THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES
Circa 2010
Just when you thought it was safe to check your mailbox again…WE’RE BAAACCKKK!!
Eagle Bend Crop Report – 2010: This one will be short, a lot like the life span of this year’s garden. Harvested a few cherry and heirloom tomatoes (still can’t wrap my head around funny shaped maroon colored tomatoes – they clash with cheese on sandwiches), the rest went to the critters and the drought… on the upside, I saved a ton on the watering bill…
Things That Are The Same: Address, vehicles, phone numbers (you SAID you’d call…), general health and welfare, number and location of offspring and off-offspring, general attitude (still thinking like a cowboy),
Things That Are New: Locations of pain and stiffness, cell phones, fertilizer spreader (for the tractor not the Mayor, but yes, there was a campaign to run). By the way anybody need any Claude for Mayor pens or lollipops?
Sadieville’s First Couple – The good news? HE still has the electorate fooled, they re-elected him by a 26 point margin in the November contest. The bad news? They re-elected him by a 26 point margin and now they own him for the next four years, unless he does something illegal, immoral, or unethical (suggestions anyone?). HE was, however, a hit as a Commencement Speaker for the Adult Education graduates in Scott County, and stayed mucho busy representing the City on a bunch of well intentioned if fairly ineffective Boards, Committees, and Task Forces. To catch you up, and for those of you still paying attention WE finished off 2009 in fine fashion with the Hawaya Trip (happened after last year’s letter went to press). A good time was had by both – thousands of photos and a long narrative are available for purchase. As far as 2010 is concerned WE didn’t take any really big trips and instead concentrated on improving our cultural acumen by going to a number of plays and concerts: Disney On Ice; “Wicked”; Crosby, Stills, & Nash; Kenny Rogers; The Eagles; Jersey Boys; and the evening possum show at the land fill…. WE feel MUCH better (and a lot more refined) now. Throw in a spring jaunt to Savannah, Georgia (OUR beach trip for the year), and a summer trip to the greater St. Louis area (yup, SHE got ME up in that arch thing) and that’s about it for the years adventures, minus a few trips north to count and feed the children. As an experiment, WE took Gramma Bonnie to Churchill Downs on KY Colonels Day in November. Turns out she is better at picking horses than me… You know, and this is just a thought here, it would be MUCH easier on ME if you people would just check HER Internet blog as pretty much every breath we take gets reported there. That being said, SHE continued her ongoing efforts to save souls and give care and stayed busier than a three handed cherry picker overall. HER duties as a municipal first lady are many and varied and SHE patiently and dutifully followed the Mayor around as HE attended to his official functions where, because it’s Kentucky and ya just gotta do it, THEY ate lots of rubber chicken or pulled pork BBQ on dried out rolls. SHE was elected President of the Board of Directors for Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, our local non-profit/semi-subversive civic organization, and wowed her buddies in the Countryside Homemakers Club with HER stunning craft and cooking skills. On the-things-to-do-for-fun and adventure list, shortly before it quit raining for the year WE had a gully washer that covered the only exit bridge from Eagle Bend to outside civilization. We noticed the water was rising as we crossed the bridge on our way out of town and then got a call from our neighbor that the bridge was underwater and we couldn’t get back even if we wanted to. So while the city was flooding we went and played with the grandkids. Did I mention I got re-elected by with a 26 point margin? Welcome to Sadieville…
The Muskegon Quintet… Nissa, The Toddster, KT, Paul, and Aubrey (or Brie, or Bree, or bRe T - pronounced Bree like the cheese) if you go with her latest instructions) are just a hangin in there on the shores of Lake Gitchgoomee (Michigan). Lots of house fixing up being done, working hard, getting used to life in the teen-age lane, practicing to be empty-nesters, etc. Not too bad all things considered. KT graduated with honors and others in June and began her college endeavors at Muskegon Community College in September, so far so good there. She has her own wheels now but is short on the driver’s license at last report (which may be for the best). Following the graduation festivities in Muskegon, we kidnapped her for a lot of the summer bringing her back to Kentucky where she “interned” at City Hall and helped Pa run the farm. She learned a lot about painting fire hydrants, driving Jeeps and garden tractors, and was generally a good hired-hand to have around. She eats a lot though… but it was good to have a “Wing Buddy” at hand to help cook and eat our own version of those spicy little critter parts. Paul is in pretty good condition overall and is pursuing his special interests in art and music and the inevitable computer stuff. He achieved his long awaited goal of getting a real for sure hunting license this year, but still has all his fingers and toes from what we are told. Aubrey-Brie-Bree-bRe.T is turning into quite the young women with a great singing voice and eyes that can roll 360 at the slightest mention of anything outside her realm of interest. Favorite colors are currently hot pink and black. Oh yes, the dog is doing fine…
On Our Marx – Sir Hayden graduated from Pre-school and sure looked dapper in the little blue cap & gown. Following the summer break he “commenced” his K-12 education in the ‘K’ class at Buckner Elementary. He likes school and trains and dinosaurs and space and Star Wars, and not bathing and… Princess Bailey started her Pre School career in the fall. So far so good there, but then we haven’t heard the results of the teacher’s conference yet. They are so charming when they play together. For example, when they play “Shrek” Hayden refers to Bailey as “Donkey”, and when they play “Dinosaurs”, Bailey likes to be a T-Rex and refers to Hayden as “meat” – need I say more? We took a short road trip with them to a Dinosaur Park and zoo near Bowling Green, where they were indeed in their element. They all took a trip to Florida for a Marx family get-together on a Disney Cruise ship and since they all came back we assume it went OK due to the fact they are now preparing for a sequel. Mommy and Daddy are certainly earning their stripes in the parenting department having progressed from wanting justice to wanting quiet.
O Solo Jacob – Saw the boy a time or two this year, not counting when he visited due to hunger or the need to do his laundry. At the last sighting he looked pretty good and seems to be holding up well for his age. He still hangs out on NPR from time to time and has shifted career focus a bit at his payin’ job. He now spends a fair amount of time designing and maintaining web pages for the company. He ended his tour of duty at the University of Michigan Educational Theater program to concentrate on his web development work and his writing projects. He gets the “great idea of the year” award for having the insight to take a favorite family photo and have an artist friend “turtleize” it so that we all take the form of turtles. OK, so it’s an inside joke but we all liked it a lot. Therefore, we took a vote and decided to keep him on in the token son role for at least another year. Besides he’s good about checking in on us, so what ya gonna do?
Okey Dokey, thus endith thith episthle. Two pages and WE’RE OUTTA HERE for this year. We appreciate your attention. Now it’s time to go overindulge on something festive and enjoy the Holiday Season, no, really, we insist…
The Christensen’s !!!
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