Tuesday, December 25, 2012

McAnulty Christmas Letter 2012


I hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas and shared wonderful time with people you love. Here is this year's Christmas letter, dropped at the post office just in the nick of time on Saturday, after issues of printer ink depletion and clerical incompetence resulted in wasted stationery and in ugly photocopies and family members receiving the copies that were upside down on the stationery. (Note to Will: Get next year's letter composed and submitted to the editor (me) by December 1, 2013.) Yes, Will really does write this annual tome. I merely edit, meaning I add a few commas, correct a few factual errors and allow others to remain if they make me laugh. Possibly I also delete some of the things I don't like and occasionally I may improve the wording just a bit. (My own comments are added in a different font.)

Dear Friends and Family:
Not much is new around here, just the same old camping, fishing, sight-seeing, photography,
hiking, video, boats, tents, trailers, Traegers, Salmon, Steelhead, flowers, rivers, family, friends –
 you get the idea. I was ordered to compose a one-page letter this year. (Fail.)   
Let’s start with some of my highlights and end with LeAnn’s. The fish catching was not as good this year, but the technique was much more polished.  Fishing for Springers (Chinook Salmon) on the Willamette up in the Portland area was fun but very cold and wet.  About that time, I was feeling that it would never stop raining.  Rivers of water running past the house in the morning necessitated rain pants and rubber boots just to go out and get that dog walked.  Water across the road, wet dog smell, and “will it ever stop raining?” flavored all that was done and said in my small world.  Finally a fishing trip, then more rain.  It seemed like I would never get completely dry. 
I became accustomed to the smell of a wet dog.  It helps to breath deeply through your nose; after the first few light-headed minutes you don’t notice the smell.  LeAnn, however, is able to smell a wet dog from as far away as her desk at work.  Poor Zeek. 
The rain finally stopped for the camping season. After putting up with me through the spring, LeAnn advised me we would take the trailer over to a wedding in Ontario and perhaps she would ride home with friends while I camped on my own for a while.  She is a very smart girl, knowing that I am far easier to get along with when I am not along with.  After the wedding, I continued east, spending some time in Central Idaho visiting my sister and cousin, then returned to Oregon by way of Oxbow with several days over 100 degrees on the Snake River where I grew up. Next, off to the Metolius River for over two weeks, where LeAnn joined me.  We enjoyed almost daily hikes in the surrounding area,  family coming and going, and a good bit of time watching the river go by.  Zeek didn’t seem to smell so bad and he was genuinely happy to see LeAnn when she joined us.  I too had grown to miss her a lot during this exile.  I have been keeping a log of every night in the trailer since purchasing it in May 2008, which totals over 380 days.  I think we are getting our money’s worth.  Zeek continues to be a great camping partner. 
After all that camping, it was off to a family reunion/oyster pig-out/40th anniversary party for LeAnn’s oldest brother Galen and wife Carol at a rural setting near Logsden.  Many pictures were taken  and lots of small girls tried to talk to me. Some of the pictures were in focus and none of the little girl voices were heard by me.  LeAnn has the skills to be a very good Aunt, well supplied with gum and hugs.  About all I have to offer is the retrieval services of a dog that never met a person he didn’t like.  If I could have heard any of the little girls, I think maybe the only thing they said was, “Can I play with the dog?”  I did learn one thing about little girls.  If one is afraid of a dog, teach her to command the dog to sit.  With that ability, she will turn into a power hungry monster that wants only to force your dog to sit every time she sees him.  Poor Zeek, if he weren’t a dog he would make a good husband. “Sit, Zeek.”  “Yes dear,” I hear him say.  At least I think it’s him saying it.  Sometimes what Zeek is doing and what I am thinking get a little confused.
LeAnn informed all the immediate family early this year that her birthday on 12-12-12 was going to be a big deal.  Normally I approach her birthday day with a mixture of fear, happiness and trepidation.  After hearing this proclamation, all my usual emotions were multiplied exponentially.  All good husbands know (and I am trying to learn) that there are many places you can screw up, and birthdays and anniversaries are especially fraught with peril.   So when LeAnn let me know she was planning the party, I was so relieved that she easily made the last few maneuvers finalizing the trip to Hawaii.  Yep I am in complete control of this house. 
