What a Difference a Year Makes...in the Rutherford World...

I went back to look at our post from last year before starting this one. It was a very different time for us and so surreal. Even reading about Covid-19 first breaking across the world now seems like a bit of a dream world. 

We have come a long way at our house in that time! It has been a year of waiting, but not stagnating.

Shortly after our last post, we did take out to head across the country and have been continuously thankful for the car purchase (Felix) that we were able to make during that time. Getting to spend time with family instead of being stuck in our home in the heat of a NYC summer was just the ticket to change our head space.

When we returned to New York City, we celebrated 10 years of living in the city, which made Kurtis and I official New Yorkers according to many friends. It is our home; the place we get to do the thing we most love, the place where we have made a life together.

Aurora began Pre-K in the fall at P.S. 152M. Her entire year will have been spent in online classes when she finishes up at the end of June, which is the normal stop point for schools here on the East Coast. She has been loving school despite the unusual circumstances and often is first to raise her hand when the teacher asks a question. However, she is really looking forward to going to in-person classes next year at P.S. 178, Professor Juan Bosch Elementary School, which is just across the street from us and has a dual language Spanish program which she will be part of.

Kurtis found a new adventure this fall when several of his Local 1 friends began getting in touch for TV gigs that they were working on. He had a rough fall adjusting to this new environment as the people work very differently together than the way that we work together in theatre. In December, just before Christmas, he finally found himself on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and has been there since with a crew that has finally made him feel more at home. He is tested for Covid-19 no less than 3x/week, drives to/from work every day and is in a set dressing position here, which is a lot closer to building/placing props in theatre world. The return to theatre will still be very welcome for him when the time comes, but we are all thankful that he has been able to find some lightness in the work more recently and that the work has been there for him.

I have been adjusting to new roles this year. The biggest one has been in becoming a stay at home mom while Kurtis goes off to work every day. I had always wondered if I might regret working through Aurora's childhood and I now know that I am absolutely a more whole person for her when I am also a working mom. This year has been a silver lining of time together that I would not trade for the world. We have gone on many adventures, several notable ones with our little 'school pod'. Two other families, each with two small kids, reached out in the fall to ask if we would have interest, so we all joined together to form a social group for our kids. Hiking, days at the park, zoo/museum trips and even a short trip together have kept us all very entertained. 

It's true, Broadway has started to announce it's return. It's true that Girl from the North Country will be coming back(in October). And, it's extra especially true that Kurtis and I love what we do for a living which means that we are especially thrilled to see this return after a year and a half of waiting patiently for the world to be safe enough.

This will be one that we never forget. Hope you all are getting vaccinated. From our fully vaccinated house to yours - lots of love!

Aurora, Sis (Wren), David and Revan

Aurora picked out her own outfit here.

We all got fancy for an outdoor birthday party upstate for our friend Michael.

Aurora and I do lots of exploring - there are tons of parks in NYC.

Dad had to make his first flight out to NYC in over a year - our fully vaccinated selves got to see him for dinner during one of the evenings he was working on Long Island! (It was so good.)

We still mask up everywhere we go!

The 5th wheel added on here is Baby Drew in the front. Our little pod has made a big difference in Aurora's learning for social interaction with other kiddos. (They love each other!)

 Hello from Wichita.  April 21, 2021 and the temperature is 34 degrees!  It was too warm too early and now is too cold for the flowers and gardens that are just getting started.

In January we moved to Aunt Lynne's house for two weeks while our downstairs floors were refinished.

Also in January we had to put Ember to sleep.  She was 16 years old which is about 3 years older than average age for Shelties.  She couldn't hear,  or see very well and her legs were giving out.  Below is a picture of better days.

Samuel had his 26th birthday.

He also started his second semester of college.  He has done very well and is enjoying the classes.  

Vicki continued to work from home and is not looking forward to going back to the office.  

In March Tim and Vicki and Samuel were able to get our first COVID-19 vaccines.  We hope to be able to see the far away children soon!

In April, we met Hannah and James half-way between Wichita and Texas and gave them the baby cradle.  Of course, we needed a picture of the baby bump!

We wish you all an enjoyable spring!  One last picture from a yard in the neighborhood.

Love Tim, Vicki and Samuel

Welcome 2021

 2021 came in quietly for us.  We have been enjoying time at home with a quarantine the middle of January and then just limiting our exposure to non family groups.  Randy will have been home a full year on March 11.  He rather likes being home so I'm not sure how much he will travel in the future for work.  I am able to help the grandchildren on Tuesdays(Johnstons) and Wednesdays(Rivers) with school.  It is a good time to keep up with their growth and always fun!  I do miss visiting Aurora, Mary and Kurtis but we read every Tuesday night to Aurora through FaceTime so we can see how she is growing as well.  However, it is just not the same as in person.  Patience!  I believe almost all of our 60 and older group are beginning to get their vaccines now!  Yay!  

Below are some Co-vid safe ways we were able to get together through the fall until now.

9-17-20 Rolling Hills Zoo Trip

Emily, Adelynn, Ava, Olivia, Ollie, Kinley

10-17-20 Birthday Fun at the pasture.

Social distancing.

10-23-20 We enjoyed cutting pumpkins and having hotdogs around Dave and Cassi's firepit.  

11-20-20 Olivia with her castle cake made by Grammy.

A smaller group at Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.

Kinley with her Sloth cake made by Grammy.  8 years old.

Kinley wanted her party at Grammy and Grandpa's house with the cousins.

Celebrating Christmas Eve. at Grandma's house.  We ate pizza, watched Toy Boy and opened gifts.

12-25-20 Christmas exchange with the siblings late afternoon.

