Annual Betz Buzz December 2011

Published by

the Charles Betz family

Springport Michigan

Written by Joyce Choate Betz 

2011 was a fairly quiet year in the Betz household, so quiet in fact that I hope you do not find this newsletter so boring as to put you to sleep.

Snow Storms…...

As usual the year started with snow.  These pictures was taken on January 8, everything was covered in hoar frost.    I can’t find any place where I wrote about it at the time but  It seems to me like I drove to or from work in a snow storm every day

In  February, we got a big snow storm that some  were calling 

Snowpocolypse 2011,  I posted on Facebook that Lansing got 11 inches of snow, Jackson got 7 and we got about 9.  You can see more pictures from that storm  On my Facebook page

 

…And  Wind Storms

 On memorial weekend, we had quite a storm, as did many people in neighboring areas.  We were coming back from a horse show on Sunday When they ended the show early because of impending storms moving our way.  On the way home, we heard on the radio that  there were tornados sighted in the area.  (I swear I saw a funnel cloud) As we turned toward home, The rain was so bad we couldn’t see the road so Charlie stopped the car just off the road to wait it out.  The wind really rocked the car, we both thought it might get picked up or roll over.

When it finally stopped  we found out that the neighbor who happened to be a little way behind us pulled in to a driveway because they couldn’t see either, and the  wind tore his  camper off the truck and threw it into a tree. 

It took us about two hours to get home (about 1.5 miles.  All of the roads had trees down blocking the way,  we were finally able to get through when the township crews were able to cut some of the trees  on one of the roads.  There were lots of trees, down in the horse pastures.  Charlie was finally able to sell some of them to a lumber broker who moved them out. Here is a photo of one of the apple trees ripped up at the roots.  

The Farm 

In the spring Charlie sold a couple  of horses in to a YMCA camp in West Branch  Through that he  became friends with Brandy and Ashley Nelsey.  

Brandy and Ashley are riding their horses from West Brach, Michigan to Texas.  They started riding in tember and are currently in Kentucky.  They are helping raise money for clean water wells in Haiti.  A project that their church had started.   

The girls stayed with us for a few days on their way through and did a presentation the elementary school.  This picture was taken by the Jackson Citizen Patriot on September 27.  Charlie is planning on us taking a trip when they get to Red Banks Mississippi, which is where is son, Terry and his family live. 

 You can find out  more about Brandy and Ashley’s trip at Facebook  or friend them on Facebook as Horseback for Haiti or check out the blog

We also had a new edition to the herd, born on Easter Sunday so Charlie named her Lily.  She is a friendly little thing,  She loves to have her back or ears scratched .  One day she followed me, and almost walked up in to the sun porch.

 We had some baby ducks hatch this spring too, buteach day or so another one came up missing. We think that a snapping turtle in the pond got some of them.  It could also have been the raccoons or coyotes.

As  you may know, chickens don’t lay many eggs in  the winter.  Because we had some new ones this spring, when they started to lay  we got a variety of egg sizes. From extra jumbo to extra small 

 Travel  

 

Ed. and Joyce drove to Alabama, to visit Lois, Troy and Joe, in Birmingham.   Ed got some golf in,  I did a little geocaching.  I found out that Lois and Ed, think it is rather silly,  Troy and Harper, seemed to like it though,  It was a nice break from the cold, and good to spend some quality time with some great people.  Thanks Lo, Troy, Sheryl, Christian, Harper  (especially for letting me use your bedroom) Joe and  Kim.

We also had a Gilbert family reunion in AuTrain, Michigan in  July, Hosted by the Larson’s.  I have quit a few pictures , too many to add to this print copy of the newsletter, but you can see them on Facebook.,   I don’t have a picture of the whole group but here are a few of the scenery.    I had not realized there were so many waterfalls in the area.

We also found Lakenenland  between, AuTrain and Manistique. This guy had all kinds of welded “junk” sculptures. 

 

 

This and That—Odds and Ends

Charlie and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in June, and Shonda surprised us with a party.  She did made all of the arrangements herself, and invited over 100 people.   She did a great job.   If you need an event planner she may be available. Her time maybe a little tight though because she is working full time at Springhill Suites in Lansing and is planning on taking 9 credit hours at JCC. She’s working toward her Bachelors in Journalism

As many of you know Charlie is currently having trouble with his back,  the Dr. says it is muscle spasms caused by  some kind of strain.  It is getting better.   He keeps himself busy around the “farm”  

My car died a sudden  unexpected death in September.  So we had to go car hunting.  We settled on a 2006 Buick Lacrosse. 

Big Winds 5-29-11

I am writing this hear to let everyone know that yes we are fine and give you a few details of what happened on Sunday.

We went out in the morning and did some Geocaching, then went to a horse show in Nashville, (no not Tennessee- Michigan)  it is west and north of Charlotte. Danielle and her dad pulled the horse trailer we were just going to watch.    The sky was getting really dark and the announcer said their was severe weather headed our way so we decided to leave early.    On the way  home, on Royston Rd. (here is a link to the map http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl )  north of Bellevue Road the radio said there was a tornado sighted in Eaton county.  I looked to the southwest and said there it is - there is a funnel cloud.  We turned on to Springport /Holibaugh road and it looked like the cloud had dispersed, but you could see the line of  storms.  We got almost to Markle Rd. and couldn't see the hood of the car, so Charlie stopped and turned on the flashers.  The wind was so bad the car shook, it felt like we were going down a really really bump road and the car felt like it was going sideways.  I was sure it was going to break the windows.  Charlie said he thought it was going to flip.  I closed my eyes took a deep breath and thought OK what ever happens happens, there's nothing I can do about it now.

