Christmas 2006
This year, I've volunteered to write our Christmas Message and to decorate for the Christmas Holidays. It's only fair; Susan's on her last pilgrimage for the year, spending Thanksgiving in Ischua, while I'm playing bachelor at home. (And don't worry about me being alone for Thanksgiving. I joined Jeff and Carol Reitz and the boys for a delicious dinner yesterday. And, Yes, they're doing well.) So to occupy my idle hours of relaxation, I get to regale you all with the tales of Paul and Susan for this year. I hear some of you more sympathetic readers sigh and whisper: “Poor Paul's doing all the Christmas decorating! Susan's so lucky!” Don't worry my friends. We don't do any indoor decorating. Why put up a tree for just the two of us? And my intelligent and thoughtful spouse will not let me hang any outdoor lights that require a ladder. Especially with no one else home to dial 911 if/when I fall. So all I have to do is set up the Nativity scene with some ground lighting. I believe there are pictures on the web page, but I'll get to that later. It's time to actually start with the news!
It is not official yet, but by the first of the year Susan will have a well-earned promotion and be transferring to a different department within L&S Electric. The work load at L&S is increasing for the Hydro team (They just received a huge contract to modernize the hydroelectric generating unit controls at the Hoover Dam! A $5.7 million project covering 26 units at three different sites on the Colorado River. They've had larger contracts before, but this may be one of the most prestigious that they've worked on.) The panel shop ( http://www.lselectric.com/services/engineering/panel.html ), where they actually assemble control panels for large and small pieces of industrial equipment has also seen an increase in orders. Susan will be transferring to this department to help expedite workflow, scheduling, and material allocation. Her new title will be Project Administrator. Basically she'll be responsible to make sure everything happens on time. Right now she's just started training her replacement for her current position, and she's looking forward to the challenges of the new job.
Things are well at Powder Technology; work is steady. The owner continues to invest in upgrading production equipment, so I think it's a safe bet that we'll be around for a while longer. I only need 506 weeks to be able to retire; I may make it! Oh, I too had a promotion this year. In addition to being Technical Director, in charge of the R&D lab, I am now Quality Assurance Manager. Every production run has to have my final approval before it can be sent to our customers. With ISO certification looming, most days I manage to stay busy.
This was the year for Susan to travel. She went home to Ischua this Spring to spend some time with her Mom. And when Rose took Mom out to Boston this summer, Susan joined them for a extra long weekend. That was especially nice because she was able to spent some time with Uncle Scott and Aunt Dorothy and their family. And for Thanksgiving she is back to Ischua again. Rose, Aiko, Mom, Sadie, and Wilhemina are all doing well. During the summer trip, I painted the basement while Susan was gone. At least that's my side of the story. Before she left, Susan did move all the furniture, wash all the walls, tape all the trim, and put on the primer coat. But I did paint the basement after that. Most of the basement is one large room, 13 by 26, with dark wood paneling. Painting a light cream color really brightened it up a lot. We want to separate it (without dividing walls) into three areas; computer/fitness room, sitting/TV room (with fire place) and bedroom. Most of this is in the early pre-planning stage. Time and ideas we have plenty of.
Most of our menagerie is well. The two cats, Maximillian and Carlotta, are sleeping in the morning sun by the back door right now. As the sun moves, they'll shift to the next warm spot to continue their nap. Lady scared us this spring. She got a chance to get too much fresh green grass, ate her fill and got colic. Almost lost her, but with a lot of attention, she recovered. We'll watch the pastures this year and not put her out where she can get into trouble. Dalyte is finally starting to mature. The last couple of years, Susan thought that she had made a mistake buying this beast; too skittish, ready to shy at any and every thing, ready to throw her rider (poor Susan!) at the slightest moment of inattention. But this year she's settled down, willing to listen and learn in the ring, most days she gives Susan a good ride. She even has progressed to the point where Susan has taken her to two shows. The second show, in October, Dalyte finished second in Test A, 0.5 points out of first, and finished first in Test B. Not bad at all!
Ah! My astute reader, you're wondering about the qualifier that I placed before this section of the letter “Most of our menagerie”; haven't I covered everyone already? Remember last year we told you about our “dam” friends in the pond; the pair of beavers that were flooding our flowerbeds. They made it through a very mild winter. And with the Spring, came the waterfowl. Geese, (very loud) sand hill cranes, heron, and several breeds of ducks would land in the pond and then wade in to the lawn to pick at the fresh greens. Even a turkey wandered up to the dam occasionally. We, and the neighbors, all enjoyed getting up early to see what the new day would bring. Some days there would be water traffic all morning long and even into the afternoon. And of course the beaver would be busy, even during the day, diving, inspecting, even slapping their tails with a sense of joie de vie, announcing their contentment. But they, being busy beavers, would strengthen, reinforce, and lengthen their dam. At the highest point the flooding was into both of the yards on either side of us. Susan worried “when will the neighbor start to complain about the damage?” Reading the village newsletter she spotted a telephone number to call to report nuisance deer that were doing damage. She called and explained that we didn't have any deer, but what about nuisance beaver? Weston is a great place to live. The village hired a trapper to come and permanently solve the problem. Two days after he set the traps, he had two 35-45 pound beavers with no sign of any offspring. Problem solved! Susan spent some time, gradually lowering the dam to move the shore out of the yards, but kept the dam and pond intact. Hopefully the waterfowl will be back this Spring. This story even made the local paper. I do have pictures on-line; http://www.stomieroski.com/beavers/index.html and www.stomieroski.com/beavers/index1.html with the beaver link also on the home page http://www.stomieroski.com/index.html. Which leads me back to the web page. Oh, yes, dear reader I have been sadly amiss in updating the web page. I just noticed that last years Christmas missive was not posted. And you need not point out that you're still patiently waiting for the South Dakota pictures from 2004. With out making any hard promises (because I've let you down before) perhaps by the first of the year our web site will be up-to-date.
In closing, Susan and I want to wish you a Joyous Holiday Season this year. You all are in our hearts and in our prayers.
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