Stories from 2006

Hi All!

By your leave, this must serve as the Kuettel Family Holiday "Letter."

It was a fairly good year, bringing a few blessings and plenty of curses.

Alex graduated from Cretin-Derham Hall and Catie came in as a Freshman, while Drew is experiencing the often-tough Junior Year.

Alex is living on campus at the U of M as he starts his college career.

Health issues effected all of us at one time or another. We have all come through and I feel particularly blessed to see 2007 arrive, dashing my doctor's prediction that I wouldn't see Christmas. He renewed my handicap card from December 31 only until June 2007 so he is still a "Gloomy Gus."

The highlight of the year for me was pulling off a pretty darn good graduation party for Alex, despite the 100+ degree temperature and the main course of three kinds of nice hot chili! We hardly needed the crock pots and we needed to conserve the energy to run the big cooling fans under the tent and to power the rock and roll band that blew the leaves off the trees.

An accomplishment that gives me some comfort is that I am glacially reversing 20 years of cluttering that had pretty much taken over the house and garage. Only perhaps half there, but as my energy permits, we should be relatively dejunked by the end of 2007.

As I close the year with this 211th post, I went back and picked a few that you might enjoy reading (to get back to this page after reading a story, just press your browser's back button.

Father's Day Ruminations (Weird)

An Irony of Life (Poetic Justice)

Look Out Cretin-Derham Hall! (Sentimental)

Pagan Baseball Ceremony (Very Weird)

Paul's Health (Dour)

Laura's Birthday (Cute)

Democrat's Inauguration Event (Funny)

No Time for Unhappiness (Compelling)

Cheers and Happy 2007!

PS. A New Year's Eve Update:

A decent little snow storm blew up this afternoon and may have put the damper on many a sybaritic plan. All three kids are having the sort of fun that I guess we did at their ages (and I hope not in certain ways) but I have convinced them not to travel too far afield this evening and to just enjoy what they have where they have it without dangerous road trips.

I took Stan and Ollie for a walk in the winter wonderland and after a block I felt like I was in a Jack London book. The snow was of the horizontally driven pin-pricking type and it will be argued who decided to turn back first. Me or the pups. Are you kidding? they are the penultimate "house dogs." I still have the capacity to bear the pain of a Minnesota Winter.

Now, thanks to the tab on my browser which brings up an instant weather radar picture, I see that the storm has blown through and as it is only a bit past 10:00 the rides home should be no more treacherous than the drivers have made it for themselves.

I am here in my "furnace room" office with the extra heat of the beast breathing on my back before the rest of the house get's to share it.

By God I, We, You....Made it to 2007.

Which is more than can be said of a good president and a despicable tyrant.