I thought for a little while I had gotten the best of her. With gentle prodding, LeAnn agreed to watch Zeek while I went elk hunting for a week in November.  Yep, LeAnn the non-lover of dogs was going to spend over a week taking care of a 100-pound often-wet Chocolate Lab that poops at least twice a day.  It was a short lived triumph after I learned that the payment in lieu of this miracle was a get-whatever-you-want shopping trip to the most expensive clothing stores in the entire Northwest in the company of a girlfriend with expensive (but excellent!) taste.  (Oh brother! We got BARGAINS!)
Of course, things went well with Zeek. He is such a well-trained dog with few bad habits, but LeAnn’s dark side sometimes emerges when you least expect it.  With my guard down on the trip home, I sat with my hunting partners eating breakfast in Enterprise, Oregon when I saw that she had struck.  It was a time bomb placed on Facebook: photographs of my loyal dog dressed in a sweater and PINK scarf.  The horror of it all nearly finished me.  Alone and unable to defend himself, he fell prey to the twisted manipulations of LeAnn.  I had nearly recovered by the time I went to the dentist a month later, but suffered a severe setback when confronted with a shocking slide show of the Zeek scarf pictures on the flat screen in the examining room. On the positive side, LeAnn and Zeek have now solidified a special bond that is hard to describe.  Nick will take care of Zeek when we go to Hawaii in January to celebrate our 30th anniversary. LeAnn is going with me to Hawaii.  It could be a long time before I leave her alone with my dog again. 
The birthday celebration was great and enjoyed by all. The first day was our immediate family for an excellent dinner cooked by Craig on the 11th.  The second was her extended family birthday on the great day of 12-12-12, where the love and generosity of 22 family members fulfilled her plans for a very special day. 
Nick works for Coastal Farm in their corporate office here in Albany as an IT specialist.  He travels in Oregon and Washington when need arises and spends a fair amount of time on call.  This job suits him and his computer skills keep getting sharper.  The problem is, his advice is costing me money.  “Hey you should get this or that” turns into “Now you really need one of these. “
Eric is enjoying working at a Verizon Store.  His appearance has changed drastically, as he now wears a tie at work, makes sure his shoes are polished, regularly gets haircuts and keeps the beard neatly trimmed.  If you haven’t seen him in a while, you might not recognize him. His mother loves it.
Craig and Stephanie work together at a business in Tangent and share an apartment with Nick.  For brothers who used to fight a lot, it’s amazing how friendly they are now. They all come home for a big dinner on Sundays, and the house is loud for a few hours until they depart and it settles back into the quiet empty nest it has become. Quiet, yes, but never boring.
LeAnn continues working in the Memorial Middle School office. She loves her coworkers and has mentioned several times lately that her job would be perfect if it wasn’t for all the stupid paperwork.  Still forcing me to go on hikes whenever she can, she is excellent company and is looking and feeling great as she maintains her weight loss with regular running and exercise classes. LeAnn was recently published in the local paper with a story and photo she submitted about some bears we encountered in Canada.  If you are familiar with her blog you know the story.  If you are not familiar with her blog, well, it’s your loss.  There is some great stuff in that thing and it will fill in the blanks nicely if you are not close enough to hear the stories first hand.   http://wlenmusings.blogspot.com
                  Um, Will, that’s kind of an abrupt ending. Are you really going to stop there? Aren’t you going to tell them about your blog, http://willsententia.wordpress.com (in which you really should write more often)? Or how much we enjoyed the Central Oregon reunion of your retired Albany police co-workers from your rookie days? The stories were pretty entertaining when you guys weren’t talking about your hearing aids and medications. And what about…oh never mind, you were supposed to keep it short.
      We are so blessed with health, family, friends, love, the beautiful world we live in, and the joy that comes from trusting the Creator of the Universe. May your life also overflow with these blessings and many more through the upcoming holidays and in the coming year!

