Annual Christmas Update.

Annual Betz Buzz
December 2010

Well it’s that time of year again.  A few months ago, when I started thinking about what I would write in this year’s letter I thought we hadn’t had much happen this year, but as I look back, although not wildly exciting. We did have a few things happen in 2010.

A New Hobby

Charlie and I started a new hobby this year,  Geocaching (pronounce geo-cashing).  It is kind of a high tech treasure hunt.  You look up “caches” that people have hidden on the website (www.geocaching.com).They have entered the Latitude and longitude on the website. The searcher enters the coordinates in their GPS and go hunting. The cache is usually,  hidden or camouflaged in some way.  Like the one I hid in front of the Carnegie     Library.  We do it for the fun and challenge of the hunt.  It gets us out of the house, away from the TV and computer, we get some exercise and fresh air. There are over 1,000,000 world wide.  We have found 187 caches so far.

On the Farm Front

We had a few chickens this spring, and one of the neighbors gave us a rooster.  We didn’t know it then but we soon found out he was an attack rooster. He  became very protective of his hens and would run across
 the yard to flog anyone he thought was he thought was intruding.   He came up behind me once or twice so I carried a big stick in case he went into attack mode and tried to sneak up behind me.    I had to use it a couple of times. After that he usually stayed away from me, but I could tell he was 

 watching me.    One day a neighbor came over and the rooster ran from across the horse pasture, and flogged his shins, he had blood running down his leg.  We finally had him butchered.
Charlie has been working on an arena for a while.  The  equestrian kids did use it to practice a little, but he was finally able to get a layer of sand in this year which is better for the horses and riders.

Extended Family News

An uncle passed away in June, my dad’s brother Larry.  Although I had not seen him much in the 26 years since he moved to Florida his passing made me start thinking about all of the people with whom I have lost contact. 
I have not been able to find one of the cousins I was looking for, I did find a couple that I and my siblings were not even aware that I had.  My Father’s mother’s  brother, Sherman Jr.  moved to Texas in the 30’s.  I was able to track down Valerie Hawley Hamby and  and Cyd Hamby Margulies.   We have exchanged a couple of emails, and are Facebook friends, Next year I hope to do a better job of staying in touch with everyone.
Susan Mills, the daughter of my dad’s cousin, Bill Mills,  found me on Facebook.
 Yvonne Choate, Straub  Harper also passed away this fall. 
One of these days, I will get around to setting up a time for we surviving cousins to get together with their corresponding families.
 I have had fun posting family history pictures on Facebook this, and reading other’s peoples comments and reactions. I hope you have enjoyed them too.

Vacations

For vacation this year, we had talked about going Up North so Charlie could ride the Shore to Shore trail,  that didn’t work out,  but we did go camping for a few days at Farm Lane camp ground in Waterloo, It is right next to the Waterloo Recreation area, and Charlie was able to do some riding for a few days  there.  As you can see from the picture we had the whole place to ourselves most of the time.
   
In August  we visited some of the Betz relatives in Pennsylvania. It is always fun to see them. From there we drove to Vermont for Charlie’s naval reunion in Bennington.  The  ship Bennington was named
after the Revolutionary war Batle of Bennington  the.   The Ship’s bell is at the town hall.  Some of the men march in the Bennington Battle Day Parade every August, but this year they held their reunion during that week so they could all participate in the Parade.
Because one of the Equestrian meets was the same time the “Choate's” were going camping, Charlie couldn’t camp with us, so I drove the camper to Harrison Lake, Ohio all by MYSELF.  

On the Job Front 

Even though Charlie has been retired for 3 years, I am continuing to work at the library. Teaching adults (staff and public)  how to use computers.  I have been teaching classes twice a week at Department on Aging Senior nutrition Centers as well as twice a week at the library.  That comes to about 14 a month.   After the first of the year I will be teaching about 22 classes a month. 
A national library training group has requested some of my lesson plans, to use in helping other librarians across the country teach their
customers.
I attended the Computers in libraries conference in Washington DC in April,  “I love this conference,  I come back with all kinds of new  ideas and feel recharged.  Although the conference was only three days and a heavy schedule of workshops, I did manage to take a tour of the city one evening. Although it was dark, (it was a bus tour of  lights of D.C.) I was very touched by the Viet Nam wall, it was too dark to read any names.  Putting a hand on the wall gave me an almost overwhelming sense of sadness and loss.  The Korean Memorial was  very moving.  The was way it was lit made it eerie, and almost other worldly. 


