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Welcome to Eric and Sharlene's family news from the year 2005. Click on the thumbnail of choice to open up the adventure.
Read a log of our activities from the year 2005, as entered on our family web site... December 25, 2005- After getting only a few hours of sleep, due to the festivities from the night before, we got up early and opened presents. Then, we went over to my sister Bonnie's place, and opened more presents, and did more visiting. Her children, Owen and Lauren were visiting, and it was good to see them, as it has been quite some time since I've had the pleasure to see them. Check out their websites below. Later in the morning, I returned home, and opened more presents, with in-laws Gary and Donna, our nephew Bruce, Casey and Tim, and naturally Sharlene and I. Then, it was a huge, traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes with all the trimmings, which left all of us very fat and happy. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Gary and I were treated to a late afternoon and evening of football. Life is good! December 24, 2005- Wow! I've got four days off, and this will be the first Christmas that I haven't had to work in five years! Sharlene's mom and stepfather came for a holiday visit. Being the bad host that I am, (just kidding!) I took off to Merced to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my immediate family, who I hadn't visited with for months. I spent the night at my brother Michael's place and had an absolute blast! December 19, 2005- We received 2.18" of rain today, for a season totao of 4.78." December 17, 2005- I made a batch of Baked Potato Soup and Sharlene and I consued it within minutes. Check out the link for our recipe. December 11, 2005- Sharlene returned home from a weekend of visiting family in the Bay Area. I had to work, so I spent my "home alone" time watching football, football and more football. December 6, 2005- Another cold day, as the temperature reached 29.5 f, at 0700, as I was out in the neighborhood taking photos of the frost on the ground. Yes it's true, I really don't have a life. Today I worked on the web site and Sharlene left eary for work, as she had errands to run. Just another exciting day at home... December, 5, 2005- Another busy day at our house, finishing up outside Christmas decorations and taking care of other things that needed to be done. It was cold today, as the low reached 29.8f, enough to coat everything with a layer of frost. December 1, 2005- A very windy and rainy day in Roseville, but it didn't keep Sharlene and I from working on the web site, running errands and just enjoying life in general! November 27, 2005- Today's low temperature reached 29 degrees, farenheit. Now I know you folks on the East Coast will laugh, but that's darn cold for late November in Roseville. Sharlene and I made turkey pies with leftover turkey from Thankgiving, and I watched football. I make the filling for the pies, and Sharlene makes the crust. We work together as a team. Lots of fun! Check out our turkey pie recipe by clicking on the hyperlink. November 25, 2005- Sharlene, Casey and friend Sandy went out to the malls to hit 'em hard to get a start of the Christmas shpping binge. November 24, 2005- Thanksgiving at our our house! I decorated the outside of the house with Christmas lights and Sharlene cooked an outstanding, tradititional, Thanksgiving dinner. We had a dozen-or-so friends and family over and had an excellent feast! However, I had to go to work at midnight, which helped to put a damper on my holiday spirits. Photos soon to come... November 19, 2005- Sharlene and I spent a romantic weekend in the mountains and foothills at Sonora, California, which is one of the places we're considering to relocate to when we retire from our day jobs in a couple of years. November 15, 2005- After work, I visited a buddy of mine, Tony Cox, morning jock on "Boss Radio," KCCL, FM 101.9 He's quite a guy and has an ourstanding news/traffic guy by the name of Tom Head. When you're visiting Sacramento, tune these guys in! November 12, 2005- I can't believe what I did today! I spent a couple of hours at Folsom Lake, getting my picture taken by my friend and co-worker Sharon Angelo, who is working on a college photo project. She took over 200 photos of me, doing my best country-and-western thing and dressing the part. After the photo shoot, I treated her to lunch at "La Fiesta Taqueria." By the way, if you're in Folsom, California, La Fiesta is awesome! November 6, 2005- I got the truck back, after getting the lug nuts replaced, and Sharlenee spent a good deal of the day cleaning house. November 4, 2005- I discovered problems