Saturday, December 31, 2016: The last day of the year. This
morning I decided to review our iPhoto library for the past year. A lot
happened in the world during 2016 for good and for ill. Joy and sadness were
both to be part of the human condition. Nevertheless, we were blessed and
enjoyed much. So, here in the modern version of the Christmas Newsletter, are a few of the events of 2016 as I was prompted by my
iPhoto library (I've not uploaded the photos here as I'd have to export them from iPhoto first and I'm feeling lazy).
I began the year with recuperation from prostate cancer surgery
performed at Brooke Army Medical Center by Dr. Duffy and team on December 3,
2015. As of the end of the year, the recuperation continues (some side effects
of treatment remain) and my last test showed cancer-free.
In January, we had some repair and renovation work done on
our pool house. The work was done by John, a handyman who lives a few doors
from us. We had a new frame baseplate installed, new siding, new doors, and new
windows. Cost: About $2,000.
In mid-January, I contacted Mike Holloway in an attempt to
learn the provenance of the ceramic tile artwork that is attached to the back
wall of our home at 9315 Overton Road in San Antonio. This home was built by
Mike Holloway's father in 1972 and Mike and his siblings grew up here. He is
now a custom home builder in the San Antonio area. He told me that his parents
bought the individual art tiles in Monterrey Mexico in the late '70s and had
them assembled and fastened to the wall of the house. The art piece is signed
but the signature is unreadable and Mike does not remember any more than that.
Age and weather are beginning to damage the tiles, and they are not quite
assembled in the right order. Viewing the tiled artwork closely you can see
that a couple of the tiles are out of order. I contacted a couple of
preservationists but no one had any good and simple advice for preserving the
artwork.
On January 23rd, we celebrated Ian's 8th
birthday at his families’ home.
On February 19th, we celebrated Derek's birthday
early along with Glenda's birthday at Derek's home.
In March, son Joel visited Cuba and sent us some photos.
I attended Coffee and Cars in NW San Antonio a couple of
times in 2016, the first time with Jennifer, on March 13th.
In late March, I bought a mini-quadcopter UAV and tried to
learn to fly it. My skills were not top-of-the-line. On one event, I actually
lost the drone in a tree in neighbor Martha Beard's yard. We were able to
retrieve the lost toy.
On April 12th, a huge hailstorm swept across San
Antonio, doing what was eventually estimated to be $5B in damage. Our home
suffered a damaged roof, siding, screens and damage to garden and shrubs, but
no broken glass or other serious damage. During the initial cleanup, we had
over four tons of tree and shrub debris removed from our yard. It took the rest
of 2016 working with insurance and contractors to get all of the repair work
done, but by the end of the year we had a nice new roof on both the house and
pool shed and new siding and solar screens on the house. Trees and shrubs have
all recovered.
In May, Glenda and I drove from San
Antonio to Idaho and back to visit friends and family. We spent two nights at
the Faywood Hot Springs resort in southern New Mexico and while there visited
the City of Rocks state park.
The next stop on the trip was in Tucson, AZ to visit
Glenda's aunt Myrna Dillie, who passed away later in 2016. This was an amazing
woman who was born and raised in Indian Country, supported a Navy officer husband
over a noteworthy career, and spent time as a volunteer teacher and counselor
later in life on Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. After that
short visit we proceeded to Gilbert, AZ, where we spent a couple of days with
son Joel, his daughter Seville, and his beautiful wife, Orenda. We were there
for Mother's Day and Orenda hosted a truly wonderful dinner and we got to meet
her mother and other family members. Glenda and I attended Sacrament Meeting at
an LDS church just a couple of blocks from Joel's home. There were over 500 from
this one ward’s congregation in attendance and passing the Sacrament took over
30 minutes with a dozen deacons doing the duty. Four ward congregations meet in
this building and, we were told, that not a single member of those four
congregations live more than one mile from the building.