Love, Will and LeAnn

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

My Bear Story

A few weeks ago, I saw that the local newspaper (Albany Democrat Herald) was soliciting favorite outdoor stories and photos. I immediately thought of my bear encounter, so I paintakingly whittled my blog entry down to the requested 250 words. It appeared in Monday's Outdoor section.
They expertly cropped the photo to appear that I was much closer than I actually was! But it made me remember that I had never posted the whopping 18 seconds of video I took of the bears playing just before I snapped the photo that appeared in the paper. Here it is.


Words fail me to describe the awe and joy I felt to watch them romp around!


If you click the newspaper link below, you can see how much they improved my photo!

Outdoors 2012: 'Prvileged to watch them play' : Oregon Outdoors

Monday, December 17, 2012

My 12-12-12 Birthday Party!

It's here and gone, the last repeating date in my lifetime, 12-12-12, which just happened to be my 54th birthday. I wanted it to be a day to remember, to be surrounded by people I love, and to give gifts instead of receive them. I sent invitations to my family members inviting them for cake and ice cream. I told them I wanted them all to bring me a gift, but I was very picky. The only thing I wanted was $12 to donate to the Duane Troyer Uganda mission trip fund and to surprise him at the party. I also had just seen a Wish List in the paper for Sunshine Industries, where my sister Linda works, so I listed some of those items, in hopes we could collect at least 12 things to donate. I also threw out a few ideas of fun things we could do to stick with the "12" theme, like at 6:12, walk around our loop 12 times, have 12 kinds of cake, and stay til 12 midnight.

In spite of that, 23 people filled up my house that night. Even more delightful, most of them were wearing purple! I hadn't received that memo, but just happened to be wearing purple pants! I started things out with a 12 hunt: list things they could find 12 of in my house (without opening doors or cupboards). (Didn't want a bunch of people opening my fridge to see how many eggs I had!)
There's Duane and Rachel working on it together. My guests found all kinds of things, but my sister Jean was the only one who noticed I had 12 nativity scenes, and no one noticed that the word "Joy" could be seen 12 times (on my plates, napkins, wall decorations, kitchen towel, and a holiday planter). I also had 12 poinsettias and sent one home with each family. Merry Christmas to them.
My sister Linda was a very special guest. She beams with delight when she is around family.
These lovely ladies in purple, my nieces Venisa and Serena, enjoyed some quality reading time from my selection of children's Christmas books. Hmmm, were there maybe 12 of those?!
Anisa made me a special gift, my very own sturdy, practical, large bag with handles and everything! And 12 of her wonderful crocheted dishcloths plus some fuzzy purple socks inside!
Finally I gathered everyone around to watch me open my cards. I was so excited and amazed as each envelope contained $12! There was even money from Venisa's in-laws, and from people I didn't know (Venisa's college friends who've been praying with her about Duane's support)! When I finished, I had $132. I got my purse and opened it, babbling about counting how much money I had. I counted out $132 of my own and wondered what I could do with so much money.

Then I asked Duane to come up and help give me some ideas. I put all the money in a bag and told him I wanted to give it to him for his Uganda trip. He was satisfactorily surprised!Then I gave him a hug and stole his awesome purple stocking cap. A few guest came late, and we ended up with $300 for him! We also have three bags and more than a dozen things to take to Sunshine Industries.
I loved the hat, but my sons forbade me to wear it for the group picture. Something about it sticking up too far and blocking whatever.
Back row, left to right: Kevin, Serena, Galen, Nick, Craig, Eric
Middle row: Will, Anisa, Carol, Doug, me, Stephanie (w/Craig), Molly (w/Eric),
Jean, Rachel (w/Duane), Mom
Front Row: Duane, Chavon, Cody, Linda, Venisa
My dear husband got the camera all set up on the tripod and we organized ourselves quite nicely, but he had to fiddle with it a bit to get the timer set up, and the natives got a bit restless. There was a bit of pinching and tickling going on, and possibly some claustrophobia as well. The first attempt failed. Will is not one to hurry, and he thought he had time to walk sedately to his spot in spite of the frantic urging of his sons. He didn't quite make it. I felt a warm glow, not just from all the body heat around me (or a side effect of my advancing age), but from realizing how much my family loves me to put up with the prolonged invasion of their body space. They stayed in place for the next attempt, which found Will hustling over and grinning as if  he'd been there relaxing all along. My youngest nephew Jamison wandered off during this never ending photo shoot, so he's the only guest not pictured.
But he wandered back in time to be caught in one of the sibling/spouse photos.
Will sent me a gorgeous bouquet with 12 purple balloons, and the children enjoyed them. After tears resulting from a balloon slipping up to the vaulted ceiling, Uncle Will kindly employed a slip knot to keep it on a wrist.
Several wrists actually. Jamison wasn't so sure he liked it tied on.
So I just have to share my fun decor. I made 4 groups of three "12" posters. Each group had a theme This one was "Christmas Joy" and included 12 pictures, old through recent, of family at Christmas.
This one was "Youthful Adventure Joy", with 12 pictures from our hiking and skiing adventures in days of yore.
"Birthday Joy", with, of course, 12 pictures of family birthdays.
And 12 pictures of "Family Joy", old and new group pictures.

So you may be among those thinking, "She is really nuts, obsessing about this crazy 12-12-12 birthday and throwing herself a party."  I detected this attitude from my dear children, who seemed to think my party invitation was hilarity inducing. So maybe I shouldn't have enthused, "Sometimes I just have the best ideas!" Oh, well. It was fun planning it, and even more fun sharing it with my generous family, who kindly puts up with my eccentricities all year long, just as families should. Hmm, I wonder what my next great idea will be?