with the lug nuts on wheels of the truck, and had to take it into our favorite mechanic to have the problem resolved. October 29, 2005- Sharlene, along with friends Pam and Kelly, attended their 35th high school reunion, in Saratoga, CA, near San Jose. Naturally, I stayed home and worked the weekend. October, 26, 2005- Fall has finally arrived in Roseville, as we received .03" of rain today and had a high of only 66 degrees. October 23, 2005- Football and web work for me, house cleaning for Sharlene. October 22, 2005- We traveled to Fremont, CA to spend an all-day'er with many family members, in honor of Sharlene's grandpa's 92nd birthday. Photos to come. When we got back to Sacramento, we spent a very pleasant evening with Carrie, Sandy and others, who will eventually beome our in-laws, but who are already family. October 16, 2005- I have to go to work tonight so what do I do in my spare time? Watch football and update the web site, at the same time, while Sharlene visited her friend Pam. October 15, 2005- Casey, Tim, Sharlene and I attend Denio's flea market for a family afternoon of fun. What did we purchase at the place? Hats, as we always need them, and other house-type strff. Denios is a fun place to spend an afternoon with family members. October 10, 2005- Sharlene and I purchased a George Foreman grill and are putting it through it's paces. So far, it seems to be doing the job, but it in no way replaces our outdoor grill. But hey, I'm having fun! October 7, 2005- I'm working on the web site, the kids are fine, I have to work this weekend, and all is well at the CyberPlace. Or maybe as crazy as it can be... October 5, 2005- I was lonely, bored and needed a source of amusement. What did I do? Spend a good deal of time in the back yard breaking up concrete, with a heavy, metal probe. October 2, 2005- I spent most of the day working on the web site and watchinf football on TV, before going to bed. Work happens at midnight... October 1, 2005- Another weekend home alone, as Sharlene left to visit her mom and grandpa in the Bay Area. With me being home alone, it was time to work on the web sites and vasically, relax... Yes, I'm still working out the bugs from the new format that I've adopted to our web site; sorry for any inconveince. September 28, 2005- Big time, major changes are taking place at our web site, as I'm attempting to bring it more in line with www.ericrench.com and bring this web site up to my contemporary standards. September 27, 2005- I completing a dentist's appointment a suppicient incident to post on our web site? I guess you can see that not a whole lot happens in our lives.! September 25, 2005- Another weekend at work while Sharlene was off with friends! What do I do? Work, work and then work some more. September 23, 2005- Sharlene's friend Laura D. is celebrating her 35th service anniversary with her work, so Sharlene and several other women are taking a long weekend to party with Laura at Disneyland, and celebrate Laura's 35 years with the same company. Wow... I have 10 to ge before I can boast of the same achievement! September 21, 2005- Nothing, and I mean, nothing has happened, as we are so "boring" and nothing happens in our lives since the kids moved out. September 16, 2005- So why hasn't the web site been updated for two weeks? We took a two-week vacation to Colorado and the southwest to visit family and friends, and to tour fantastic scenery. Stay tuned to this web site, and our sister web site, www.ericrench.com for future articles. September 2, 2005- I planted petunias in pots in the back yard and on the steps to the front porch, leading to the front door for the world to see... August 27, 2005- Sharlene left for the Bay Area to visit her mom and grandfather. August 26, 2005- Have you wondered where I've been? In a word: Tijuana! Check out our sister web site www.ericrench.com to read all about it. August 23, 2005- Jacquie flew home and in her sorrow, Sharlene cleaned house and I worked on the web site. August 21, 2005, Jackquie flew in to spend the weekend with us, as she was celebrating her birthday. August 20, 2005- Sharlene took our cats Adolph and Malichai to the vet to receive their annual shots. It wasn't a big deal for her, but it definitely was a big deal for our cats! I had to work this weekend, and had an absolutely horrendous night, as it seems there was more stuff to deal with than I could imagine. What to do for a release? Work on the web site, of course. August 19, 2005- This is Casey's birthday weekend, and she's celebrating her 24th birthday in Reno, flirting with Lady Luck, abeit, a nickel at a time. August 18, 2005- Casey started a new job working for a large company that supplies uniforms to