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.
