the tropics again temperature of 78 degrees F. The airport is open, which keeps the place cool. We are beginning to feel a bit tired, our eyes a red, we did sleep for about 3 hours of the 6 hour trip from Vancouver to Honolulu. I am not to please about the Air Canada service. The wines were on the cheap side, nothing to talk about it, aside of the Asian Shrimp the Salmon was so, so. I can tell that they are cutting corners in order to save money. The little bags that they give you in business class only contains toothpaste and tooth brush, no longer it has shaving cream and a razor, so I guess that I will have a beard by the time I get to Australia.

Spring Activities

The weekend of April 21, Madelaine and Marcel came to spend the weekend with us. Although the visit was not as great for the kids as they had anticipated it, we did enjoy it. Firday night I became quite ill with a stomach virus which lasted until the next Tueday. Marcel ended up in the Urgent Care center Saturday night bcause Sue bit him on hte nose while he place his face near Sue's face when shen was having her supper. The bit was minor but in any case it was a bit scare. We did manage to entertained them and have a good time.

May is turning out to be very busy, the weather is getting better, there is less rain therefore more time to do landscaping and more visitors to the hill country.


There is progress on the backyard, the trees are getting mulch around them, and very soon we will have a patio so that we can enjoy the cool evenings in the hill country.

This past Friday Peggy and I took advantage of the good weather and flew Clotilde to Midland to spend the day with Emory and Ann. Although the time was short, we did a few things with the grandparents. Their health has improved considerably from the last time we saw them which was in early March. Peggy visited a classmate of hers, Kathy, who unfortunately is in the hospital due to a stroke but is on her way to recovery. We returned Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday we had a visit from our good friends from Victoria, Sandy and Pete. We always enjoy their company, went to San Antonio to eat sushi at Suzhi Zushi, a great place. Sunday I took Sandy and Pete for a ride around the area in Clotilde.

Spring Time

Well, I know that you all are eager to read the blog and are fussing because I have not updated it since March. So here it is:

The easter week we had the visit from the Pablo Aguirre's family, Maria de los Angeles, Martin, Sebastian, and Domenica. Although the visit was short we did manage to travel to Fredericksburg and again visited a few antique shops and the Bequer winery. Bequer has some good red wines, Cabernet sauvignon and Malbec. The highlight of the visit was taking Martin, Sebas and Domenica for a ride in Clotilde. I was very surprised about Domenica's reaction to the flight. She enjoyed!!! She wanted to do all kinds of ups and owns and turns. She flew the plane very well. So did Martin and Sebas. But Domenica being 5 years old was not afraid at all of the flight.

I would publish some pictures but we are waiting for Pablo to send us the pictures that he took of the visit.

We are making progress on the outside of the house, the gutters have been installed and we have laid out a bit of landscaping. Our next move is to put some grass and build the deck. peggy and I are going to do it ourselves and we already have the offer of help from two of our neighbors. So we will be updating this task in the near future.

Texas 46

Saturday afternoon while touring the surroundings we stopped to have lunch in a nearby restaurant. The Texas 46 cafe is a great place to have a good hamburger, beer and listen to country and western music. We were happy and entertained although the canines did not think the same, as per attached picture.

Visitors - Second Wave

Ange, Fernando, Madelaine and Marcel came to visit us this past Wednesday. They were on their spring brak vacation and took advantage to spend a few nights with us and visit Texas Sea World. We had a great time while they were here, Sue, Simon and Beemer made sure to take the Aguirre's for a tour around the neighborhood several times during their visit. Madelaine and Marcel requested the famous Maccaroni and Cheese from their Tia Peggy, while Fernando and Ange enjoyed the typical pico de gallo made by Tio Tato.

The Sansone's

Our first family visitors arrived yesterday, Nan and Jim came in about 4 PM. They had a nice drive from Dallas. So far they seem to be enjoying the hill country. The dogs were in charge of walking them around the neighborhood about 6 PM. Jim and I then went flying for about 45 minutes. We flew to Frederiksburg, the sunset was magnificent, Jim enjoyed flying Clotilde. We then had a nice dinner at the back porch. This morning Jim has gone for a run around the subdivision. The weather is turning out very nice, 40 F, a little fog but it should dissipate by about 11 AM. Note for the Ecuadorians, we are now at the same time with Ecuador, we have changed to Daylight Savings Time.

Invisible Fence

We had an Invisible Fence installed around the perimeter of our lot his past Monday. Inmediately after the installation the training started for the dogs and yours truly. It consists of taking one dog at the time fitting it with a collar that has a sensor. When the dog walks to the perimeter of the lot a high pitch sound goes off and calls the dog's atention, at the same time the owner retrieves the dog inside the lot and praises him. I do this training twice a day for about 15 minutes for each dog. Sue, and Beemer have not problem with the sound. Simon is a little deaf and in addition to the sound we had to start him with a bit of shocking current. It is not bad on Simon, it just helps him know that he has reached the perimeter of the lot. The trtaining will take about 4 weeks and by that time they should know their boundary. We are spending a lot of time and having lots of fun together.

Back in Texas

It is Sunday March 4, we arrived just one hour ago after 22 1/2 hours and 1271 miles of driving from Minneapolis. Other than been a bit tired the trip went well. We were slowed down from Minneapolis to Des Moines, Iowa where we average about 50 mph. We counted 135 cars in ditches do to the snow storm. Our dog did well, Peggy is sleeping right now and I am the only one still awake.

We had a great experience with our kids in Minneapolis. Diego Rudy is settling in and getting used to his new life full of noise, light and everyone trying to pick him up. It must be a difficult change from being in nice warm place all on your own for nine months.