other companies. August 11, 2005- I finally got the truck smogged and added a new cheeseburger recipe to the cooking portion of our web site. Today is my brother Paul's 44th birthday. Gee, we're all getting old... August 6, 2005- I got up at 0600 and went for a 9.1 mile hike. What's wrong with me? Sharlene left to visit her mom for the weekend in Fremont. August 5, 2005- Off work today! I got up early and took a 7.9 mile hike before the heat set in. Before Sharlene went to work, she picked up another new end table for the living room. Now the makeover is almost complete. Take-out tacos for dinner. Life doesn't get much better. Oh yes, we recorded a high of 103.6f today, and at the peak, had 55% humidity, quite unusual for Roseville. August 4, 2005- I got the truck smogged and then spent a pleasant afternoon in the 100+ heat replacing patches of grass in our front lawn that had mysteriously died. All of this after working all night. August 2, 2005- What a fun day, as Sharlene and I got to go on a date together to the optometrist. Actually, Dr. Ng is a very nice guy and an outstanding doctor July 31, 2005- Gee, if we didn't get enough housework and yardwork the other day, we did some more today. We certainly lead exciting lives. July 30, 2005- Sharlene's long-time friend Laura D. came to visit from Fremont, and she and Sharlene spent the afternoon together shopping, visiting and eating. What did I do for entertainment? Worked a double-shift at work, that's 16 hours! Top that off, I only got about 3 hours of sleep between shifts. July 28, 2005- Talk about a work-day around the house! When I got home from work, I spent most of the day working in the yard and the garage. Sharlene's amusement for the day was housework and laundry before going to work. Life can't get any better... July 24, 2005- Since I had to go to bed early, in order to be ready for work at midnight, Sharlene and Casey spent a productive mon/daughter day by shopping and going to view a movie. Maybe I was glad that I was asleep... July 23, 2005- Sharlene and I took a little drive into the foothills, in the gold country of Tuloumne County, specifically in the Sonora area. We're in a continual search for a place to live when we retire in a few years. We plan to retire in the year that we turn 55. I have published some new family snapshots, click on this link for your viewing pleasure. July 19, 2005- We treated ourselves to a couple of new end tables and a new coffee table for the living room. Now the transformation of our living room is complete. July 16, 2005- Wow! The temperature hit 109.6f today; that's really hot, even for Roseville! I got up early and took my morning walk. The project of the day: Assemble our new living room furniture. We purchased a new rug, new coffee table and new end tables. After assembling all of the new furniture, we took the time to barbeque some lobster tails, and watch a couple of DVDs. July 11, 2005- I started working the night shift again, not necessarily my shift of choice. July 10, 2005- Finally! A day to relax... Sharlene and I went to see the movie War of the Worlds. We're really not fans of sci-fi, but who could resist a flick like that? The special effects are simply unbelieveable.. Later in the day, I grilled lobster tails, twice-baked potatoes and summer squash. Now this isn't our every day type of meal. July 9, 2005- I amused myself doing maintenance on the spa, cleaning the patio, and working in the back yard. Before going to work, Sharlene ran errands. Such a typical day in our neighborhood. July 4, 2005- Not much of a holiday, as I had to work, but Sharlene was able to relax around the house and get a few things done. July 2, 2005- Sharlene went to visit her grandfather, who is currently in the hospital, in Fremont. June 27, 2005- Jacquie and friend Nikki didn't drag in until very early in the morning, so I didn't get to visit, as I had to go to work in the morning. I got the word from work; I'll be starting nights again in two weeks. I can hardly wait... June 26, 2005- Back from Field Day and updating the website. We're supposed the have some of the kids over tonight; more on that later. June 24, 2005- I took off to attend Field Day with the Alameda County Repeater Club. If you're into ham radio, you will know that Field Day is the "holy grail" of ham radio. June 20, 2005- Casey started a new job today! I didn't mention it in previous writings, but she was laid off from her job a couple of weeks ago due to the fact that the legal firm she was working for was going out of business. She got her new job by "networking." We're really proud and happy for her. June 23, 2005- Jacquie paid us a visit, along with friends Matt and Nikki, who is a new