2008 Christmas Letter

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++ In DEC 09 I found a bunch of my old Xmas letters so I thought I would post them here in my blog. This is the letter that is send with my Xmas cards. You can find each one posted on Xmas day for that year. 03,05, 06 & 08 ++

Greetings,

Its that time of year again, not that I have been very good about getting Christmas cards out the last couple years. I hope this card finds everyone in good health and prepared for the on coming season. I am looking forward to Christmas as Scout is coming home for a visit.

This year I decided I was going to get cards out again with a letter. I know I haven’t even been good about getting post cards out, sorry. Please don’t take my lack of contact as a lack of concern.

I am going on my second year working at the American Legion. I really like working for Beth and we make quite a pair. J They actually have me cooking! I really enjoy the flexibility of the hours and the contact with the members. As you all know I am interested in history and I find it great to sit and talk with the old guys when they come in. I have met men from the Frozen Chosen, a Navajo code Talker and WWII POWs. Our Post Chaplain served in France during WWII, and is a very feisty lady. It is sad to see the names of this generation as they accumulate on the ‘deceased’ board.

I’m still writing for the Thunder Press and enjoying that too. I have had articles in almost all the issues this year. It helps pay for gas and we all know how expensive that was over the summer. I paid up to $5.89US a gallon while going through Canada. Its no wonder they have free health care, with all the revenue their taxes generate. The tax rate on purchases was over 10%. Canada used to be cheaper to travel in than the US, not anymore, its expensive. We were happy to get back to the US and the $4 a gallon gas. I am so glad it is back down to $1.50 a gallon. I really felt for people that are trying to make it on a minimum wage job.

The new job has a lot of flexibility and I find I can still make my trips on Effie. Although I didn’t quite get 20K miles in this year, I managed a couple longer trips. We went to NC for the annual Sportster Rally and I lead a group of 4 other bikers up and around Lake Superior then to Milwaukee for the Harley Davidson 105th anniversary. The picture on my card is from that trip. We were gone for 10 days and did a lot of sightseeing. I really liked Iowa, it has a ton of interesting things to see there. Like the first train robbery was there, the James Gang pulled the tracks to stop the train. The tracks they pulled are made into a historical site. They have a bank that was robbed by Bonnie and Clyde. We tramped a half mile through a soybean field to find the crash site marker for plane Buddy Holly and Richie Valens died in. The crash was a month before I was born, a little more than 25 years ago J, however at 10AM on the Sunday morning we were there we found 2 other groups of people there to see it. There are no markers by the road, no souvenir stand and I think the farmer would be much happier to have the memory of it die too. A few years ago when I was working in FL I visited the Hard Rock Vault. At the Vault they had on exhibit the last letter that Buddy Holly wrote home to his parents mailed a day or two before the crash. It struck me then that he was just a home sick kid, making plans for when he gets home. On a lighter note while in Canada we saw the birthplace of Winnie the Pooh, yes it was a real bear. The place was White River, Ontario. A doctor in a military unit bought it there and when the unit was sent to England for WWI they took the bear with them and then left it at the London Zoo when they headed to France. The bear was named after the dr’s hometown of Winnipeg. It was there at the zoo that a writer A.A. Milne and his son Christopher regularly visited the zoo. White River has a Winnie the Pooh festival every year.

Effie my 2005 Sportster passed 100K miles this year. Still no major failures, but its time to send her in again for service. Doing the Harley thing she is seeping oil from about every gasket. Effie is still under the extended warranty until FEB 09 so the gasket replacements should be covered.

I have been active in 3 organizations this year and an officer in all three. That was too much and I am declining some requests for my time next year. The Ladies Auxiliary voted me in as Vice President. What are they thinking?? It takes all I have to keep up with those little ole ladies in the Aux. They are such a giving group, same with the motorcycle rider group at the legion. I enjoy working with both those organizations and being a part of the great things they accomplish.

Well it appears as usual I have expanded the margins, shrunk the text as much as I dare but the page still runs out of space for my ramblings. I must bid ado before I don’t have space to it. I hope you have a great holiday season and the new year brings you prosperity in this time of economic trouble.

Cindy

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