We give thanks to God for having taking care of all us.

Stuck in Minneapolis

We are stuck in Minneapolis, the road conditions are bad, I35 is closed through most of the state of Iowa. This morning it has stopped snowing and we are hoping that it will continue on improving. We will look at the conditions this afternoon and make a decision to start our return to Texas otherwise it will be sometime tomorrow.

Snow Storm in Minneapolis

Well, Diego is a week old and he is certainly a true Minnesotan. He is getting a lot of experience on snow storms. Take a look at the pictures located on the link at the right side of the blog under Gus's pictures. We have had over a foot of snow since last night. Rudy, Peggy and I have cleaned the front sidewalk and driveway twice today. All the dogs with exception of Luke, the Tibetan Spaniel, want to be inside. You can see Luke in one of the pictures. Diego is settling in nicely. Both Rudy and Christine were able to get a little more sleep last night. We are fine given the weather conditions. We have plenty of food, wine and beer. As a matter of fact we had a terrific Sangiovesse, Rubizzo, from Tuscany accompanied with egg pasta and a pesto dressing. The wine was very smooth, a ruby color with lots of berries taste. Ok, enough of this.... I'll let you see the pictures.

Gus

Tuesday

Diego is 5 days old, and as you can see from the picturehe looks very much of a nice peaceful boy. Don't believe it. He kept all of us awake last night. i believe he has found out the need for attention and that he can get it anytime that he wants. Oh well, we'll spoil him as long as we are here.

The weather has been nice, cold but not more snow. We are expecting more this Thursday and Friday.

Malbec - Pasqual Toso

Monday, 7 pm, just finished dinner. I actually cleaned allthe snow from the deck, started the grill, cooked a couple of pok tenderloins. While nursing the tenderloin I opened a bottle of Pasqual Toso, Malbec, from Argentina. Not expensive wine, $ 9.00 a bottle, excellent bouquet, lots of berries, a deep red and good body. The temperature outside was 28 F but felt quite nice. Christine lives close to the Airport so I enjoy seeing the departures, lots of airplanes, they average one departure per minute. As the meat cooked on the grill Ms. Peggy coordinated the mash potates, ecuadorian style, the sparagus and the bread. Christine and Rudy really enjoyed the home cooking. Diego is doing well, eats a lot so he is keeping Christine busy. The dogs are really enjoying the snow and have learned to look for rabbits. Just a minute I need a taste of this nice malbec.......I told Peggy that we need to go back to the liquor store before going back to Texas and get a few more bottles of this good wine. We went to the grocery store and bought lots of ingridients. Peggy is planning to do lots of cooking to leave in the freezer for Christine and family. I bought all the ingridients for pico de gallo and also planning to cook a good pasta with pesto dressing. Minneapolis has a great grocery store chain. I got involved in tasting some good cheeses, and some mermalades such as "membrillo". You have to try this, it is typical of latin america. Peggy had to pull me away from the counter otherwise I was goign to buy all the cheese in the store. More to come in the next few days....

Diego is home

Christine, Rudy and Diego arrived home at noon today. Grandparents Peggy and Gus worked hard at cleaning all the snow from the driveway. Gus made use of the snow blower but soon had to turn into using the snow shovel. He found out that since the temperature was going above 32 degree F the blower wsa not able to blow slush. Never the less, it was good exercise and the driveway got clean. The troops are resting, a few cries from Diego made the dogs realize that there is somebody else in the house. They have no gotten to see Diego yet. They soon will. The backyard is still white and we assumed that it will not change much the rest of the week. Temperatures are expected to stay in the low 30's, snow is suppose to fall Wednesday and Thursday but not in the quantities that we had this past weekend. Friday is supposed to be nice so we expect good weather for our return to Texas. The neighbors are being nice, there is a big flag/sign in front of the house that says "It is a boy". This was placed by one of the neighbors. There are also a few balloons.

Snowing in Minneapolis

It is 10:15 am and looking thorugh the window at the Fairview Hospital the snow is coming down heavely. Listening to Strauss's Blue Danube and Diego crying makes life worth living. Mom is settling down and feeling much better today. Dad is learning more and more about taking care of Diego, grandmother is holding Diego on her arms and talking to him. I am sure that by now Diego recognizes grandmother's voice.

From Diego

We woke upfind out that about 12 inches of snow have fallen last night. It is coooooled here in Minneapolis on Sunday. I promptly took the dogs out. Ours are stillin shock since they have no experience with snow. They can not understand how the green color of grass has changed to white and why their paws get full of blocks of snow. They will get used to it. Then I started the power blower and cleaned up the front of the house, sidewalk and garage entry. Not much help since the street is full of snow and we can not go anywhere. We have not talked to Christine, Rudy or Diego yet but we will.

Grandson

I am in Minneapolis with my wife Peggy. We came here on Wednesday the 21st to be present for the birth of our first granchild. In fact, Diego was born yesterday morning at 8:04. My daughter, Christine allowed me to be in the delivery room. It was a great experience. Diego weighted 7 lbs, 14 oz, and measured 21 inches.

Today 30 hours plus the room is peacefull at times, and full of noise, crying, at other times. Rudy, Diego's father has learned inmediately to take care of his newborn son. Prior to today, Rudy's attention was mainly focus on his computer, however today his attention is mainly on his son and his wife. Quite a change. Mother nature sure takes care of setting priorities.

Grandmother, Peggy, can't stop from smiling and is taking care of Christine, Diego and Rudy.