19	Winter	98
PO Box 522	PAMPA, TX	79066-0522
Volume 8	of the family, by the family, for the family	Issue 3
806 669 0522	Christmas | Houston | Tucson | Postal | Visitors | Thoughts	puzzler@pan-tex.net

CHRISTMAS '98 Time relentlessly marches on and the government has assured us there are no glitches in the government computers and there would be no problems with S.S. checks in the year 2000. Hope that's true of all government checks. Well, I'll worry more about that in another year. I fell December 11th, landing on my bad knee. Blood pressure went wacko. Had xrays of the knee, no breaks. On December 18th, because my leg looked so bad, I had a bone (CT) scan. No breaks, it hurts quite a lot, pops when I walk, etc. and is very sore. After the first of the year, Dr. Saadeh will send me to an Orthopedic doctor if it hasn't cleared up dramatically. It's not painful enough for surgery. With a diuretic, I've lost a few pounds of fluid, but blood pressure is still a little wacko. Not really bad, so they increased my dosage on blood pressure medication. Really enjoyed the Christmas get together with Ed's kids. They are doing well, always busy with projects. I'm still working on a few craft items. Bob and I made a birdhouse shelf for the name I had in the gift exchange at work. It got rave reviews. Bob is continually amazed and baffled at the things I use to make craft items. He's catching on and has come up with some great ideas. Well, we had a few days of "real" winter weather, near zero to upper teens but now back in the 50's. That's supposed to change again in a couple of days. It wasn't too bad of a Christmas day, but we still had traces of snow. I'm not real fond of bone chilling cold, but I do think we need it to control the bugs that make people sick. The animals are doing great. The cats weren't really happy when I wrecked their jingles. Cucumber vines were huge and climbed fences and anything else that is near. We had an abundant tomato crop, after that hot dry spell. Bob put in a drip irrigation system with a timer so they were watered well and regularly. I picked my first tomato in September and from then until the killing frost on December 8th, we had fresh tomatoes. I had picked most of them in late November but left a few I could cover with a sheet. We have bird feeders and squirrel feeders and that keeps the dogs and cats entertained. Love, Monta TI in Houston The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off notice due to economic conditions. My family has relocated to the Houston area. I had an opportunity to transfer to Texas Instruments' Stafford, Texas Facility and since I have grown use to receiving a paycheck, it looked very inviting. It has been a big change for all of us. Larger schools, traffic, rain, traffic, palm trees, traffic, malls, traffic, the beach, traffic, the Galleria, traffic, great January weather, traffic, MUD, traffic... Our new address is: 922 Grand Junction Katy, TX 77450 281-392-1380 We had the oportunity to be at Heather and Todd's wedding. They had a beautiful outdoor ceremony at a Park in Austin. The weather and peacocks cooperated very nicely. If my memory serves me well, It stormed the weekend before and the weekend after, but you could not ask for better weather the weekend of the wedding. We wish them all the best. While in Austin, we also toured the Capitol. Let me cross family lines and announce that the Elder family will celebrate 100 years in Dewey County, Oklahoma during the memorial day weekend. Will have more details later. L. Ray Elder Tucson The week after Christmas, Levi and I made a trip to Tucson to visit my brother Terry and sister Karen and her family, Mike and Bambi. We took the long way around through Lubbock where I had the opportunity to visit with Butch Davis, Vice President of Parkhill, Smith & Cooper, Inc. an Engineering and Architectural firm. He seemed excited about my work with the web and ACAD experience. He said he had a need for an ACAD specialist in Amarillo and showed me a proposal someone had given him for putting together a web site. I'll be following up with this possiblility. I also scoped out the possibility of getting on with Hugo, Reed and Associates, another Engineering firm in Lubbock. Should the opportunity to obtain employment in Lubbock arise, I may be interested in taking L. Ray Elder's house off of his hands now that he has moved on to Houston. That is if he hasn't sold it already! We proceeded through Hobbs, New Mexico and Carlsbad, but the lateness of the day prohibited seeing the Caverns. One of these days I'll be a little more organized with my travels where sites like that can be taken in along the way. Who knows when I'll ever make back that way. El Paso is where we spent the night. It was an awesome sight approaching it from the east. And it seemed like I drove for an hour after first seeing the lights that we actually arrived at the city limits. Levi and I realized that although we left the state of Texas, we found ourselves back in Texas for awhile. The next morning we had breakfast at the Cracker Barrell in Las Cruces again in New Mexico but we didn't leave this state again until we arrived in Arizona. We liked the Cracker Barrell so much we ate there again on the way back. We arrived in Tucson, Arizona in the middle of Terry's lunch break and he invited us to ride with him on his courier route. Terry tells me he gets about 600 miles in during the week. He handles two routes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Most of the time he gets a chance to catch lunch in between the two routes but occassionally the morning route runs over. It wasn't until New Years Eve when Levi and I got to see Bambi. With Karen, Mike and Terry all working, Bambi offered her escort services for touring Tucson. We visited a library on the north side where I had the opportunity to show off my web site. Terry got to see the text only version. I've included the URL for the Watts News site in this issue however the URL to the puzzle site appears in previous editions. That night we watched two movies at Karens while we visited and looked at pictures