My Christmas Card This year

Just so you know- I never get my Christmas Cards done this early. Some years I don't get them done at all.

It's cold outside....

but we’re
wishing you the
Loving spirit of Christmas
to
keep you warm throughout the New Year

Charlie and Joyce Betz

Created especially for you by
Joyce Betz
2009

This is the newsletter I included with the card.

When I started this edition of the newsletter, I thought it was going to be pretty short, but I quess we did more than I thought this year.

Weather

It seems like we had a lot of snow earlier this year, and the temperatures were really up and down. The first picture was taken January 20.
A lot of the snow melted, , there was even some ground visible, I think the lilacs even started budding. The temperature was above 40 degrees on February 13th then on Valentine’s day it looked like this.

Animals

We have had our share of problems with our animals this year. We currently have 8 horses at our place. Six, are Charlie’s, two of them he got as a rescue, two of them are boarding,
During the summer, one of these horses, had a problem with it’s penis, it would not retract properly, was extremely swollen. One vet, after two visits, told him to take it to Michigan State University Vet Clinic, When he got there the receptionist announced over the loud speaker that the “problem penis horse” was there. They gave him some medication and fixed a sling (thong) to help keep it inside. That didn’t work. The third vet, pushed it back in, and stitched it for several weeks until the muscles could heal and become strong enough to hold it. If that hadn’t worked they would have had to do an amputation. All very strange, but kind of funny too.

Charlie bought several baby chicks this spring, and they were doing well, We came back from our camping trip in June and most of them were dead, he described it as chicken parts all over the coop. He is pretty sure it was a raccoon. We have one hen left, she apparently visits the neighbors and tries to eat the cat food. They call her Ninja chicken.

While Charlie was at the fair with the 4H kids, in July, I took the dog for a walk one evening and he ran out in front of car, and took a big chunk of flesh off his leg, He hobbled around for weeks.
A few weeks ago another horse became ill one evening. It was breathing hard, biting at it’s side, sweating heavily. He took it to the vet, it had become septic and had to be put down. Apparently the stomach wall had a thin spot and it ruptured.

4H

Charlie built a horse arena in the back pasture so he and the neighbor kids could practice their horses. Then he agreed to become a 4H horse leader this year. He had 8 girls in the club. He took them to the Eaton County Fair the first week of July.
It was one of the girls’ first year in horse competition, she was riding one of Charlie’s young horses that had never competed before either. They did very well, she placed in all but one of her 8 events.
He is currently working on expanding the arena. It wasn’t long enough and it gives him something to do.

Springport Township Equestrian Partnership

Charlie spent most of the year working with a committee to write a proposal to build a big equestrian park in the area. They would have been able to hold international horse shows as well as tractor/equipment shows, rodeos livestock auctions etc. It would have brought hundreds of jobs to the area. Unfortunately the Michigan Equine Partnership picked a group on the east side of the county to receive the grant, A disappointment, but the facility won’t be too far away.

Transportation

This was not a good year for our vehicles.
Charlie took his truck into the shop in late winter and it seems like he was without a vehicle for over a month. He had to have the engine replaced. That costs several thousand dollars.
Then the car went on the fritz, it needed, a new head gasket. and that costs $1500. The car was 14 years old, but you can’t buy a new car for $1500, so we got it fixed, and I was without a car for over a week.
A week after we got it back we broadsided an SUV and totaled our car. Niece Michelle, offered to let us borrow her “extra” car, and we bought that one from her. It is smaller and get pretty good mileage.

Vacations

We bought a camper in the fall of 2008 so we have gone on a few camping trips this year. In the middle of May I went to Indiana, it rained on Friday and we woke up in the middle of a swamp on Saturday morning.

On Memorial Day weekend. We took the horses and the 4H kids and their families. Well, Charlie took the horses, I just hung around, and did some of the cooking.

In June we went to Custer State Park for a few days. The park was practically empty but the camp sites are wooded and sort of enclosed so it seemed like we had the whole park to ourselves.

In August we went to Tawas State Park, again with my family. This park is set out on point so there is water on both sides of the park but it was really crowded, but we expected that in August.

In November, just before Thanksgiving we took a short trip to Pennsylvania, the first time in about 6 years. It was good to see several people, although we didn’t get to see all of Charlie’s cousins. We have said that we need to get there more often.

On the Health Front

Charlie was having some trouble with what the Dr. said was “trigger finger.” The tendon locks up in the bent position and won’t straighten out. He had an injection in his right hand that worked for awhile. A few months later it came back, and he was having the same problem with his lef hand. He had surgery on his right hand this fall, and will have the other one done in a few months.
My yearly mammogram showed an unusual spot, I had that biopsied, thankfully it turned out to be nothing.

In April, I went to my optometrist, for a check up. She was concerned because my prescription had changed drastically. I went to my physician that day. My blood glucose level was 260. He told me I had to loose weight, and I started taking metformin. I started the South Beach diet and riding the stationary bike that day. In April I couldn’t walk a block and half without my back hurting, by July I was walking 3 miles. I bought a bike (a single speed, coaster brake, fat butt seat) by the end of October I was riding 5 miles.
As of Thanksgiving I have lost 63 pounds. The Dr has taken me off the metformin, and reduced the high blood pressure medication. I feel great. The picture on the left above was taken in December 2007. The one on the right was taken September 2009

Kids

Shonda finally got a full time job, after several weeks of unemployment last year, working as a bartender at the Eagles club in Charlotte. It doesn’t have any paid benefits, but at least she is working which is more than some people can say.
She has a new boyfriend, Eric. He is currently “between opportunities” but he is getting unemployment like a lot of other people in the state.
Chris’s Hofer, our exchange student a few years ago, came back for a visit. He spent a couple of days with us and spent some time with friends he made when he was here in 2007.
Shonda Christoff

We would love to have any of you come and visit, we have a spare bedroom, and a guest house, (the camper).
Charlie is retired now for 3 years, so he is home most of the time. I have lots of vacation time so I don’t have too much trouble taking days off. Give us a call anytime.

You are more likely to find me on facebook
(Joyce Choate Betz),

I can also be found on Twitter (betzja), although I don’t tweet very often.

You can also see some more pictures at
http://flickr.com, search for betzspt

Hoping everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.