Merry Christmas 2006 and Happy New Year 2007! Another year has passed swiftly and we remain thankful for family, friends, and a full life with many blessings. We pray that all is well with you. In many ways, 2006 wasn’t too much different from a lot of other years, except for two things. The first was Sadie; our rather nondescript, loveable, black lab mix that has become a very important part of the family. The second was that Jerry had a pretty bad accident in early April.

  We decided not to completely finish remodeling our “new” home yet, as it’s only been three and one half years since we started. We hope to have the kitchen completely finished by year-end, with just the master bath, utility room, and entry to finish. We did spend a lot of time working outdoors. The big project was filling in the “gully.” We hung a sign out saying we were looking for clean fill and have so far had enough to fill and level about an acre. It also gave Jerry a good excuse to buy a tractor with a front-loader (big toy for little boy). In a big spurt last spring we finished the tile and woodwork in the kitchen, dining room and lounge. Sylvia got brave and tried her luck with the sewing machine. As a first time sewing machine project, she completed eight sets of roman blinds for the long, tall windows and traditional curtains for the front door & it’s sidelights. We also got phases one and two of four done for the deck. Made it a lot of work by putting in some geometric patterns, but it was fun using the composite decking rather than treated pine. All that doesn’t sound like much for a whole year, but it kept us busy all year long.

  Sylvia has increased her time at Habitat for Humanity from a day and a half each week to at least three days —Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It brings a fancy title: Assistant Re-Store Manager. It is a pretty demanding job and Sylvia takes it pretty seriously. Fortunately, she has the very best volunteer help on Saturdays—Jerry. He is just now getting calls from AARP about training and getting ready for the 2007 (really 2006) tax season.

  Sadie, our pride and joy, is now a little over a year and a half. Hopefully at 50 pounds she is nearly full-grown. At those 50 pounds, her ribs are hard to find. Some how she gets too many treats over the course of the day. She has her own “doggy flap” so she can come and go as she wishes and more than an acre with invisible fence so she has lots of room to chase squirrels. Not a bad life for a dog.

  We also spend a lot of time visiting doctors and hospitals. Partly because we’re maturing but mainly because a tree that Jerry was cutting fell on his head. He was evacuated by helicopter to Springfield, Missouri and treated for a broken back, severe abrasions surrounding his right eye, multiple breaks to his jaw, and fractures to most of his facial bones. By the end of June he was pretty much back too normal. Unfortunately, his jaw hasn’t healed correctly and will need further treatment. We should find out about the last surgeries early next year. Despite the remaining problems, we are lucky it wasn’t worse.

  We made our annual trip to England in early October. Sylvia’s mother remains pretty much the same. She seems to be happy and gets very good care at the home. Our kids, Paul and wife Angela, are doing well and we really enjoy the time we spend with them. Brother Frank is now a published author working his on third karate book. We were lucky enough to be able to listen to brother Roy playing saxophone with his jazz band. The remaining friends and family that we were able to see were all doing well. We especially enjoyed our time with Irene and Les. We had our stateside family reunion just outside Chicago. Got to the aquarium and Chicago pizza, as well as an afternoon making kites. The siblings are all doing well and Sister Joan did a great job hosting. Hopefully we entertained the welcome visitors to our home well enough that they come back soon.

  We rescheduled the “big” trip we try to take each year. We had planned on a couple of weeks in California in May. We ended up taking just over a week in early November. It was a very good trip and central California is a very lovely place to visit. Al got to revisit the Presidio of Monterey where he had studied Russian back in 1958. I was a bit more impressed with Pebble Beach. Hopefully it’s China and Tibet next year with Joyce and Kenn. We also made a few shorter trips, like Independence and St. Louis.

  So that’s the news from the Argetsinger’s for now. If you are ever driving US highway 71/I-540 between Bella Vista and Rogers in the NW corner of Arkansas, stop in. We’d love to see you.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Sylvia, Jerry and Sadie

9651 East Highway 72, Bentonville, AR 72712
Telephone 479-271-8572
E-mail: jerry@argets.com or sylvia@argets.com
Web site: http://www.argets.com/