Christmas Letter 2013


The year started out dry again. The winter was very mild, but insisted on persisting so we had a very chilly spring with some record setting late freezes. I was constantly going out to cover the garden. Poor geese -- they arrived with mating on their minds and looked high and low for Redbud Island - which of course was long gone and nowhere to be found. As spring unraveled we noticed we'd lost millions of trees to the inhumane weather of the last few years and we'd be making Paul Bunyan in a big way.

The drought broke in May and we finally started catching up rain wise. In fact, one of our usual music festivals was flooded out. We had, for us, a mild summer - only a few hundred degree days. But did the garden prosper? Noooooooooo. New pests and plagues arrived to take the place of the infernal heat. You can't win. [That's actually one of the laws of thermodynamics.] We had a mild pleasant long lasting fall so we were picking produce (from the survivors) well into November. Now winter's here, we've had our first cold snap, and we're trying to stay warm and cozy with lots of Christmas spirits!

To our long distance friends, we can offer a few opportunities to sample the local color. You might have heard of the Pioneer Woman (of food channel fame). She's our neighbor here in the Osage. On a clear day, from the rooftop, with a good scope, we can see her spread. She constantly shows scenes of the prairie, and making trips into downtown Pawhuska. We've also had a couple movies shot in the area recently. The first is "To The Wonder" which I've heard is definitely not worth seeing unless you're really into slow movies with scant dialog and lots of scenery. The second is "August: Osage County" which we're looking forward to. The main house in the movie came in the mail early in the 20th Century and is located about 10 miles north of us. Also of possible historical interest: Ever heard of the song "Ida Red?" It's about a real woman who lived in Pawhuska and is the namesake of one of our chickens (vide infra).

We're trying to slowly catch up with technology. I installed a couple of modern radios in our vehicles. What are the most feared words in the English language? Universal fit. Translation -- fits everything universally not at all. We got a couple of tablets to use as e-music books. It's been interesting. Who knows, one of these days we may even get smart phones.

We hope you all are doing well. We wish you Merry Christmas, a joyous Holiday Season, and all the best for the coming year.
 
P.S. It's Christmas Eve, we've had ice then a bit of snow in the last week. In digital terms, Mother Nature got out her snow brush and painted the landscape at 50% opacity and density. Sun's popping in and out, temperature's struggling upward, the icicles are melting, I say the odds are about 50/50 whether tomorrow morning we wake up to some kind of semi, quasi, demi, or other white Christmas.

Farm Report

The rains brought a decent hay crop, which was nice for a change. And it's so much nicer to look out the window and see Redbud Island and green pastures as opposed to Redbud Peninsula sticking out of scorched earth. All things considered, the garden did OK. Last year's record setting plum harvest was followed by nary a plum this year. Had a fair blackberry crop. Put in a bunch of strawberries. Trish found me a (wild) persimmon growing on the fence line. First time in my life I've had persimmon. Interesting.

Trish played mother hen again this spring. We got two Red Star sex-linked female chicks, collectively know as "the newbies,"  and immediately christened them as Ida Red and Sheila Honey. For those of you who are curious about sexing chickens (and I'm sure you all are ;-) ) it's an ancient and honorable profession. It takes a skilled and practiced eye to to discern the almost imperceptible difference between male and female chicks. Or at least it used to. Now a days, thanks to modern genetics, they can breed chickens so that the females are one color, the males another, which makes sexing child's play. Any fool can do it. (That's the problem with a lot of modern hi-tech. When you arm fools and let them on the loose, God only knows what's gonna happen.) So yet another profession is to be sacrificed upon the altar of modernity, to go the way of buggy whips, beta tapes, and floppy drives. Sad.

Construction Report

Still building shelves for our stuff. Finally got the addition finished and mud bathroom installed. And finally, at long last, got the garage door opener installed. I put off installing the garage door opener for a long time. Opening (and closing) the garage door was one of my main sources of daily exercise. But Trish had trouble opening it whenever I was out of town. Now I just have to get the ceiling insulated and finished then maybe finally at long last the garage will be done.

Music Report

Somewhat of a quiet year music wise. Played a few gigs at an area restaurant with one of our friends (who's the headliner there on Friday nights). Big gig for the year was Trish got to play with Shelby Eicher at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame down in Tulsa. They put on quite a show!
Spring Rendezvous-wise. Once again caught the notch of bad weather between several days of pleasant weather. Wednesday was gorgeous. I was on the deck in shorts, t-shirt and barefoot when the first guests arrived. Five minutes later I was fully clothed with a jacket on. The front came in with a vengeance. Thursday was cold and rainy. Got down to about 34 overnight. Friday was partly cloudy and cool. We did roast wieners etc. outside. Friday night it rained a bit. Saturday was completely overcast, in the 40s, and sprinkled off and on the entire day. We picked and ate exclusively inside the entire time. Five minutes after the last guest left, we were basking on the deck sipping Mai Tais. Despite the weather, we had great jam sessions indoors. We can sure pick it.

 
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.