2012 Redux

The end of 2012, and the end of my dear little sister, and many losses here at Calamity Acres. 

 

I had not planned to do a month by month memorial, but decided this afternoon to do so.

 

January saw the new year in, but it was a sad one for our little Hannah, our little pug girl.  We had to have her eye taken out on January 2nd and she never quite recovered from the trauma of it.  By January 24, we realized she was not eating and drinking, and that it was time.

 

Four days later, someone brought this little ragamuffin to our door.  Bessie became a member of the family for a short while, and then our neighbors next door fell in love with her, and she lives there with them now, and is very much loved and well cared for.

 

February 4 was my little sister Kathleen's 60th birthday...

 

 

Here she is at about 30, on her son Chris's birthday, always close to Easter.

 

 

We didn't know it then, but mild temps in March that allowed Keith to grill out were a premonition of the summer to come.

 

April did not bring showers this year, but rather milder temps and some new turkeys for us.  There is teenager Jackson in the foreground.  

 

 

May ended springtime with higher temps... and these guys.  However, we saw very, very few snakes this year compared to others.  Tony was one of the reasons, he killed them when he saw them.  We aren't sure of the other, but we saw a third as many as years before. 

 

 

June came, and with it, high temperatures.  We decided to re-home our llamas, since Tony was getting to be too much for me to handle safely.  The kind people who gave them a home, Renee and Brian, brought us these beautiful Hackney pony mares, who we sent along to our friend Joani in northwest Missouri.  How nice it was to see them grazing in our pasture for a few days.  

 

 

July brought searing heat... and little rain.   Keith made huge progress on the henspa after it was roofed through the kindness of Eddie Ibarra.

 

 

August brought my 62nd birthday, which was celebrated at our favorite stadium, Community American Ballpark, home of the Kansas City T Bones.  I retired on August 3rd after 46 years of working, most of them several jobs at a time.

 

 

It was hot that night, too.

The whole summer was HOT.

 

September saw us take a short trip to Branson, but this was momentous because WE NEVER GET TO GO ANYWHERE TOGETHER.  Thank you, Grandson Chris.

 

 

In October, something got our beautiful Annabelle.  We had already lost our first Turkette, Clarabelle, earlier.  We still aren't sure what it was.

 

 

 

November saw me already thinking ahead to next year's garden after this year's abysmal gardening season.

 

 

And December saw the birth of Keith's first granddaughter, Brynn Allison... who is the best little doll we could have had for Christmas.

 

 

 

(This man melts into a sap with one look from this tiny baby.)

 

It was a long year, this year.  From the high of retirement, to the low of losing my only sister in May... I still can't believe she's gone. 

 

So many of our animal companions gone too... Hannah in January, the Turkettes at the end of the summer, the llamas gone in re-homing... and now, last week, Gertie Lou in such a tragic way.  But, this is life.  I have faith that my sister is where I will see her again one day... and be reunited with her and my parents in happiness.  I look forward to next year and can't wait to see what it brings.  We pray for rain... we got some snow today, and were glad of it.  We pray there is more moisture to come behind it, for green gardens and fertile fields for the farmers all around us here in Leavenworth County. 

 

I hope all my blogging friends have a good 2013 too, and all of you who are readers and commenters... you don't know how encouraging you are with your comments... and how great it is to know that someone out there thinks like you do... even if we never meet!  This blog has enriched our lives, both Keith's and mine... and because of your blogs, I know what beaches look like though I've never seen one... I know what the top of a mountain looks like... what other countries look like... and have seen beautiful homes and happy families and animals I can never dream of owning.  To blog is to dream. 

 

Happy New Year!