Christmas Letter 2023
I admit it, I'm a grinch. I shake my head at Christmas Inc. and mutter what nonsense. An entire economy dependent on the proper Practice of Christmas. Soulless shills exorting people to shell out money they don't have to buy gifts that nobody really needs, let alone wants or can even use. It doesn't matter, just spend, spend, spend. It's the thought that counts. Let me further express my sentiments in a parody I penned years ago. It's to the tune of "Love is all Around." With apologies to the Troggs--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Christmas is All Around
It slipped
right through my fingers,
All the money I did blow.
Christmas is all around
me,
And so the spending grows.
It's shilling in the wind,
It's everywhere I go.
So if you really love
Christmas,
C'mon and shell out all
your dough.
Chorus:
You know I love Christmas
I always will,
I dig me deep in debt
To score the next great
deal.
There's no beginning
There'll be no end
Cuz on Christmas, You've
got to spend!
I count those little
reindeer,
As I lay on my bed.
I kind of get to thinking,
What it's like to drive
his sled.
You gave your presents to
me,
And I gave mine to you.
I need Santa to bring me,
Everything I want for you
Chorus
I hate to
think of New Year,
When all those bills come
due.
Where will I get the
money,
For everything I spent on
you.
My checks are getting
bouncy,
My wallet's thin as it can
be.
I blame it all on Santa,
I guess he is bad company!
Chorus
Don't forget
to visit the Christmas
Report and Pix pages and
please sign our guestbook
before you leave. And --
above all -- have a Merry
Christmas. 
Thanks!
General and Travelog Report
It's been a
pretty uneventful year,
just soso, sitting around
watching the grass grow.
Due to lack of rain, we
had to watch real close,
which required lots of
patience, which required
lots of beer.
The only traveling I did
was to pickings, a few
festivals, and as Trish's
roadie on her gigs. Trish
did her usual Jami jaunts.
In the spring, an encore
visit to Shangri-La. In
the fall, they toured the
Guthrie Wine and Craft
Festival.
While in Guthrie, Trish
visited the Elmer McCurdy
memorial. Elmer was a
really bad outlaw. Bad in
the sense that he was
terribly incompetent in
his craft. To make a long
story short, his corpse
wound up in a carnival
freak show and his show
biz career spanned
decades. He's been the
subject of numerous
articles, documentaries,
and a song written by
Trish's friend Maggie.
Trish was duly reverent at
the grave site.
Farm Report
We'd been
running an avian
retirement home, but now
we are down to four head
of chicken. We lost four
this year. The two eldest
we expected to go at any
time. But we also lost two
of the youngest, which was
a surprise. We'll be
getting more chicks in the
spring.
We had a poor blackberry
crop this year so we will
be on blackberry rationing
until next summer. We had
a good hay crop, the best
in years. The garden was a
mixed bag, some crops did
very well, others were
bloom and bust, and others
never really even got
started. There seems to be
neither rhyme nor reason
to it.
Construction Report
We've gone from construction to repair. There's always something.
Music Report
Trish continues to get occasional gigs with several local groups. We went to a few festivals and continue to attend picking sessions when they arise.
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.