From Gilbert we drove to Flagstaff Arizona where we got to
have lunch at an Olive Garden Restaurant with my cousin, Evelyn Patterson.
Evelyn is a wonderful lady who was a good friend when I was just a child of 10
or so. We lost touch when her family moved from Idaho to Arizona so her father
could work on the construction of the Glenn Canyon Dam. How we reconnected is a
story unto itself. We now stay in touch via Facebook, and having lunch with her
was a wonderful treat.
From Flagstaff we continued on to Utah
where we were guests in the home of my Niece, Denine Smith, for a couple of
days so we could visit my brother, Warren (her father), and other family
members in the area. Warren is aging, having been born on November 15, 1934,
and is unfortunately no longer able to live on his own but resides in a memory care
facility in Bountiful, UT. He could go out with us to lunch and for visits. One
of the events we enjoyed was a chalk-art street festival in Bountiful, Utah. On
our last morning there, we had breakfast with Denine's youngest sibling, Peri
Griffin at Winger's Diner in Kaysville, UT, where we enjoyed fried-bread scones
just as the ones my Danish mother made when I was wee.
From Utah, we proceeded to Blackfoot, Idaho to visit my
Sister, Sarah Leane, who, born on August 28, 1931, is also living in a memory
care facility. I think I see a glimpse of my own future. While there, we spent
some time with her oldest son, Michael Jensen, who has recently retired from
long-haul commercial driving.
After time with Sarah, we went to Twin Falls, where we
stayed a few days with Glenda's sister Laurie and her partner, Deb Krause.
While there, we were able to visit our grandsons, Michael and Tyler Johnson, and their Mother, our
daughter Glenda Anne Moyes. We took the boys to church on a Sunday and to
Disney's live-action Jungle Book movie the next afternoon. While in Twin Falls,
we also visited Glenda's step mother, Netta Baum, and took the two boys to see
family grave sites in the Magic Valley. Both of my parents are in the Hazelton
graveyard while most of Glenda's past family are laid to rest in Twin Falls.
Glenda's father just passed away at Thanksgiving time in 2015, and she was able
to fly to Idaho for the services.
Leaving Twin Falls, we drove to Nampa to
visit with Glenda's other sister Carolyn Baum-Buttorff, and her husband Mark.
While in Nampa, Glenda's sister, Janet Lambert, was also able to visit us from
her home in Moscow, Idaho, so it was quite a satisfactory reunion.
While there, Carolyn entrusted me with a few hundred
historical Baum family photos to digitize and return. As of the end of 2016,
that work is about 95% complete, and one of my planned tasks for January of '17.
After our return to San Antonio, Glenda and I visited the
San Antonio Zoo in late May, for the first time in many years.
On June 11th, we enjoyed Hot
Rod night at Soda Pop's drive in in Boerne, TX, with the company of our eldest
son, Derek, his wife Jillian, and their son, Ian.
I attended the drive-in hot rod meet up event again, by
myself this time, on July 30th.
For most of the year, Glenda participated in the Eden Ward
choir. They provided beautiful music for many of our Sunday worship services. I
continued to perform some administrative duties for the Sunday School.
Through most of the summer, we attended grandson Ian's
soccer games each Saturday morning. Sometimes, we'd go for brunch with his
parents after the game.
In August, I travelled to Pittsburgh, PA
for a week to provide training in the proper and safe management of hazardous
waste materials to US Air Force members at the 911th Airlift Wing.
This is work I've done annually for about 12 years. In 2015, Glenda went with
me on this trip and we toured the museums of Pittsburgh and I got to check off
one bucket list item by visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, the
Fallingwater home in Laurel Highlands, PA.
Glenda and I celebrated our 47th
anniversary with our first-ever ocean cruise aboard the Carnival Liberty from
Galveston, TX to Cozumel, Mexico in mid-August. This short trip was very
relaxing and a lot of fun, too!
