Christmas has come and gone

Here's a bit of an update from the Rames'.

Getting to Christmas
With the kids going to Catholic schools, there is quite a bit more involvement with church things near the holiday. Both the boy's and girl's school had their separate concerts at the church leading up to the Christmas break. It was pretty impressive how they got 150 girls and 237 boys to line up, get in, sing songs, read scripts, AND get out in less than 90 minutes for each event! Each class had their songs or parts and it was very well put together. Grace sang, J.J. played the tin whistle and sang, and Rod read parts to their program and was told he was a born orator. The church was packed like it was Christmas Mass for each concert.

Shopping
I can't say that shopping and the craziness around the holiday is any different. Not sure if that's good or not, but it is what it is. We spent our time getting ourselves and the kids around to find gifts for each other. I think next year, we give them their allowance and let them figure out how to get it done. I think they're old enough walk down to the local shopping center or find a bus to get them to the right mall?! Like most places, shopping is a breeze if money is no option, but I've found Ireland pretty difficult to shop around in. There is a dearth of big box stores to run around and compare and the smaller retailers just don't have the web presence to allow you to compare.
Christmas Dinner
Turkey is the traditional meal at Christmas, but since we'd just had one at the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to try something else. Ham? Predictable. Steak? Unconventional. A stroll through the local Lidl (big grocery store) revealed a large supply of goose just before the holiday, so we thought that goose might be a traditional choice. Every curious Irish person that asked us what we would have on our Christmas menu was surprised, but not judgmental, at our apparent unorthodox choice. The goose was good, not great. Unless you are talking to J.J. who felt that goose was his new favorite food. He was proclaiming this long after others had abandoned the table as he was working on the wing with goose fat giving his chin a very fatty shine. If you know how to cook goose, let us know. Ours was a bit tough, although we've now been blessed with 2 cups of goose fat. We used this to make a wonderful pan-fried zucchini last night!
Christmas Day

Our day didn't start too early: 6:40AM

"Twistables are the coolest"

The happiness quotient varied greatly. Grace struggled to identify her favorite as she loved everything SO MUCH!! She hasn't left the house without her Twistable crayons and carrying case, so I'm going to nominate that as her favorite. Her talking dog, Cookie, is also a favorite.

J.J. about 300 pieces in.

J.J. is still working on his 1200+ piece lego/mega block of a Halo Elephant. Since his fingers are red snapping this thing together, that probably wins. He does have this love-hate relationship as he sifts through the pieces looking for the next one he needs.

Fishing stuff. "Fake smile".

Rod turned 12 this year and apparently that tripped off some type mental condition that made him work very hard to make everyone else's Christmas a bit less enjoyable. Part cynicism, part evil, it made for a long day. Little did we know that his fascination and interest in fishing would end sometime a couple of weeks before Christmas and all the gifts we gave him related to that no longer were wanted?! It got so bad that he received the privilege of staying home by himself with no TV or video console rights, while the rest of us went to visit with neighbor friends. More of that visit later. Never fear, Rod did come around and mentioned late on Christmas that he would "try not to be such a pain tomorrow".

Martha loves nothing more than giving at Christmas, but she certainly loves receiving, ESPECIALLY when it's jewelry. Her favorite this year came from all the boys. There is an Irish artist named Alan Ardiff that makes jewelry that moves as you wear it. She got a Daisy that moves as the chain moves on her neck. It's very cool and she loves it.


Joe's favorite was the griddle for the electric stove. Pancakes have been a problem since coming to Ireland as demand exceeds supply in the pan we have to cook. A problem no more as we now have a griddle that sits on the stove and can hold 6 pancakes at a time. Joe's a happy short order cook at this time!

Radley got a 12" rawhide that he jealously guarded (from Tootsie). This lasted about 2 days before he consumed the remaining gooey pieces.

Poor Tootsie... Have you ever seen a child get a Christmas present and love it so much and play with it so much that it doesn't make it through Christmas day? Well, this picture was taken about 5 minutes after Tootsie opened her present.


Tuna got some kitty crack. It's been a while since he was put in rehab for his addiction to catnip, so I'm not sure what we were thinking giving him a big container. He was so dazed that he didn't even mind the strange dog coming up and sniffing his you know what. Hopefully, his efforts to score more will reduce the amount of time he spends sitting in front of Daavve's cage licking his lips. Daavve was getting a bit paranoid that Tuna's intentions were not honorable.

