JON AND SAM/DOR'S 2011 CHRISTMAS MIMEO

          I have hardly been able to wait until Christmas mimeo time to tell you all about the utterly fantastic year we were having and, now, have had.  But let's just start at the beginning and see how much gloating we can actually do.

          Of course, we started the year feeding cows and breaking ice.  Who could even invent a more pleasant task than feeding a bunch of appreciative animals?  And breaking ice, what's not to like about possibly the second most enjoyable winter chore?  I invite you to think back to your New Year's Day and compare whatever it was that you did with feeding cows and breaking ice.  As my friend Grover once said, "Envy is a terrible thing," so just be glad you have your health.

          But feeding without calving and especially without calving in the mud can get tiresome.  As soon as calving begins, it seems, there's no longer any ice to break.  The ice is replaced by sticky mud.  I will say though, that our mud rivals any mud any where and we're proud of it.  Calving is about my favorite time of year, with or without sticky mud, and we have been lucky to have a bunch of cows that like to have calves.  (Once in awhile we have a heifer who doesn't enjoy calving or thinks calves are just a nuisance to be avoided.  But we just call those heifers "Beef" and move right along with the rest of the bunch.)

          About right after the end of calving I became an old person.  Sam/Dor became an old person over a year ago so I have just caught up.  Being old, of course, means you can draw your Social Security without being penalized for making money.  In fact, you can pay and get paid at the same time and all the while Uncle is keeping track and for every increment paid in he will, some day, send you a well thought out mini-increment more cash so you'll know he's appreciative.

          How could life be better?  Having cows and calves and ice and mud, and pay and get paid, and we're only to May.  Well, it can.  I was told by the one who tells around here that Lowe's gives a discount to veterans.  I got signed up right away and got the discount for awhile, but then I had to get disabled to continue to get the discount.  The story of how that came about, while fascinating if you're of the paperwork/process/bean counter type, is long and I'll spare you the narrative.  Anyway, I'm in the process of becoming disabled, for which I have Lowe's and my mate to thank.

          But life can also get not better.  Sam/Dor's dentist, Richard, was diagnosed with cancer and even though major radiation and chemo were tried, he lasted only about four months.  She was immediately made a retired person, which isn't a bad thing, but the sudden loss of her boss and friend was hardly the transition into retirement she had envisioned.

          So now, just as I've caught up on being old, she's leapt ahead to retirement.  I think I'll stick with being disabled and avoid retirement for awhile.

          In February I went to Panama for a week.  Sam/Dor wasn't interested in going, mainly because of the hassle of airplane travel.  A friend, whose wife also didn't want to go, accompanied me.  Our goal was to go through the Panama Canal.  We made what is called a "full transit" of the Canal on a tour boat.  The remainder of the time we did tourist sorts of things and had a great time.  If you aren't already reading this on my blog page, you can go to quotidian-jce.blogspot.com and read and see photos of and about Panama, probably more than you ever wanted to know.  (You'll need to scroll through the more recent posts to get to the bottom where you can access the archived posts.)

          As usual, Sam/Dor occupied her time this year by gardening and going to garage and estate sales.  She still gets more stuff than she re-sells, but as long as we have a place to store it I suppose that won't change.  Lately she has been bringing home those county history books that about every county in America has published.  If you need a Brookings County book or a Pickaway County book, let her know.  She also brought home an OSU Beaver yearbook from my graduation year.  I didn't personally know even one person shown or mentioned.

          Also as usual, a big pile of hay was reduced to a little pile and then made into a big pile again.  We shared our Eagle Point pastures with the elk again but they are considerate enough to eat only about half of what we grow so the cows get at least some of their own grass.

          Overall, 2011 was a year.  We hope 2012 will be a happy, healthy year too, both for us and for you.

                                                                                  Merry Christmas,

                                                                                          Jon and Sam/Dor