Merry Christmas to all of our Family!

A busy year for us in Florida, with the 4 major hurricanes crossing the state in August and September.

The year started out with Alan coming down to visit the family and escape some of the winter weather of Minneapolis. He is a "native Minnesotan" now and has lived there for the past 9 years in addition to the 4 years during his high school days. His love of music is evident by his playing electric bass in three bands- rock, Jazz and Latin music in the Twin Cities. He is the warehouse manager of the "Guitar Center" a national chain which caters to professional musicians. We miss him and try to see each other at least twice a year or more.

Alan

Relatives from Ohio will be visiting us in February. The Super Bowl will be here on

February 6, 2005, so we plan to lay low and avoid the restaurants and the whole stadium area until things get back to normal. There is a shortage of hotel rooms in Jacksonville, so several cruise ships are being brought in to accommodate fans. They will dock the ships downtown in the St. John’s River near the stadium. This has never been done before so it might set a precedent.

In May, we met Sharen & David in Las Vegas. It was a belated 35^th Wedding Anniversary trip for Barry & I that we couldn’t take the previous year due to serious health problems we both experienced in 2003. Sharen & David are veteran Vegas vacationers and showed us the ropes and how to gamble and where to eat at the best buffets. Sharen and I are the slot machine queens. We all had a great time!

Also in May we had a new roof put on our house. It looked so good Barry & I decided to paint the outside of the house. The project took numerous weekends/evenings and was a race against the start of summer, the rainy season, and HUMIDITY.

In June, we made a trip to Ohio to visit Barry’s parents and to pick up his dad’s car that we purchased. I reluctantly sold my Miata convertible. My poor vision no longer allows me to drive a sports car with its tight steering and responsiveness. We now have a classic 1986 Coupe DeVille with 37,000 miles and a great second car (and more metal around me). Yes, I must be getting old, joining the gray haired ladies in Florida and driving big cars! Every time we take the Caddy anywhere, we receive offers to buy it.

We were unable to attend the Family Reunion this year but we are happy that we visited with Aunt Susie in June before she became seriously ill. I know we all miss her. I told Sharen I will miss getting my first Christmas card from her, and Sharen being the wonderful person that she is, sent out cards early in place of Aunt Susie.

The hurricane season was a record setting one. Although we didn’t get "direct hits" from the "eye" passing over us, we experienced the "outer bands" with hurricane strength winds, heavy rains and tornados. We boarded up the house numerous times and each week was mentally exhausting following the track of the storms and preparing the house both inside and out. During August and September we didn’t bother buying many groceries in anticipation of long power outages and losing everything in the fridge and freezer. We had wind damage to our garage door and were fortunate to have a new one installed the next week before the next storm blew in. Mom & Dad had roof and wall damage to their place and are still undergoing repairs. There aren’t enough repairman in the state to handle all the damage so if any of you are out of work for the winter, you would certainly be hired in a minute down here! Michele and Mike also had roof damage and fence and shed damage. Michele and Mike had to postpone and reschedule their wedding reception due to the Palm Beach Gardens area getting 2 direct hits.
 

Their stories of their trip to Italy and meeting with our family is beyond description. She will share their story with everyone at the next Family Reunion.

We did better health-wise this year but we couldn’t get through the year unscathed. Barry had a severe gall bladder attack while we were vacationing in Ohio in October. We cut the trip short, came home and Barry had surgery. It was that fish fry with Lake Erie perch that did him in. He’s almost back to feeling 100 percent. Even though the trip was shortened, both of us went hunting with our Boykin Spaniel, Brownie, and had a really good time.

We stopped in Wexford to see Uncle Jim and Aunt BAnn and had a very enjoyable visit.

I am still working for the U.S. Government, Department of Justice and will be able to retire in January, 2007. With all the moving we have done, working for the government has been very positive and enabled me to transfer and work for various government agencies during my career while maintaining benefits and status. Barry is a Senior Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is the main "media spokesperson" and writer of news releases, and is frequently being interviewed and on TV. For more than three weeks, he was deployed throughout the state to areas hard hit by the hurricanes to help with recovery efforts and worked from Jacksonville on Hurricane recovery for four months. Immediately after hurricanes, the Army Corps of Engineers supplies temporary roofing, temporary housing, ice, water, debris removal and portable generators to areas hardest hit by the storms. They don’t get the publicity that FEMA does, but they provide a lot of assistance and hope to many people.

As you may have guessed, we are all very thankful for the positive events during the past year. Seeing and hearing stories of other families’ tragedy and destruction of homes makes us all realize the importance of family and friends. Material things can always be repaired or replaced.

We hope everyone has a joyous Christmas and good health in the New Year!

Love,

Diane, Barry & Alan

bdvorse@aol.com