When the  rain and wind let up we tried to proceed. Just passed Markle Rd. there was a tree, a whole tree down across the road.  Since we had no chain saw or chain in the car we backed up thought we would try Markle.  Nope two trees across down.

Back tracked, met a couple of vehicles that said they couldn't get through on M50/99.   Our next door neighbor who happened to be behind us at the Bellevue Rd turn pulled into someones drive way and the wind took his truck camper off the truck and threw it against a tree.

We tried Royston.Lots of brush, water across the road and a wire down in the water that we didn't see until we were already on it, the utility pole was broken in half.

Another tree. two guys in a Pick up had a chain saw at home and went back to get it.  By the time they got there there were at least 4 vehicles behind us including our horse and trailer.  They cut through 3 trees, before we got to Love's farm.  There was a tree on top of his tractor, and wires down across the road and the drive. Decided to try Springport Road again.  The workers were out removing trees, so we were finally able to get through.  It took over 2 hours to go less than a mile.  At one point Charlie said we don't even know if the house is still there.  I said if it isn't we can consider ourselves lucky that we weren't in it. 

We were lucky, we lost trees, and have to repair the corner of the roof.  But the house is still there the horses and the dog and the chickens are fine.
It's just HOT and humid  and lots of clean up work to do.

Book Review - Water for Elephants

 I wrote this review for JDL home page in 2007.  With the movie coming out in April.   I thought it might be a good idea to publish here.
Inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind dwell memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate into the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain, and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow irrational rules, its own way of life and its own way of death. The world of the Circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out… Marlena,…was there because she fell in love with the wrong man….Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was Rosie didn’t have an act—in fact she couldn’t even follow instructions. …”(from the book jacket)

This book takes the reader inside the life of the “Circus.” (How realistic it is, I can’t really say, having never lived in a circus.) It’s language and terminology: “a first or May,” “A Monday Man” “Rubes”, “Redlighting.” It made me think of the TV show I watched as kid, Circus Boy, (only because it was set in a Circus) actually it was much more like the movie the Greatest Show on Earth.

It carries the reader through a whole range of emotions:

• Frustration of the frail old Jacob in the nursing home, not being able to remember how old he is (is it 90 or 93?), unable to remember the nurses name, impatience the other patients imperfections. The soft food he was forced to eat because some patients didn’t have teeth, even though he still had all his. Although this is a sad situation Gruen was able to write it in a way that made me smile (I thought of the Billy Crystal character). 
• Humor of an elephant that had no act and couldn’t follow directions but was able to sneak around the circus grounds un noticed to get the lemon-aid.
• Anger at the mistreatment of animals and people
• Passion and action -- walking on the tops of moving train cars, fist fights, etc.
• The beauty and excitement of animal acts and for me a surprise ending.

A good book- and because I was listening to it on CD was more than one time, I “had” to sit in my car after I got where I as going, in order to listen to the rest of a chapter.

My opinions of the movie that I have not seen and has not been released yet:
The movie stars Hal Holbrook as the old man.  I great choice.
                            Reese Witherspoon, she may be OK, I don't think that would have been my choice
                            Robert Pattinson (Twilight)  I an not sure about this at all.

My recommendation READ THE BOOK before you see the movie.  It was great.

Keep reading JB.

The Joys of Home Ownership.

Last week we have some frozen pipes that had to be replaced.   Yesterday Charlie posted on face book, about the day not starting well yesterday.  Like a lot of people in the Springport area, we lost power Saturday morning about 4:30, It came back on about 7:30, right after Charlie left for an all day state wide equestrian meeting.  Yeah power, water, heat.  Oops wait a minute the furnace didn't kick on.  Oh well, I was going to the District wrestling meet in Hudson to watch a young cousin, and the Springport team.  I left a message on Charlie's cell phone about the furnace. 

Even thought I am not a huge fan of wrestling,  I had a great time at the wrestling meet.  Seeing some old friends, and family members, that I don't get to see very often. Congratulations to Coty who took first place, and Springport's 6 wrestlers who will be going on to Reginals.  Also Congratulations to Jake who also took first place on Friday night at the Jr. High District meet.

I got home about 5:30, Charlie was home but had not checked is messages, and didn't notice it was cold inthe house.  It was 63 degrees, I think I have camped in cooler temps. 

The pilot light had gone out.  It would relight. after about an hour.  He called a friend who works in heating and cooling,  He brought a "thingy" and replaced the broken thingy.  Yeah heat.  !!!!

A few minutes later, we heard a strange kind of electrical pop we saw nothing amiss, no smoke so we went back to what we were doing.   A few minutes later, we realized the furnace was not kicking on  a GAin.
Charlie couldn't figure out what was wrong so we took one of our small space heaters in the bedroom, and decided to figure it out in the morning.

This morning found the problem,  thought he could fix it but found out it wasn't a simple wire replacement. The relay, was shot.   He is currently at the hardware store trying to buy a new one.  I am wearing my sweats and wrapped in a blanket trying to stay warm. 

At least it is not below zero like it was last week.  As my cousin says "just livin the dream"