Christmas Letter 2015

More and more one year fades into the next and I really can't remember the difference.  Sad.

We actually broke down and bought a new car this year.  First time for either of us in over 30 years.  Kind of neat, having all these modern gizmos on board.  I'm still trying to figure out how they work.

The big event of the year was my mother's 90th birthday celebration and reunion.  All of her children, and most of her grandchildren and great grandchildren attended.  [In total she has four, nine, and ten respectively.]  In ten years, when we gather to celebrate her Big C birthday, she'll have a parcel of great great grand kids as well!.  Though her birthday is November 17, we held the reunion over Thanksgiving so people could attend without taking as much time off work or pulling kids out of school.  It started with a feast on Thanksgiving day, followed by three days of card playing, board gaming, eating, and general merriment.  It was good seeing everyone again.

We've had our usual strange weather this year.  Fall was warm with very little color.  One day the leaves were green, the next day brown, and the next day gone. 

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

Farm Report

The  hay crop was OK, up from last year. 

Our wild blackberries have done very well the last two years.  They don't like to be picked so they put up one hell of a fight.  And trying to manage wild blackberries is like trying to herd cats. 

Our chicken pen was rapidly turning into a plum jungle.  After a lot of hacking I got it trimmed back to a plum forest.  Most fruit trees - I've been told - don't spread via seeds.  But the variety of cooking plum we have spreads like wildfire.  We had another bumper crop of plums this year.

Nucy is now all grown up and is Trish's little darling.  Too bad the chickens don't feel that way about her.

In honor of Easter, and the Holy Trinity, we got three Easter Egger chicks:  Bunny, Lily,  and .............. Darla -- this spring.  They finally started laying late this fall.  They are supposed to lay eggs in various colors of blue, green, olive, even pink, etc.  We were hoping each one would lay a different color so we'd  know who laid what.  No such luck.  They all lay the same shade of pale green eggs. So much for the best laid plans.


Construction Report

Didn't build anything new this year.  It's been a year of maintenance and repair.

Music Report

We started the year playing a gig at a Fat Tuesday party down in Tulsa.  Lots of good Cajun cooking.

We had a very pleasant Spring Rendezvous.  The forecast was for rain every day.  But we had beautiful weather until after dinner on Saturday night (thank you weather gods for that) and then the heavens opened up.  So we spent the rest of the evening picking in the garage accompanied by the pitter patter of rain on the roof.

Early in the summer we enjoyed our annual pilgrimage to the Tallgrass Music Festival down in Skiatook.  I played in the band scramble again and wowed them with my infamous rendition of the "Ugly" song.

In September we attended once again the Mecca (for us at least) of all festivals:  Winfield.  Once again Trish got to perform live on-stage with Joann Smith and friends.  Winfield is an interesting experience.  Please see the pix pages for details.

Later in the fall, Trish and I along with several friends did a freebie at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska.  And got up close and personal with a lot of buffalo in the process.

I've updated the Cowell Cinema and Cacophony page.  Music lovers will definitely NOT want to go there!

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.