Christmas visits with the neighbors
A week or so before Christmas, we received an invitation to come over after church to a little party on Christmas day. Now, our Christmas days are usually filled with pajamas and little external visiting, so we were a bit apprehensive. But why did we come to Ireland? Was it to sit in our own little space and isolate ourselves? Nope. We went to church on Christmas Eve, so about noon, we traipsed (minus said 12 year old) around the block to the Fahy's house. Along with the 10-15 kids running around, there was a familiar crowd of adults from the neighborhood. Most of the folks at the party were heading to other places for their Christmas dinner and the party cleared out around 2PM. It was full of champagne, mince pies, biscuits (read: cookies), and buns (read: cupcakes). A thoroughly enjoyable time. We then headed back to cook our goose and tried to get the goose of the said 12-year old out of the hot water.

Hope your holidays were a joyous event!

A furry reunification

The day we had been waiting for finally arrived on Tuesday.  Radley and Tuna joined us in Ireland!!!

 For those of you unaware of the rules about importing a mammal into Ireland (most likely learned by listening to our struggles), it is quite an ordeal.  I think rabies is kind of like electricity in Ireland.  (See this post.)  There is a serious fear of allowing a rabid animal into the country, so they've created a pretty serious bureaucracy around keeping them out.  Our introduction to this started on June 1st, when we started on our journey of enlightenment and relocation.  To get these dangerous creatures to Ireland, they have to be sure they won't come and introduce rabies to the locals.  This requires the beast to spend 6 months in an Irish quarantine facility  or spend 6 months in another country under house arrest. We chose house arrest.  This is a bit of an exaggeration.  It's not like they couldn't leave the house.  Radley actually had two or three houses he frequented during his sentence.  They just had to get a rabies shot, have a blood test, and then spend 6 months in any other country other than Ireland.  Oh and they had to have another vet check within 4 months of arriving in Ireland and another 24-48 hours before arriving in Ireland for a few more shots and treatments for tick and tapeworms.  And they needed to get another vet check when they got to Ireland and we had to have numerous pieces of paper completed correctly most with actual seals of approval by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.  And an Irish import approval.  And they had to get ticket on an air plane (cargo) and follow all the rules they have related to cage size and conditions. And they had to be met and transported by a specific trucking company that has the monopoly on the route between the airport and the quarantine facility where all beasts enter Ireland.   The upshot of this is that Martha and Joe (mostly Martha) have proven once again that they are completely capable of following directions, however crazy they are.

Wet and unhappy Tuna

Although it was no secret they were coming to the kids, we kept the exact timing from them, mostly to keep them from demanding to go with us.  The crates were going to take up quite a bit of space and in the end, there were no seats in the wagon for additional two-legged creatures.  Joe took the morning off and he and Martha made their way up to Lissenhall (aka, quarantine) to pick them up.  After doing the needful (paying a few hundred more euro to cover transport and vet bills), we had in our happy hands, two very tired and smelly pets.  No matter to us.  On to the house after dropping Joe off to work for the rest of the day.  Martha went and collected the kids from school and surprised them as they opened the door to find Radley.  The day was spent bathing the cat (yes, Tuna received the 2nd bath of his lifetime), cleaning out the crates, bathing the dog, and just being happy they were with us.  Both Tuna and Radley were pretty tired.  There was a whole lot of sleeping going on.  The first 24 hours was pretty uneventful with only 3 throw-ups and 1 peeing on the bed (Rod was the lucky recipient there.)  We couldn't be happier.

Happy Rod and Radley

Happy Grace, uncomfortable Tuna, and Happy J.J.

The most amazing feat of this whole ordeal was that almost all the work to make this happen was done by our dear friends in Redmond.  The Dapogny's (neighbors and friends across the street) boarded Tuna.  The Woodman's (friends down the street a bit) took Radley to provide company for their 2 dogs.  So these incredible friends have looked after and helped us get everything done correctly since August.  You know you are blessed in this world when you have friends like this.  And to top it off, they both made mad dashes to get them to the vet and the airport on the last day to make it all happen.  Truly blessed we are!

Tootsie

Our home has gone from having 1 guinea pig (Daaavvve) to 2 dogs, a cat, and a guinea pig.  For those of you doing maths (Irish for math), you caught the addition of a dog.  Yes, we actually picked up another dog for a short-term stay.  Some new friends (from Seattle) went back for the holidays and we are keeping their Tootsie, a yellow lab.  She and Radley are getting along famously, sharing everything from water and food to chew toys to affections (for all of you that know Radley, you'll know the affections we speak of).