1-31-21 Emily with her T.O.T.S Fly pod cake. She wanted to do her cake at Grammy and Grandpa's house.  

During quarantine, I tried making doll clothes again.  These are always a challenge.  Ha!

2020 (through a dog's eyes)

WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!

 

Oops, I forget humans don't understand my excellent diction.  So, instead, let me use Google Translate to get this out.  (Yes - they do have a dog translate feature now - very experimental...so might be gone by the time I'm finished barking)

 

For those of you who don't recognize me, the name is Hampton Hunter Halstead, also known to my humans, Nate and Charles, as pup or bubba.  Though I prefer WOOF, WOOF, Hampton is fine...I'm still not sure about the bubba or pup part though.  My glam shot is included below in case you haven't seen me in a while.

Having got that out of the way, for those of you who are following my life closely, you'll know I lost my companion of...well...now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember a time when she wasn't here.  Aspen Christmas Rose Ullom passed away in January.  She began feeling sickly in September of 2019, when the fall foliage finally turned the correct color to match my and her beautiful coats.  She did get to spend one last Christmas with us and those humans did choose to document it for us.  They always seem to be obsessed with taking a picture in front of this tree...which I am also not allowed to pee on...which doesn't begin to make one iota of sense..but who am I to judge?

February seemed to be a pretty normal month.  My human Charles was looking for a job...he seems to think he needs one of those for some reason...while Nate left and came back from a place called Texas...sounds like an imaginary place full of cats to me...but I'm only an Irish Setter.  Although, my human did mention someone called Rimsky that another human that knows Charles has in a town called Austin.  Things are so confusing...I thought that Rimsky was a composer (yes - I do enjoy classical music...though not as much as howling).  

 

Suddenly, in March, both of my humans were home, nearly all of the time.  It was weird.  And they seemed sad about whatever was keeping them home.  More and more, we saw less and less people, which apparently was from something called coronavirus.  The only corona I know of has something to do with that bright object in the sky - my humans like watching this wonderful program called NOVA so I learn unique things about science as I nap the day away.

 

Anyway, Charles did take up baking and stepped up his cooking in the intervening months, including some killer recipes for bread, cookies, green bean casserole, steak, chicken and pasta.  Also in March, my humans celebrated being gone November 16, 2019 to some other fantasy place called Florida with some leftover cake that had been frozen since December.  Apparently, it was their four month anniversary and they needed Cake in their lives.  They tried to prove that they got married while they were gone last November and the cake was from some time in December when they again celebrated being gone in November.  They provided these photos - maybe you'll be able to tell if they're real or not. 

I don't believe it but that's mainly because something didn't smell right...but again...I'm just the lowly Irish Setter, staring at them in the middle of the night to be let out to check our yard for those intruders I smell (but to be fair - I could imagine they are there simply to get to go out in the middle of the night).  

 

Charles was also extra sad in March and April because he lost a very dear human to him.  He was also named Charles.  I understand that a lot of the people reading this also loved this human.  I am sorry for your loss.  Charles did get to hang out with his Grandma, Charles' wife, quite a bit (so I guess that makes the other Charles Grandpa?) which made him feel less sad.  I also made sure that any time he was home, I wasn't far.  Quite often, I'd lay on him while he was on the couch or in bed to make sure he knew I was there for him.  Nate also made lots of time helping Charles through this time and I think he's better now.  Kind of like I miss Aspen, Charles still misses Charles.

 

Summer brought romping in the yard over at my Aunt Carol's backyard.  I chased birds and ran as fast as I could while Charles and Nate would get into this huge circle full of water.  I never quite understood why I can't go in but every time I began to leap, I got put inside or on a little string that my Aunt held.  They were also gone some in June on Tuesday evenings where they were helping something called a Municipal Band perform in a park called Carey.  Around this time, there were loud bursts all around us in the evening and I discovered that I just really don't like that.

 

Charles and Nate also took a vacation in September to that land called Florida again to go to a place called Disney World.  It sounds alright to me but I've heard rumors that they have cats and ducks that run amock.  So, clearly, if I am ever allowed to go to Disney World, there will be a new sher-ruff in town.  Charles and Nate took these pictures to prove to me that they were where they said they were. See for yourself but I still question whether or not those cats might have brainwashed my humans.

 October brought some unseasonably cold temperatures which as a dog who must go out in the middle of the night is very much on my mind.  There was also something called a Presidential Election going on which both of my humans watched very closely for some reason.  There was this guy named Trump and guy named Biden.  Biden seems more interesting to me because he's got a couple of dogs so I'll have to ask the Twilight Bark sometime what they think of him.  And if they answer, I'll finally know someone famous as they are apparently going to go live in the White House.  I can only assume, of course, that the White House is very different from the dog house.  From what I understand, this Trump guy is about to be very much in the dog house.  

November saw my humans making my yard very bright at night.  Charles and Nate spent hours working on their Christmas lights again this year.  I, for one, am pretty happy about it because it is beautiful to look at when I go out for my late night romps, errrr, I mean bathroom breaks.  I like their Facebook page, The Lights at 1022, so I provided a couple of photos of the display this year.

Pretty huh?  One of my other aunts, Auntie, reported to my owners that she likes to drive by on her way to work in the mornings as she can see it quite well from the highway.  

Christmas was good this year.  I got lots of nice things as did my humans.  I know both of them are tired of 2020 and were relieved when 2021 came.  Charles made this graphic for a client of his which I think pretty well sums up the year.

On behalf of my four legs, two legged humans and that Christmas tree, I wish you a very Happy 2021! 

Barkingly yours,

Hampton Hunter Halstead of the Johnston-Ullom clan