Charlie's Health Update
As many of you know Charlie was helping a friend fix up his barn and had an accident with the Chain saw.  I will not go into the whole story here,  just know that he is doing fine, and was almost totally healed in just a couple of weeks.  If you are interested all of the details you can read them at http://jbetzblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/this-post-is-rate-pg13.html


Community Involvement

Although we don’t have anyone attending the Schools in Springport you almost cannot live in a small community like this and not be involved in the Schools.  Joyce  was still involved in Destination: ImagiNation, by appraising in February for the tournament and in April for the State competitions.
 

Charlie coached the Junior High equestrian team this spring.  There were only five kids but they came in first in the district for their class.   He enjoyed being assistant coach for the  High School team this fall.  They had a large team this year, and  came in second in districts, so they did not compete at the state level this year, but they had a good time.   

He is serving on the Agricultural Advisory Committee.
The FFA  won first place at the state Convention in March and 3 groups went to the  National convention in October.  
Each year for homecoming the FFA sponsors  Ag on Wheels.  On Friday morning the students drive their tractors to school and park them in front of the school  This year three of the kids rode horses. 
The Freshman used our pole barn to build their float.

The  high school football team had a great season.  Only the second time the school has own the conference Championship, the first time since 1973,  I think that was a shared title.  The first time ever they had a 9-0 regular season, the closest they have ever come was a 6-1-1 record in 1950. They made it to the playoffs for only the third time in school history, but lost to Mendon, a team that has been state champions 4 times in the last 10 years.  Way to Go Spartans.

The Village of Springport acquired some land and decided to make it into a park. Charlie is serving on that committee as chairman. 


Shonda Update
Shonda is currently working the  Fairfield Inn in Lansing and taking 3 online classes this semester through Lansing community college.  She is currently living in Portland, (Michigan not Oregon) with her friend, Eric.

Seasons Greetings

We wish you all  a very Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.
May the spirit of the season last in your heart and your homes and your lives  throughout the whole year.


 

Chain saw follow up

Charlie had a follow-up visit today.  Dr. Clarkson, took out the stitches and I asked him, how many because several people had asked me. He said he didn't know he hadn't counted, but it was in the dozens, later he said at least 40.   He said there are more important things, like the saw not breaking the sinus membrane or worse.  He compared it to an egg, when you break the shell with a spoon, there is a crack and may a piece missing but the membrane is still intact.  If it had broken there is a much greater risk of infection.  

Charlie said he thought that when the saw kicked back his hand hit the "brake" like it was supposed to and stopped the chain.  The Dr said that was probably right, some of the surgical staff was wondering why it didn't go have way through his brain.  He also thought that the chain was still moving some although at a much slower speed,  that is what caused the lacerations on his cheek. (All that stuff I was thinking on the way up to the hospital wasn't so far fetched after all)

After taking out the stitches the Dr. put on some adhesive steri-strips until it is fully healed. To remind it to stay together.  Then he said it can be terribly embarrassing to go out for the evening and have your face fall apart.

He still can't blow his nose for 6 weeks just in case there is a tear in the sinus membrane.  Blowing his nose could force air under this skin on his forehead.  He has to go back in a month just to make sure

This post is rate PG13,

Friday started out as an ordinary day, don't you hate when stories start that way, you just know they are not going to be good news, don't ya? Any way it started as an ordinary day, I left for work about 7:15.  Charlie got up just before I left, I told him I would see him when I got home, we were planning on going to the Springport football game.
Charlie was going to a friends house to work on a project, on their farm,which included repairs to an old barn with log beams. .

 About 10:30 AM,   I just missed a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize,  they left a voice mail message: "This is Jim, Charlie has had an accident they are taking him to Eaton Rapids"  "voices in the back ground"  Oh they're taking him to Sparrow."

I'm thinking:  Oh that's not good, Eaton Rapids hospital is bad enough, but Sparrow?    (Sparrow is in Lansing and it has a Trauma Center).

I immediately canceled my Dr's appoint and told my boss and co-workers what was going on,  I did ask if they knew how to get to Sparrow Hospital, they did not.   I figured I knew how to get to Lansing, I'd get directions once I got that far.

About a mile down the road, I thought I should have looked it up, I called the reference Department, asked them to look it up for me, Tessa didn't have to look it up, she knew how to get there.  Good thing it was easy I'm not sure I could have followed complicated directions.