of when we were growing up. Levi got to see how much he looks like me in pictures of me when I was his age. The next day we went bowling, shot a few games of pool and did some more visiting. It all happened so fast. I find I'm at work again already looking forward to the next time I get to take a break. All told, that yellow land Yacht (as my sister Shelly calls it) traveled nearly 2000 miles. As long as I put gas in its tank and a little oil in its motor, it kept right on going. Marian got to hear all about the trip and had some news for me when I got back to Pampa. She just finished her Masters Program and is now in pursuit of a Librarian position. Any one need a librarian? Her daughter, Shelly, has completed her Bacherlor's program as well. Congratulations to both of them. Until next time, Roy Postal Rates up Again Granted, it is only a penny but it does increase the cost of putting the family news letter. Aunt Virginia suggested I calculate what it costs for one year and possibly going to the subscription method. For fifty copies I pay $12.50 or 25 cents a copy (this includes front and back). I like to include an insert with puzzles and indexes but don't always get it done due to the extra expence of 15 cents a copy. Envelopes I get for less than a penny as well as return labels. The address labels run about 3 cents each. Stamps are now 33 cents each. For a year this amounts to $3.08 per address or $154.00 for fifty addresses. Usually someone will send me twenty dollars each quarter. As a quarter of $154.00 is $38.50, this twenty dollars covers a little over half of the expence and is well appreciated. The computer I use and the time I spend putting the newsletter together I freely donate. I enjoy putting together the family newsletter and would regret having to put an end to it due to the lack of funds. Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep this publication going? Your editor, Roy Idaho gets Visitors This is a wonderful time of year for us and Christmas was especially meaningful - hearing from so many friends and relatives - some with bad news regarding some very serious illnesses in T. J.'s family. Also, we just learned that our dear friend, Kenneth Howard, passed away in Desert Hot Springs, California on December 31 and we are saddened about that. Barbara and Dennis are doing well. Both are working at the same jobs and busy with the crafts they do so well in their spare time. They are doting grandparents and every child should have grandparents like them. They did take the vacation they planned for in early October in the Great Lakes region and had a wonderful time. Shannon, Kenneth and little T. J. are fine. Shannon works in a local furniture store which she likes very much. Kenneth hauls potatoes from out lying areas to a potato processing plant. Little T. J. is 13 months old, has 7 teeth, and is walking everywhere. He is so cute and so sweet and is just a "great' great grandson. Roger is fine, too, and busy with his job. Dusseldorf, Germany is on his schedule for January. He will start construction on an addition to his house in early spring and some remodeling on the present structure. He and his friends from Florida did come during Christmas week and snowmobiled in the Yellowstone Park area, although it was almost too cold to enjoy it. Minus 50 degrees below zero is pretty cold! We had daytime temperatures hovering around zero for a few days during Christmas week and a few days later the highs were in the mid-30s. T.J. and I are fine - have escaped winter illnesses so far. We are very thankful for the quality of life we have and that we are able to do every thing we want to do and go everywhere we want to go. Hearing from so many friends and relatives during Christmas has T. J. excited about attending the Patterson-Pendelton-Bradshaw reunion in Wheeler in June. (I think they have it on odd years and have already inquired about it). If he feels like he can make the trip I will take him and if he can't I'll come by myself. If this is the year of their reunion how about our family trying to get together somewhere the day before it. More about this in the Spring issue of the Watts Newsletter when I have more definite information. Love to all, and we are looking forward to hearing from everybody in the next issue of the newsletter. Virginia Patterson Associate Editor Quick Thoughts A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a work station. Can atheists get insurance for acts of God? If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it FedUP? Does fuzzy logic tickle? If they arrested the Energizer Bunny, would they charge it with battery? I believe five out of four people have trouble with fractions. How come you never hear about gruntled employees? I don't have a solution, but I admire your problem. If a tin whistle is made out of tin (and it is), then what, exactly, is a fog horn made out of? If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead?" Okay, who stopped the payment on my reality check? Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks? What hair color do they put on the driver's licences of bald men? What WAS the best thing before sliced bread? If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? Since Americans throw rice at weddings, do Orientals throw hamburgers? Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together? Why is a carrot more orange than an orange? Why do they call it the Department of Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors? Tell a man that there are 400 billion stars and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint and he has to touch it. Why do we wait until a pig is dead to "cure" it? Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"? Whatever happened to Absorbine Senior? Editors note: Aunt Monta sent this list of ponderables along with her report. I figured the rest of you would get a kick out of them. Thanks Aunt Monta! Chief Editor, Roy

Main Index | Title Index | Name Index | Important Dates
Marian's Resume | Roy's Resume | Shelly's Resume
Perpetual Calendar | Puzzles Galore | Back Issues | Color Codes