The year is drawing to a close, and Christmas is only a few
days away, so this will likely be the least read edition of my columns for 2012. Therefore, I will use the space to publish
my Second Annual Newsletter.
Judy and I celebrated our 50th wedding
anniversary on June 9th of this year. No, we didn’t go on a Caribbean Cruise, and we didn’t have a
party thrown by our kids. As a matter
of fact, we were on the road that day on one of our several trips. We visited a Nevada State Park called Valley
of Fire and drove across the new bridge at Hoover Dam. Then we stopped for the
night at Kingman, Arizona and had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
While at Valley of Fire State Park I discovered a rock
formation, which I (unofficially) named Star Gazer Hill. It was my anniversary gift to myself. I tried to get the park rangers to recognize
the name officially, but they declined.
I guess they have enough named formations in the park and didn’t need
another one. Anyway, in case you missed
it in an earlier email I sent out, here is a picture of Star Gazer Hill, which
has at least eight rock faces gazing skyward, maybe even more.
The ‘faces’ of Star Gazer Hill revealed
Speaking of road trips, we made several this year. In all, we traveled through 32 of the 50
states on seven separate trips. We
didn’t visit any new ones, and there are still two states—Alaska and North
Dakota—to which I’ve never been. If you
read my road trip journals you’ll know that I love to travel and to share my
journeys with everyone.
On one of our road trips we stopped for the night in Omaha
and visited with our former neighbors and good friends, Rob and Karen. We hadn’t seen them in many years, and it
was great to break bread together and catch up. We’ve since then kept in touch via the email circuit. It’s so nice to renew friendships.
We lost one member of our family this year. Judy’s mother passed away a few weeks ago on
Judy’s birthday, so it was a sad day instead of a happy one. Otherwise, our little family is doing fine,
except for some strife in one branch, but I won’t discuss that since it I
personal and not my business anyway.
My grandson, Chase, went into the Army in September of last
year, 2011. After sixteen weeks of boot
camp he was unable to pass the PT requirements—not because he wasn’t strong
enough, but because he was too tall. It
seems that people over six feet tall have a lot of trouble doing the pushups,
and he never could get to the minimum number to pass. He was released from his
obligation in January with some disappointment. He is still unemployed, unfortunately, but then, there are a lot
of folks in that position these days.
The conflicts that my singing hobby caused finally came to a
head a few months ago, and I’ve decided to take a sabbatical from the Garden
City Chorus. I will stay with my
barbershop quartet, but with limited engagements. The Singing Valentines will still be on the agenda, as I really
enjoy that activity.
That about sums up the year for me and I hope I didn’t bore
you too much in the telling.
I truly wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and
Prosperous New Year.
