Geeze, can it really be 2001? When I was a 2nd grader my teacher Mrs. Madison told us that we would all be 40 in the year 2001. I thought, "Man 40 is old and 2001 is so far away." That was the year 1968, the President was Lyndon Johnson, and we were embroiled in the Vietnam War. Back then I lived in the woods near a small town (Bitely, MI) on a lake with my family, our faithful dog Gusty, some chickens, and a few pigs. Thirty-three years later my family again lives in the country on a small farm with some chickens, though we have horses instead of pigs (horses ride much better), and the dogs are named Gwen and Riley. There is an old expression that goes: "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." As John Denver said: "Thank God I'm a country boy." Our kids still love it here too. Logan went outside last night and spent two hours just playing with the dogs and the horses.
Well what is new? Deer season was very good to us this year. I harvested a nice 7 point buck on opening morning, and two antlerless deer after that with my private land owners and antlerless deer permits. I made sausage again, about seven different recipes this time. Come visit me and you can try some.
Thanksgiving was at our place again. My mom and John Suttorp came with John Sr., and my sister Melanie came with her girls Heather, Anna, and Kristyn. The girls are actually women now, though this is sometimes easy to forget. Heather will be 20 this April, Anna will be 19, and Kristyn turned 17 yesterday. Kristyn tested for her GED last fall and graduated high school two years early. All three of my nieces start college next week, all freshmen together, and with their own apartment as roomies.
Chanukah came rather uneventfully this year without our annual get together of Lori's family. Maybe next year, we will all get together again.
Christmas was great again this year. I did my annual shopping trip with my friend DJ on Christmas Eve morning (a holiday tradition) and my brother-in-law Ben joined us this year. It was a hoot as usual. On Christmas Eve night we all went to Lori's dads house and watched the kids open their presents. This year we were blessed by the addition of Sabrina and Selena, the sisters that Lisa and Martha are adopting. They were darling cute in their dresses, and they really enjoyed the evening. The high point for me was when Selena got a new bike as her gift from Barry and Sue; the look on her face was so great. I enjoy watching the kids get their gifts so much more than opening them myself.
Christmas Morning was at our place with Lori, Logan, Linden, Ben, Barry, Sue, and myself. We had a classic country brunch complete with venison tenderloin, fried potatoes, toast, and Lori's peach jam. The kids liked their gifts, which were mostly computer related since they both have systems in their rooms now. About noon we packed up and drove up to my moms place to do a third round of Christmas traditions. She made a great Christmas dinner, as usual, with a ham, potatoes, and all the trimmings. We were joined for dinner by Ben who is the stalwart family guy: he drove in for the holidays from Washington DC, drove to Lansing to shop with us, drove to Williamston for Xmas eve, then drove to Okemos Christmas afternoon to see his in-laws, then drove to Cedar Springs to visit my mom and John. What a guy!
The day after Christmas Uncle Bud, Aunt Susan, Aunt Myrna, Uncle Bill, my cousins Billy and Sandy Perkins, and their kids Nichole, Julie, and Billy visited us. We had a blast riding, snow shoeing, and visiting. The land is really great for winter activities this year as we had a record snow fall in December (38 inches, all of which stayed) and record low temperatures for the month; so much for Global Warming.
New Years Eve we spent with the LeCrones at their place in Jackson. We had a great time visiting with his family and played in the snow, shoveled out the Hors D'vours by the plateful from the oven, and had a fine Champagne toast at midnight with the Times Square Ball going down on satellite. I planned to hunt again that weekend, but I had a dream on that Friday night in which I shot two deer and then had to clean and butcher them both. Needless to say, I decided to drop the idea of hunting again when I woke up. I have enough venison this year even after giving a bunch away to family.
Logan has been playing basketball on the school team this winter and is growing into quite a wonderful young man. He is now wearing size 10 ˝ shoes (same size I wear) and is solid as a rock physically. He is playing Victory, a complicated WW-II play by email game, with me this year starting next week. Logan is generally very responsible with his chores and responsibilities, pretty good for a thirteen year old. Linden is still very involved at the temple with Lori, and plans to be Bat Mitzva’d when she turns thirteen. She received very good grades this semester and is doing very well with her Hebrew Studies too. She plans to go to Jewish Summer Camp next summer for five weeks. Linden has been doing volunteer work for our neighbors that run an orchard and orchard store on Saturdays. They report that she does very well with the customers and is a hard worker.
I earned my Windows 2000 Professional certification last month, and am starting my Windows 2000 Server certification this month. I am determined to be one of the top IS professionals in the county, and will keep on training to stay that way. Lori's job continues to go well, and she might even be able to work out of the home office a day or so a week in the future in her department keeps growing.
I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and that the winter is treating you well.
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