One month later, on September 18, 2016, I completed my
first-ever 5K run. The Zero Prostate Cancer run in San Antonio. There were
around 3,000 participants. I finished far, far from first in my age group, but
I did finish!
To celebrate the accomplshment, I took Glenda to a musical
review, Lady Sings the Blues, at the Harliquin Theater later in the month.
We hosted our neighborhood's National
Night Out get together on October 4th. I grilled hot dogs and we had
chips and chilled soda or water for all. We had a great turn out and were
supported by visits from our local city police, fire department and city
councilman's office. Our neighborhood association helped with the set up and
clean up and reimbursed me for the food costs. Around 60 neighbors dropped by
for a visit and a snack over the course of the evening. A good time was had by
all!
On October 8th, it was back
to Boerne. This time we visited their Market Days and annual old-time car show.
Hundreds of restored and customized cars. Some real beauties.
On October 10th, Glenda was still swimming daily
in the back yard pool, although the night-time lows were into the 50s. I told
her she was dedicated to her exercise routine to do that. Later that day, we
signed her up for a Gold's Gym membership so she could use their indoor heated
pool.
Grandson Ian, with his parents help, has been building and
launching model rockets. On the 15th of October, we went with them
to a launch at a field in Schertz, TX.
On October 16th, I rode my V-Star 1100 in the
international Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. Attended by several hundred
motorcyclists, we rode a scenic route through San Antonio, accompanied by a
city police motorcycle escort team, while dressed in our finery. This event is
an annual fundraiser for prostate cancer research and male health. Some of the
riders went all-out in their costumes, and many of the motorcycles were rare or
vintage models.
In early November, we attended the Olmos Park Art Shuffle,
and saw a wide variety of works of art by local artists. One of the artists on
show was John Garland, an acquaintance from my days in the Air Force.
On the evening of the 12th of November, Glenda
and I attended the Classic Theater's production of School for Scandal.
Our Thanksgiving Day Dinner was a family success. We fed
about 20 people, with Jennifer and Bre, Derek's family, Vincent's family. We
had the food catered by D'Lish Cafe and they provided an excellent repast. The
family gathering was very satisfying.
On the second of December, we were privileged to attend the
Texas Children's Choir presentation at the 7th annual Windcrest
Community Christmas Devotional, held at the Windcrest, TX LDS chapel. The choir
is a non-denominational group and has leadership and participation from many
congregations in the San Antonio area. They have performed for international
heads of state, at Carnegie Hall, and with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In early December, our son, Ben, and his wife, Samantha, gained full-time custody of our grandsons, Michael and Tyler Johnson. These are the two youngest sons of daughter, Glenda Anne, who has unfortunately had her parental rights terminated by the State of Idaho due to her inability (or refusal) to secure and maintain a suitable home for the boys. Ben
and Sam traveled to Idaho on the 10th and 11th of
December to take the boys to their home in Wisconsin. While Anne sees their actions
as traitorous, everyone else sees a giving and loving act on their part.
2016 wound up with a Christmas celebration at our home, with
family gathered from Arizona and Wisconsin as well as Texas. We got to play at
a firing range, at a bowling alley, and a couple of cafes as well as having a
great dinner at home on Christmas Sunday. Santa paid his annual visit, gifts
were exchanged with love, and a warm feeling prevailed. The grandkids swam in
the back yard pool (!! it was 80 F. Christmas afternoon) and we all sat around
the fire pit pool side late into the night.
Through the year, there were a variety of birthday and anniversary celebrations too numerous to mention here.
At 5:00 PM on Friday, December 30, 2016, I officially ended
my full time employment and became a retiree! I’ve filed for my Social Security
stipend and we’ve been working on being prepared to live on a fixed income. I’ll
still work with my company a little, hourly as needed, but no more punching a
time clock for me.
So here we are, New Years Eve day. A lot happened in the
world during 2016 for good and for ill. Joy and sadness were both to be part of
the human condition. Nevertheless, we were blessed and enjoyed much. For all,
we are grateful!
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