I tried to call Shonda, and left a voice message to call me when she got mine.
All kinds of thought running through my head.  What kind of accident, electorcuted again?  Fell from the loft?  Something fell on him?  
About a third of the way there, My cell phone rang, It was the same number I didn't recognize.  She said she was on of the firefighter, rescue first responders.  She explained that Jim had used her phone to call me,  she needed to verify, our address and Charlies date of birth.  I asked her what kind of accident she said " a chain saw accident, he has some lacerations on his face."  That's all she'd say.

So now I'm thinking "He cut off his ear, he cut off half his face..."  

By the time I got to the hospital, and was pulling into the parking garage  I got another call from the patient liaison officer.  He told me to come to emergency and he would meet me there. .... The place is packed, there is no frickin' place to park.   I think I drove around 3 levels twice.

I got to the emergency room which is practically next to the elevators, he met me, and took me back to the trauma center.On the way he  told me that Charlie is conscious,  and alert and told the plastic surgeon he wanted pictures of his face before he fixed it. (I have some here, but they are rather disturbing and I'm not sure how to do this without making some people sick)   They said that he was lucky the blade caught right between the eye and the nose, missed the eye, the nose and the mouth.


(He was asked several times how it happened.  and I'm sure you are wondering too.  He was cutting a notch in a log, to fit in another piece of wood, to replace a beam that had to be removed.  The chain saw, hit a knot or something and kicked back and hit him in the face.)

Right after I got there they took to x-ray  for the second time, to check for skull fractures.


The trauma surgeon came in a couple of times,  a small Japanese woman, I had a little trouble understanding, (It has been a few years since Makiko was here).

The nurses said the plastic surgeon would be back to decide if he needed do surgery of could stitch him up in the ER.  He was there in a few minutes, and said that there was a small fracture above the nose and he would have to take Charlie to surgery to know the full extent of the injury.  (He had a British accent, by the way).  He told Charlie he was not to blow his nose today or for the next 6 weeks.  Something about air getting into the sinus cavity and behind the eye.  The operating rooms were all being used and they were not sure when they would be able to get in, sometime in the afternoon or perhaps evening.

We waited, a nurse cleaned  up most of the dried blood, on Charlie's face, chest, hands and arms.
We watied some more, They changed the linens on the gurney.
We waited.  They moved us to another room, with a TV. that neither of us cared to watch.  He asked if they got RFDTV, so he could watch some of the FFA convention.  (They don't, I checked) Charlie finally napped, I went to get something to eat. About that time my phone died, and I didn't have a charger. So I couldn't call anybody.

 I went  back.  They said they had a room for him upstairs and were going to take him into surgery about 4.  Charlie said to tell him to hurry because he had to get home to go to the High School football game. 

A pleasant rather good looking young man took us up to the room, it seemed like miles,  When we got to the room, Charlie said tell the surgeon, if he can't make me look as good as you, don't bother.
We waited, but not long,  Jen, came in and introduced herself as Charlie's nurse, then said she had a student nurse helping her.  Kelsy, came in and asked endless questions including, what is your name and your date of birth.  She had about 10 pages of questions to ask and at least 5 forms to sign.  Charlie  said that it felt like there was something in his eye. Kelsey couldn't see anything, and naturally didn't want to disturb it too much.
He joked around with her about all of the questions she had to ask.

They took, us well him , I just followed along, to the surgical holding room.  The Surgeon came in again. explained everything he might have to do including putting in a plate if the skull fracture was too big,  something to the sinus if the saw had gone in too deep, so there would not be a problem of sinus infections, and even the possibility of doing a bone graft.

We were introduced to 3 surgical nurses, 2 Anesthetist  nurses, and the Anesthetist . They all asked his name and birth date, checked the paper work and charts, and couldn't find the EKG that was done in the ER.
We waited some more
and some more
and some more. while ER looked for the EKG,
They finally sent someone down to do another EKG.  (We better not get charged for two).  Charlie mentioned again that it felt like there was something in his eye.

They finally took him to surgery about 5:15.  I went to the surgical waiting room
and waited
and waited
and waited.  Actually the surgery only took about an 1 1/2 hours.

The Dr said that there were a few bone chips, that he packed in place and they would heal. He had to cut of the rough edges of the skin and sew those together.  Charlie will have scars, but the Dr. thought that because his face is already has a lot of "creases" I think he said,  it probably won't show much.

As far as he was concerned Charlie could go home in the morning, but the Trauma Team also has to release him. He also wanted to have an Ophthalmologist check the eye, he didn't see anything, but wants to make sure it isn't scratched or otherwise injured.  Charlie will be on antibotics for a few days.

