Annual Betz Buzz
December 2010
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 acrossthe 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
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.
May the spirit of the season last in your heart and your homes and your lives throughout the whole year.
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.htmlCommunity 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.