The Christmas Tree

I've read that 88% of the population of Ireland is Catholic, so Christmas is not surprisingly a big deal.  We were asking some locals where we should find our tree and the answer was pretty unanimous:  At the pink house.  In our neighbourhood, the pink house is a landmark.  Like most direction given by locals, it involves turning at some notable building.  In most cases that building is a pub, but in our neighbourhood, the pink house is a landmark.  It's not bright pink, but it is probably a turn of the century home of larger size that sits on Booterstown Avenue.  We pass it each day on the way to school and it is right across the street from the church and just above the street from Gleeson's Pub. (See how I worked a pub into the directions?)  Next to the house itself is a garage that looks older than the house, but about a week ago, the garage was not something you noticed.  Then, one day, signs appeared out front and a business opened.  There is no name, just some banners and signs and the door to the garage that was once closed is now the entrance to the tree farm in the back garden.  It is a very big garden indeed.  You can't really see the back gardens of ANY of the homes on this street as all the homes are built right next to each other.

Now, somethings in Ireland don't change.  Like smaller stores aren't open early on Sunday and most are actually closed when it isn't the holiday, unless perhaps they are in a mall.  At some point between 11AM when Rod and I walked home from church and noon, when we walked back to meet the clan, the doors were open.  Lots of trees and business was brisk.  We were looking for a tall skinny tree as we have reasonably high ceilings (about 9'), but not much floor space.  We weren't disappointed and found our tree.  I think it's a noble fir, so nothing unique there.

The unique aspect of this tree shopping adventure was that we got to carry the tree to our house.  It's just a 5 minute walk, so we put Rod on the trunk, Joe in the middle, and Grace on the top and we headed down the street.  From the looks and smiles, I could see that it wasn't the normal way to get the tree home, but we managed to get it home with smiles still on our faces, although the photographer struggled to get good action shots.

So tree acquired, now what do we do with it.  Like most of our activities, we rely on the gracious generosity of our friends or liquidity in our bank account to make things happen.  Today was no different.  On the way to Dublin, I tried to put my Christmas tree stand in my luggage, but the bucket wouldn't fit.  In Ireland, you don't need no stinking bucket.  We were informed by our friends that most people just have two pieces of re-bar welded together with a large screw sticking out and you just screw this into the bottom of the tree.  Apparently the 3 gallons of water my Redmond tree sucked up wasn't really necessary. We were game, so we borrowed a spare stand.  When we got home, Rod screwed it in.


Lights and decorations?  Some serious lack of this stuff.  We knew we had to get lights and the Irish retailers haven't found it in their hearts to pass on the cheap prices they acquire crappy Chinese lights at.  After taking a deep breath, I think we paid 22 Euros for a 20-foot string of lights.  For those of you that don't know, in the rafters of our Redmond Garage, we had a 1 and a 1/2-4x8 sheets of plywood stacked with Christmas stuff.  Martha loves this time of year and having all our stuff in storage is a sad state.  We've received a few decorations from friends, we acquired a few, and then we made some.  All in all, the tree looks great.

A tradition in our house (carried on from Martha's family) is to make a decoration each year.  These are treasures that chronicle the kids abilities through time.  This year's decorations were made out of pop cans and the bottoms to Pringles cans.  Inspired by a school project of Rod's to make a Christmas decoration out of recycled material, we did some simple items.  I'll get you pictures of Rod's "present" that he made by cutting out, embossing, and folding into a 3-D gift box with a ribbon and bell.  It actually won a prize and is being shown at the local equivalent of The Mall of America (Dundrum Shopping Centre).  We were a bit less ambitious with 2-D Christmas trees and stars with some painting in fingernail polish by Grace.  Martha's "star" for the top is actually a nativity scene in relief made out of a tall boy Heineken can.  Here's a selection:

Martha's latest knitting project.  If you don't have your stockings, make your own.

I'm sure we'll post again before the holidays come, but please receive our wishes for a peaceful and joyous season.

Electricity

When I married Martha, I was a pretty handy guy and could work my way around an apartment or car and solve my own problems.  Electrical stuff was not in my list of skills.  I think the first real lessons in that came in our Oak Park house when Martha's Dad, Bill Siembieda, came and explained to me why the electrical set up in that house was a bit iffy.  We didn't do much in that house to the electrical system, except replace blown fuses (Yes, fuses.  Not flipping a circuit like most modern homes.)  The second lesson was a bit harder for Bill in our Newcastle house.  In the excitement of ripping apart our kitchen, I had left all the electrical wires hanging in disarray, waiting for the impending arrival of my electrically-mind father-in-law to help me get it all straightened out. The multitude of 3-ways switches confused him until the day he left, but he managed to get them straight.   Although Bill was kind in his words, I could tell he was shaking his head inside.  In our 3rd house in Redmond, my confidence and skills were at a level where I did most of the electrical work myself (outside the replacement of our electrical panel).  There was still plenty of assistance from Bill and brothers, but I now owned electricity!!