I waited some more.

They finally brought him back up to his room about 8:00.  I made sure he was settled in, he was dozing, so I decided to come home.

I got home about 9:30.  There were 4 messages on the answering machine. a political survey and 3 hang ups. Someone had posted the score of the High school game on facebook I asked if she had an update, she wrote back, that she didn't and how's Charlie.
The neighbors had gone home from the game and noticed I wasn't home yet,  so they were going to go up to the hospital, but decided to come by the house, first to double check.  They had heard about it at the game.  So it will be interesting to see how big this story gets.

Springport won by the way 19-0 the first 9-0 record in the history of the school.

 OK here are the first pictures, if you have a weak stomach don't read any farther, or close your eyes and scroll down to the comments.











This was after they cleaned him up a little.                                                                                           

















This was taken on Saturday Morning after surgery on Friday evening.

Springport Ag on Wheels.

 Springport's Homecoming is today.  The Freshmen have been building their float in our pole barn and today is the annual AG on Wheels event.  Sponsored by the FFA,  The kids drive their tractors to school and park them in front of the school for the day.  This year they also had 3 horses, one of the pioneers "original" tractors. Thought you all might want to see some pictures.  Springport's football record is 6-0 this year and with a win tonight they will at least share the conference title, the first time in 37 years (1973 when the conference was first formed.  GO BLUE - GO WHITE

August and September

In Mid August we attended Charlie's Navy Reunion in Bennington Vermont.  The Bennington was the first ship he was on in 1964.  It was named after the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington.  Usually the reunion is in September or October, but they changed it to August this year so they could "march" in the Bennington Battle Day parade.  They didn't really do much marching but as you can see several of them did walk.  Charlie  met one man who was one of the first sailors on the Bennington on it's first cruise in 1944. He was something like 90 + years old, he didn't walk they had a trailer for some of them to ride on.









 One of the ships bells' is at the Bennington Town Hall

We visited the Bennington Monument, built to commerate the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington (August 16, 1777)

In September Charlie had two Equestrian Meets, the first one on September 10th, I did not attend, I was camping at Harrion Lake state Park in Ohio, with my sister and brothers.  Barry and I introduced Arthur to Geocaching.  It rained most of Saturday afternoon, but we all had a good time.

Another Equestrian meet on the 17 and 18.  It rained on Saturday, but the sun finally game out on Sunday.  The Springport Team took Second in their class so their season is over for the year.  Only first place teams go on to regionals. 

The first 8 months of 2010

It has been a while since I posted. I have kept up with most of my family and friends through facebook but realized that a lot of you do not use face book, (you probably don't read this blog either, but I'll write it anyway just in case you happen to check it. ) I also use this a journal of our lives, so here goes.  There might be something new. I started this post in June, then forgot to come back and finish it until now.
.

January

Charlie and I started a new hobby something called Geocaching. It's kinda of like a High Tech treasure hunt. People hide caches, and post the latitude and longitude coordinates on a website. We put the coordinates into a GPS and go hunting, sign the log in the cache, then post the find on the website. As of today August 5, we have found 109

March

Charlie, decided to get dentures. He had his teeth pulled many many years ago, and had dentures at the time, but they never fit right so he didn't wear them. Some people are surprised.  Others have paid compliments, some have said nothing. I will post pictures when I can get some.

April

I attended the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington DC. I love that conference, I went a few years ago and both times I come back with lots of new ideas for the library. They don't all get implemented, but at least I have planted a seed. 

We got a few chickens this spring, Several hens and one rooster.  If you come in the yard watch out for him.  He has come after me a couple of times, and one of the neighbors a couple of times.  He even drew blood yesterday. He runs across the yard to attack from the back,  but he's not very quite so if you have a big stick you can defend your self.   The neighbors also brought us some ducks and the Rooster has attacked the ducks. 

May

Charlie Coached the Middle school equestrian team this spring, 5 kids. In Middle school they only have one meet. Springport took first place in their class.

June 
Charlie took our neighbor girl, who rides one of our horses, went to an open horse show in Charlotte. She took high point in her age class.

We celebrated or 24th wedding anniversay. Well, we really didn't do anything, but our anniversary was on the 21st.

We went camping at Custer State park with the family early this month, and Charlie and went to Farmlane Camp ground the middle of the month so he could go horse back riding, the campground is right next to Waterloo Recreation area, where they have several miles of riding trails. We were the only ones there for the first 2 or 3 days. He would have liked to go up north and ride the shore to shore trails (from Oscoda to Empire) but we didn't make it this year. If anybody is interested in riding with him let us know.

