New Year

We've been away visiting relatives in Ohio. Brother Jim and family stopped here for a couple of nights on their way back to their home in Austin Texas. It was rainy most of their day here, but at about 3pm it started to clear up. We took that chance to drive into Cottonwood Falls and then back the long way along Sharps Creek Road through Bazaar and looping around west and back toward Matfield Green. Their appreciation of the landscape - brilliant reds of the wet grassland especially - was a real heartwarmer for me.

We also spent an hour playing with Marva and Jane's puppies, now named Jim, Joe and Bill. Niece Sarafina and sister-in-law Laurie were ready to take little Jim back to Austin. But big Jim, who works at home and would probably be charged with training the pup, vetoed the idea. I want one too (Bill, would be my choice, of course) but I am restraining myself. Not enough room in the bunkhouse. Not enough room in the bunkhouse. Not enough room in the bunkhouse.

As the old year waned, we celebrated Barb Armstrong's 82nd birthday with bean soup and a big chocolate cake. Whether or not Gerald Ford should have pardoned Richard Nixon was the after dinner topic of conversation.