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To all of my friends and family, at home and abroad, This past year has been quite eventful. I graduated from Spartan, Lauren was born, we bought a house, I started flying, and I began to teach at Spartan. It has been a busy year but a rewarding one as well.
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Usually in December, Mylinda and I travel to Arizona to see family for the holidays. This year we were unable to, as we are recovering financially from home buying. It was nice to have a lazy Christmas break, rather than driving 20 hours to Arizona and then driving all over the state on a hectic schedule, trying to fit everyone in.
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I was glad to spend this first Christmas in our new home, at home. It was fun to actually have room for all of our decorations. We hadn't decorated for Christmas since moving to Oklahoma. On Christmas day, we drove out to my Mom's and had dinner there. Well, Mylinda and Lauren had dinner; I had taken ill and spent most of the visit asleep.
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Work has been going well. The students are off for three weeks, and I have no leave days. The absence of students has enabled me to repair some things in the shop, write some tests, and catch up on my reading. Most days, I am alone in the office. I enjoy the solitude but will be glad to get back to teaching. One of my students, next term, served with me in Germany and Iraq. It will be interesting to have him in my class.
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I will be starting the bachelor program in January. For those of you who are wondering about the title; Bachelor of Science, Aviation Technology Management. I don't really want a management degree; I'd prefer an engineering or physics degree. But supposedly, beggars can't be choosers. From what I have seen, most employers care only that you have a degree, not about what it is in. Santa was fairly generous this year, I received a set of chisels, an uncomfortable pair of Airwalks (it is the thought that counts), and a really nice neon sign (even if it was broken, again the thought counts), a gift certificate to the Wing Stop, which isn't accepted at the one I go to (more thought counting).
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Lauren has started crawling. From a developmental standpoint, that is great. From a parenting standpoint, not so great. Before, it was put her down turn around and be confident that when you turn back around, there she'll be. Not so any longer. Now it's put her down, turn around and, "Where'd she go?" She is changing internally as well. Now her diapers can gag me from across the room. I know it didn't smell like that going in. Sugar and spice and all that's nice, I don't believe it.
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In an effort to reduce the expense of running our home, Mylinda and I have bought the Magic Jack. This little device enables us to have phone service over the internet. It has all of the features of the $39 a month providers, but costs $59 for 5 years of service. It has been working great so far. So if you see a 918 area code and a number that you don't know, it's probably us.
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Work on the house continues, sort of. I seem to lack the motivation to move forward at a fast pace. But, we do this, that, and the other as it occurs to us. The priority now is to get the walls finished so we can get carpet installed. I also need to decide what sort of tornado shelter I'm going to build.
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We have had a few really cold days this month. I woke up one morning to discover that the digital thermometer read 7 degrees, and my water heater lines in the garage had frozen, no hot shower. Fortunately they had not ruptured. It took most of the day to get them thawed.
We have been using our wood stove to heat the house, burning a truck load of oak every three weeks. I am very grateful to our friends in Claremore who let us take the wood from their property. Generally, I start a fire in the morning and let it go out in the evening. Mylinda keeps it going during the day. I'm sure this is saving us a fortune in natural gas. Central heat is nice but when the heater kicks off, the house feels cold. The wood stove lets off a nice steady heat. |
Mylinda's fire building skills are somewhat lacking. I came home from work one afternoon to find that a squirrel's had constructed a nest in the wood stove. As it turned out, it was not a small mammalian home at all, but the remains of Mylinda's valiant attempt at building a fire. I suppose I should go buy her some fire starters.
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For those of you who read my letters on grandma's web, you may wonder why there haven't been pictures posted with them. Some of my friends and family have size limits on incoming e-mails, hence, no photos. Initially, these letters were conceived as an e-mail and blog posting, not as an addition to the very photo oriented domain of current letters on grandma's web. I have decided to add a new photo album to myspace.com each month when I post the letters, with relevant pictures for all to enjoy. The photos can be seen at www.myspace.com/wildland77 . If you don't have an account, you will need to sign up and add me as a friend to see my page.
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I hope all of you are doing well. Have a happy new year. Zeke |