Christmas Letter 2010


Well -- We're extending an open invitation to everyone to come to our house warming party: December 31, 2099. Be there or be square or at least be there in spirit!

Last year we did get treated to that rare Oklahoma occurrence: a seriously white Christmas. I got to spend part of Christmas morning digging out the driveway.
One of our new chickens turned out to be a real diamond in the rough: she exhibits truly unexpected literary talents. Her name is Lola and she has her own blog and facebook page (will she soon start tweeting on twitter?). And has a world wide coterie of fans that follow her every move.

I worked for the Census Bureau again this year. I'm afraid I'd have to report that it appears to be a colossal waste of taxpayer money. If this is typical of how government agencies actually work -- Lord save us! They tried very hard to get Trish to work for them again. She said: No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No -- until we were really wondering what part of no they couldn't understand.

We took a trip out to Colorado last summer to visit one of Trish's cousins in the Alamosa area. Trish spent several days fishing for trout. Delicious. It took us about as long to drive from Alamosa to the cabin as it did from Pawhuska to Alamosa. Such horrible terrible god-awful roads I've never seen. We'd see a sign that said "Speed Limit - 20 mph" and think "If only we could."

We experienced our first ever earthquake this year. We were just sitting watching TV when things started a rattling and a shaking. It was a 4.5 magnitude whopper. Ooooh eeee ;-) !

Pawhuska had it's 15 minutes of fame this year. Ben Affleck came to Pawhuska to make a movie. A lot of people got on as extras. We hardly knew about it. I guess we lead a sheltered life.

We hope you all are doing well. We wish you Merry Christmas, a joyous Holiday Season, and all the best for the coming year.
 

Farm Report

Early this year two new hens showed up at our doorstep looking for a good home: Lola and Pawhearska (the Osage word for white ears). Lola has certainly been fun and is bringing us worldwide renown. Later in the year we lost the Iron Maiden (she just up and died) so we're currently at five head of hens. And Trish continues to spoil them absolutely rotten.

We expanded the garden around the house this year. Perhaps due to a very wet spring and then some very hot parts of the summer we suffered an unusual amount of pestilence. I've been trying to go organic -- but it's not always feasible. I guess moderation in all things is the way to go. The wet spring did help to give a decent hay crop this year.

As usual, we had lots of fun watching the bluebirds. But we got to watch the "The Great Goose Migration" (which we've known about for a long time) this year. We rent our pond and island to a pair of geese every spring. We don't charge much and do it mainly as a public service. For the first few years we saw the nest and eggs but never saw goslings and we figured something was getting to the eggs. Then one year we saw goslings, but they were gone the next day. Oh well, we thought, life is full of hazards. Then one year we saw our goslings over at the country club and realized that the geese hatch them on our pond and then almost immediately trek them over to the country club (they have a bigger pond). Talk about a hazardous journey for baby goslings with no ability to fly. This year we saw the migration, but to a different pond. We thought at first they were just out for a test walk, then we realized that this was it. Born just the day before, we saw them walk from the pond, up the pasture, past our house, and then disappear in the woods. We sure hope they made it.

Construction Report

We painted the front porch and that pretty much finishes up the outside construction on the house.

Music Report

We continue to do occasional informal gigs at the local Senior Center. Our spring rendezvous was pleasant. Our fall rendezvous was a bit chilly but a great time was had none the less. We set a record for attendance. We went to the Big Picking Festival at Winfield again this year. Had quite a night of excitement at midweek. A wickedly hellacious storm rolled in at eventide replete with torrential rain, winds keening like a banshee, and tornados (one of which past just a few miles to the east of us). It was interesting.


Anyone passing this way is always welcome to drop in and sit a spell. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season and we wish you all the best for the coming year.