Then I came to Ireland.  There seems to be a difference in attitudes about electricity between our countries.  I think the attitude change happens somewhere between 110 and 220 volts.  The first thing you notice is that the light switches for bathrooms are all on the outside of the doors.  Strange, but functional.  The next thing you notice is that there are no plugs in the bathrooms.  Shaving and hair drying aren't something that is apparently safe.  They often have heaters in the bathroom, but they are high up on the ceiling with a cotton pull string to pull to turn them on.  They often advertise "electric showers", which really means good pressure and heat.  Ironically, you have a big box with 220 volts inches from your body standing in a puddle of water, but that's apparently OK.  I guess it's the difference between what 110 and 220 can do.  I think it was Bill that gave me this advice when working on the Newcastle house as we were stringing a bit fat 220V cable to where the stove was going to be.  He said something to the effect that, "110 will make your arm tingle, 220 will kill you."  Now, I know not everyone does their own wiring in the U.S.  But, IF you wanted to, you would have at your hands all the materials and guidance to do it and there would plenty of people to sell you the stuff to do it.

As we readied our trip to Ireland, the advice was to leave everything electrical behind as the power differences would make them either burn up or force you to connect them to a Step-Up-Down transformer.  The Holmes' went as far to give me the link to a Amazon page that had exactly what I should buy for the 110V items that we couldn't just abandon (mainly computers and video game consoles).  Because if I came over here and attempted to buy a transformer here, I'd have "American Sucker" written all over my face and I would likely have to come up with another child to exchange for it.  That's a bit tough for me at this point.  So I took that advice and brought 3 transformers over, when I really only needed 2.  Everything was grand, until last week.

It was then that my one and only US-110V surge protector/power strip decided it wasn't happy with it's current situation.  There were 4-110V plugs that needed a place to call a home.  For these, I used the surge protector/power strip to plug them into and plugged the surge protector into the transformer.  After discovering a popped circuit, I experimented a bit and found that my surge protector was the cause.  After consulting the all-knowing source of truth (the Internet), I found many cautionary tales related to using a surge protector on a transformer like this.  They weren't applicable to my current state, but this left me in a strange predicament.  Here I am in Ireland, needing a 110V surge protector/power strip.  They just don't sell that stuff around here and if they do, any purchaser has the aforementioned label on their forehead with the appropriate price.  I put the request into my letter to Santa, but only received a quick reply back from his legal department that they couldn't support my intended use.

The Holmes' came to the rescue with a 3-plug power strip.  That almost got us all the way home.  It was then that I had a brilliant idea.  Just because my surge protector was a problem didn't mean I couldn't just make it a power strip and take out all the now defective parts that were causing the problems.

So I dismantled my surge protector and started pulling all the pieces out that were in between the power cord and the plugs.  It was actually pretty easy.  Then I had to put it back together, which involved splicing a few wires together.

US Wire Nut

When you connect two wires together in the US, you use a wire nut.  This was something that I would have had in my garage (actually 100's), but unfortunately they didn't make the trip on the air plane, so I made my way to the local DIY (Irish for hardware store).  I asked the young man where the wire nuts would be. (Blank stare.)  I then proceeded to tell him what I was doing.  (Blank stare with a bit of fear that he was speaking to a crazy American.)  I was then referred to "Mr. Bauman".  It was Bauman's DIY, so I thought I was making progress.

Irish wire connector

Mr. Bauman first suggested that it probably wasn't a good idea for me to be messing with electrical stuff, but if he needed to connect two electrical wires together, he'd use the pictured wire connector to the left.    So I left Bauman's with a roll of electrical tape (as a backup) and this device.  Of course, my wallet was 5 Euros lighter in exchange for what would have cost me $2 (at most), but you'll recognise that recurring theme in my stories.  But, this blog is now being written on a computer plugged into the new non-surge protecting power strip.

Surge protectors are kind of like insurance, so odds are good that I won't be needing that additional protection.  Just in case, I might pick one up on a business trip back to the US in the near future...

Thanks Bill for giving me the knowledge and confidence to wire my way to success!!