friend of Jacquie's.June 19, 2005- I guess I didn't get enough yard work out of my system the other day, as weeds had sprouted in our back yard after the recent rain. After finishing yard work, I came into the computer room, read email and updated the website before leaving for work. June 18, 2005- My sister Bonnie and husband Greg stopped by for a quick visit, as they had business in Sacramento. They dropped by a bunch of photos and other things from my parent's estate that I need to look over and sort out. After they left, Sharlene left for another weekend visiting her grandfather. June 16, 2005- It rained! That brings our rainfall total, as measured at my computerized weather station to 24.05" our normal is 19.00" I don't want to hear the word "drought" this year! June 12, 2005- I spent a very pleasant day in the back yard, pulling weeds, spraying weeds, and sweeping our patio. It looks like we're not going to plant a garden this year, as I just don't have the time. June 11, 2005- Sharlene left to spend another weekend in Fremont, CA to visit her grandfather, who is in the hospital. May 30, 2005 - Back from Hi Desert Round-Up, an awesome CA4WDC sponsored four-wheel-drive event. May 29, 2005- While railfanning near Newberry Springs, my brother Paul and I ate at the world-famous Bagdad Cafe. May 30, 2005- I returned from four days of four wheeling at High Desert Roundup, in the Mojave desert near Barstow, CA. Excellent time! I took 650 digital photos! I plan to start working on a write-up soon. May 28 & 29, 2005- Sharlene went to the Bay Area again to visit her grandfather. May 23 & 24th, 2005- Bugs in the pantry! We woke up to find some of the bulk stuff, like flour and sugar had been infested by weavels, even though the stuff was stored in sealed containers. Before going to work, we had to take everything out of the pantry, throw out the infested food, kill the bugs, and clean the place. We finally got it done today, before going to work. The bright side is that it gave us an excuse to clean out the pantry and get rid of stuff we didn't need. May 22, 2005- For amusement, before I went to work today, I sprayed weeds in the back yard. Sharlene returned safely from the Bay Area. Her grandfather is doing much better, but still has a lot of recovery to do.May 19, 2005- Sharlene's grandfather is ill, so she left to visit him in the Bay Area. I stayed home, as I have to work this weekend. May 15, 2005- Since this section hasn't been updated, it means nothing has happened! May 9, 2005- Shalene returned home from visiting Jacquie. May 8, 2005- Home alone again and today is a day to work on the websites and cook beans and menudo. Yes, when Sharlene is gone I find plenty of ways to amuse myself! May 6, 2005- How do I amuse myself when my wife is gone and I don't have to work? Roto-till the back yard! How exciting as I spent almost the whole day behind the roto-tiller or working on it. But the most important thing is I got the place done. May 5, 2005- Sharlene borded an airplane and took off to visit Jacquie and Paris in Las Vegas. So, I'm home alone... May 2, 2005- Yesterday, Sharlene cleaned house from top to bottom. Today is a big day, as we're going to get our house appraised. April 30, 2005- Before I went to work today, Sharlene and I went to the mall to purchase, for me, a new wedding band. It seems that I lost my wedding band on a recent four-wheeling trip. Then, Sharlene went over to Casey's to see her new cat. April 28, 2005- Sharlene left early to get her hair done and I did my usual thing, worked on the website. Oh yes, we had a safety dinner at work last night. April 27, 2005- Sharlene had to go to work early today, but it wasn't without its rewards: A Safety Award lunch to honor everybody in her work group for being "safe" the last 6 months. I stayed home and posted new family snapshots on this website and made mega changes. April 26, 2005- I spent most of the day working out in the yard, getting the place ready for summer. Yes, there were broken sprinklers to fix and broken pipes to mend. April 24, 2005- Sharlene returned from a weekend of visiting her sister, www.robinc.org and other family members. April 22, 2005- Why hasn't this web site been updated? Because I've been on a week-long trip to Mexico! I plan to begin publishing material on our sister website, www.ericrench.com as soon as time permits. April 14, 2005- We had a spa guy come out to fix a broken valve on our spa. While he was doing that, I had a long-needed set of tires installed on the Camry. Truly, an expensive day! April 10, 2005- I worked a total of 32 hours this weekend, two double-shifts! What a way to spend a weekend. April 8, 2005- Dead computer AGAIN! This time I had the