Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Bev and I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years.  Below is our annual newsletter should you want a summary of our 2018.

"It seems like only yesterday that we wrote the 2017 newsletter but here we are again.  We hope all of you have had a good 2018 and here are a few comments about ours beginning with our family.  Wende continues to do well in her duel role as bread winner and new mom and seems to be very happy with both – Eliza turned one in early November.  Rhett and Beth continue to reside in SC where he works for SKF bearing maker.  Eric and Ann are still living near Chicago and the big change for them has been Eric’s acceptance into a doctoral program for ministers.  The biggest change for the kids was that Kathy’s long divorce process is finally over but some of her kids are having a difficult time with it.

And speaking of the grandkids, were now have three in college with Reece’s attendance to University of Tennessee while her sister Madison is a sophomore at South Carolina and cousin Katelyn is a sophomore at Texas A&M.  The others are spread between junior and high school and all are doing fine.

We continue to spend some time on the road in our RV and began this year by finishing up a trip to west and north Florida, ending up near Penasacola where we filled the freezer with fresh seafood to bring home.  After that, we attended two spring rallies with our travel club then made our big trip of the year to Michigan and Wisconsin from late July to early September.  We basically made a trip around Lake Michigan hitting the major tourist areas near Traverse City, MI and Door County, WI and while we enjoyed the trip, we don’t feel the need to return.  We did make a stop near Chicago on the way home to visit with the Doolittle’s and fill our freezer with sausage from our favorite maker in Aurora, IL.  It went very well with the old fashioned, real deal kraut from our local Amish Market.  Our final trip of the year was another club rally in at Sevierville, TN. And now, we are finalizing plans for a two months visit to the southwest beginning in January.

We continue to enjoy cooking and making new dishes and we even had a Tex-Mex Thanksgiving meal of burritos, enchiladas, and beans for a group of 11 diners and it was a big hit.

Kathy and her kids and a couple of the Walker girls came in for their annual summer visit where we all had a good time but after being kept awake much of the first night, we slept out in the RV for the remainder of their stay.

The major event here at the ranch was getting a new metal roof on the house.  We got 25 years from the initial shingle roof but decided painted steel was a better option for the new one.

Bev, Pat, Cindy and others will be off to Marco for their annual two week visit during mid December, while the dogs and I hold down the fort.  Speaking of Cindy, it continues to go very well having her live with us and she is now just another member of the family.

As always, if you want to check in on us occasionally, you can do so via Larry’s blog:  https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/

So that’s all from our piece of the world and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and your best New Year ever.

Beverly and Larry"