August

After

Before

Charlie finally got sand put in the horse arena, so the horses have better footing and more realistic practices. He is also helping with the High School equestrian team this year. They have a one day meet and a two day meet (Districts) in September. Depending on how they do at that meet they could go to Regionals the first weekend in October, States in the third weekend in October.

Not enough time?

I went to a memorial service for one of my uncles (my dad's youngest brother) today. He has lived in Florida for more than 25 years. The last time I saw him was 10 years ago at his sister's funeral. The memorial service was held at the Clarklake Beach Bar, which, after some thought I realized it is probably what he would have chosen.  There was probably 35 or 40 people there, and one of my dad's cousins and I were the only relatives.

He was only 10 years older than I, that makes him 16 years younger than my Dad that may be why we were never very close (but we never were close to most of my Dad's family). I remember him as the uncle who was a little wild and always wanted to have fun. It seems like we laughed a lot when he was around, but I really don't remember much more than that.

One of the memories that someone shared was that he raced snowmobiles, he was good at it, and well respected by other racers all over the United States, the only problem was he wanted to win the race in the first lap. He apparently only had one speed. FAST. I vaguely remember that he raced, but I never saw him race, and I didn't know he was good.

It is a shame, that we didn't see much of each other, I could have called him, or written, I never did. On the other hand, he could have tried too. He apparently came up every year, and always went to see one of the neighbors that lived down the road from where he grew up. He never called me.

I am old enough to know that you always think you will have more time, and put things off until it is too late. Then you wish you had done more. So maybe I will try to find some of the cousins and friends I have lost track of before it is too late.

My weight loss story

I have recently had a couple of people ask me how I lost weight, I have posted here on this blog, at different times, but I guess I have not written the whole so here it is.

I am going to start in December of 2007, that is when I was the heaviest.
In December of 2007, I told my Dr. on a regular visit that I was soooo tired, and Charlie complained about my snoring. He sent me to the sleep clinic where they determined that I had sleep apnea. this is a quote from the December 23, 2007 blog
".....I had a Doctor’s appointment, just a semi-annual Blood Pressure check, , He told me I looked awful. I told him I was really tired, and Charlie couldn’t sleep because I snore so loudly. He sent me to the sleep clinic for a consultation. They think I may have sleep apnea, and I have to go in the end of January so they can watch me sleep. Apparently, this is fairly easy to correct and can really make a difference in the way someone feels, when they get a good nights sleep.













This picture was taken at Christmas 2007

In August of 2008, I found out that I have a sluggish thyroid

In April of 2009, I found out my blood glucose level was 260, normal is somewhere around 100. It was beginning to affect my eyes, I know what diabetes can do. I was scared. I have seen people who have gone blind, or had to have dialysis, or amputations because of diabetes complications. The Dr. said you HAVE to lose weight you Weight Watchers or South Beach are both good.
That was Wednesday. I did some research and decided on South Beach, I started it on Thursday morning. South Beach diet starts with 2 weeks for 0 carbs, only vegetables, and protein. I ate meat and salad for two meals for 4 days. By Sunday I thought if I had to look at one more leaf of lettuce I would scream. Instead of quitting, I switched to cauliflower and Broccoli. I started the exercise bike for 15 minutes and added 5 minutes each week.
In April I could not walk a block and a half without my back hurting. by May 11th I had lost 10 pounds. (33.5 since December 07) by June I could walk 3 miles, and one day I walked 5. In August, I bought a bike, a single speed, coaster brake, fat butt seat. and rode it every evening, for at least 30 minutes. I had dropped 2-3 pant sizes.













By October this is what I looked like. 50 pounds thinner.

Last winter I sat on the couch eating potato chips, watching the Biggest Loser. This spring, I rode my exercise bike and watched the Biggest Loser.

I love potatoes of any kind, mashed, fried, scalloped chips, I have eaten maybe 5 spoons full of potatoes total in the last 8 1/2 months. People ask me how I have the will power? It is kind of like make a decision do I want those potatoes, or cake or cookies or my kidneys. Easy choice.

I went to the Doctor in early December and had lost a total of 63 pounds. I have maintained that through the holidays and we started up our support group at work today. (if you want to see what we discussed this morning you can find it here. I don't think it will go off as fast but if I can lose a little each week until March or April, I will be able to get outside and do more physical stuff.