mother board replace, but had to reload a good deal of the software. Thank goodness I have a notebook computer for backup. April 4, 2005- My new computer's USB devices are DEAD AGAIN! I took it back to the store where I purchased it and had them reload the drivers. As you can see from my typing, I have USBs again.March 19, 2005- Has it been 4 days since I've made an entry? Sharlene and I went over to Casey and Tim's place to retrieve some files that I had left on the computer system that I gave them, after I upgraded our home computer. March 15, 2005- We're back from our Las Vegas trip to visit Jacquie and to give her a couch and loveseat for her new house. Write-up to follow... March 10, 2005- Here's the first entry to our website that I've made with our new computer system. It cost the same amount of money of the system it replaced, yet is about 10-times faster and 5 times more capable. After serving us well for 4 years, we gave our old system to Casey. I'm just about "settled in" to our new system, just have a few bugs to work out over our email in Outlook Express. Until that's fixed, we're going directly to the server... March 8, 2005- Sharlene and I spent a very pleasant weekend in Reno, NV, and I even won $400.00 on quarters; the most that I've ever won in my life! PLUS, we have a new computer system, and updating the website on it, as we speak. March 5, 2005- Casey and Tim came over for dinner. I made shrimp tacos for dinner, using an authentic recipe that I picked up during my last trip to Mexico.March 3, 2005- We're working hard toward "urban renewal" at our house. That means cleaning, getting rid of stuff and fixing broken things. Other than that, not much else is happening, hence the lack of updates in the last few days. February 28, 2005- Wow! I did a new thing today... Now I'm a seller on eBay. We have a bunch of unused electronic stuff to sell so if this works out ok, I'll be keeping eBay very busy for a few weeks. February 27, 2005- Sharlene returned home safely from the Bay area, after having lunch with Jacquie, then visiting with some of Jacquie's friends. Now you ask, why didn't I come? The story of my life: I had to work! February 26, 2005- Sharlene had a busy day! She drove to Fremont (in the S.F. Bay area,) visited with her grandfather, and then they went to a local hospital to visit her grandfather's girlfriend, who's recouperating there. Then, they met Donna and Gary for dinner, and had an excellent dinner at a local Tony Roma's. Then, she took grandpa home and stayed the night at Donna's. That made for a long day!1 February 25, 2005- Jacquie flew from Las Vegas to Oakland, to visit friends and family in Fremont. Sharlene plans a trip to the Bay Area this weekend to visit family and she will attempt to visit Jacquie.February 23, 2005- Feeling pretty good, with an almost-functional left hand again, I cleaned our garage, and the shed. Spring cleaning came early for us. Oh well, there's lots more to do. February 22, 2005- Lucky me, I woke up feeling lousy and called work and asked for a vacation day, so I could just hang around the house.February 21, 2005- Did you hear it on the news, tornados in the Sacramento area? One of them touched down to the ground only about 1/4 miles from Casey's place. Fortunately, nobody was injured and no damage was done. February 19, 2005- Jacquie has picked out a new house and is now on the waiting list for it. Needless to say, we are very proud.February 14, 2005- We had such a romantic Valentine's Day, as Sharlene was sick and we both had to go to work! Wow! So much for romance... Anyway, check out a really stupid photo of our cats, doing what they do best... sleeping. February 13, 2005- Such a mundane weekend! Sharlene and I cleaned house together (such a thrill!) and got our taxes done. Then, we watched the movie "Ray," which we just added to our DVD collection. Yes, my left hand is still "gimpy," and it's in constant pain, but it's healing and I'm dealing with it and keeping a positive attitude. February 10, 2005- Casey graduated from Boston Reed Technical School, where she'd been studying since September to obtain a Administrative Medical Assistant Certificate. We attended her graduation tonight, along with her fiancee Tim, and many members of his family. The best part? The pot luck that followed! I ate myself silly; photos and a write-up of the event can be read, by clicking on this link.... We are very proud of her, as she has worked very hard to acomplish this. WAY TO GO, CASEY! February 9, 2005- Although it is still awkward and painful to type, my hand is getting better; I can now flex my wrist and move my fingers again. February 7, 2005- Before going to work today, I painfully updated our website. February 6, 2005- Superbowl Sunday! Sharlene and I, working in tandem, assembled our tamales that we'd been working on for several days They tasted great! We also had quesadillas, with chips and guacamole, as we watched the Patriots win. Casey and Tim came over so I could see her new car, February 5, 2004- I worked on tamale sauce and filling today, and managed to drop my digital camera on the hard kitchen tile floor and break it. February 4, 2005- Well, I got released from the hospitital today, with a pulled muscile in my left hand; seems I slept on it the wrong way. . Thank God it wasn't a stroke! Anyway, since I now don't have a whole lot of coordination in my left hand, and, now I can't type except for the "hunt and peck" method; quite a shock for a 80 wpm + typist... so for the next few weeks, the news will be brief. February 3, 2005- Diifferent plans, as I had problems with my left hand; like it wouldn't work. So, upon her urging, Sharlene checked me into the hospital. Was it a stroke? Scary stuff, indeed.... February 2, 2005- Talk about an exciting day! Since today was a nice, sunny, warm, (for February) day, it was fun to work in the backyard spraying, pulling and digging weeds. Then, it was time to sweep the patio. All of this entertainment before going to work. Ain't life grand? January 30, 2005- Casey purchased a new 2005 Toyota Corola, all on her own! Congratulations! January 29, 2005- Casey, Sharlene and Casey's fiancee Tim went car shopping today, as it's not cost-effective to repair the transmission in Casey's car. January 26, 2005- It seems that Casey's car is on the fritz again, this time it appears to be the transmission. She's driving the Camry, as Sharlene and I can ride to work together. We're figuring out what to do... January 22, 2005- Sharlene and I travelled to her mom's place and had a nice visit with Donna and Gary. They gave us a bed, and all the stuff that goes with it, as they had purchased a new bed. Not to mention they gave us a VCR. In return, we hooked up a new VCR/DVD for them and enjoyed a nice lunch, and lots of pleasant conversation. January 20, 2005- It's here, ericrench.com is on the web, albeit only under construction. January 18, 2005- Well, here it is, the new format of our web site. Before going to work, Sharlene and I relaxed around the house, watched TV and worked on our web site. January 17, 2005- Here it is! The new look of the CyberPlace is happening! As time permits, I will be upgrading all of our web pages to look like this. January 16, 2005- On the way home from my latest railfan trip, I stopped in Merced to visit my sister Bonnie, her husband Greg, my brother Paul, and my niece Lauren, all of whom I hadn't see for quite some time. We had a nice visit and an outstanding lunch at a new sports bar, restaurant and brew pub in Merced, The Firehouse. I left my camera in the truck, or I would have done a write-up on the place. I had an outstanding vegetarian hamburger, while we drank samples of the beer they brew in their micro brewery. I'll be back, hopefully soon, with my notepad and camera, as that place definitely deserves a review. January 15, 2005- Sharlene had friends Pam, Kelly and Pat over for a girl's-only night of bonding. I wasn't invited, so I amused myself railfanning. Write-up to come... January 14, 2005- I have a 3-day weekend, and Sharlene was having a "girls-only" party on Saturday night, so I took off on a railfan trip to the Tehachapi/Mojave and did a bit of four-wheeling. January 10, 2005- Sharlene and I just hung around the house and took care of business. I'm working on updating our web site; I'm starting with Jerry and Edna's pages first and learning as I'm going. Click on the hyperlink to get an idea of how the CyberPlace will soon be looking. January 8, 2005- Sharlene and I really didn't feel like doing a lot, so we basically hung around the house and relaxed. I smoked a Southwestern-style turkey in the smoker, and prepared a dinner of Mexican pork and beans, Mexican rice, cornbread/tortilla stuffing and salsa cruda. It was good! January 6, 2005- Casey wasn't feeling well, as was sent home from work. She came over to the house for a bit of comfort from Mom. January 3, 2005- It was back to work for Sharlene after a holiday weekend. Of course for me, it was nothing, as I had to work the weekend. January 1, 2005- Happy New Year from the CyberPlace! Gee it was so happy for me, as I rang in the new year at work.
Copyright(c) 2005 Eric's Enterprises, Etc. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since December 22, 2002. Web page design has been created by Eric's Enterprises, Ecc., website design, and more...
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