Merry Christmas 2021!





December 2021

Welcome Dear Readers! It's time to catch every one up on the “Adventures of Paul and Susan”. This year was a time of changes; endings and beginnings; a year of adventures!

Starting with the sad news, in January, it was time for to end Dalyte's struggles with back pain. She is missed. Susan is looking for a new horse, but she knows what she wants and is in no hurry to compromise with her requirements.

But then in May, Buttercup joined our family. She's a black calico cat that we picked out at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter. (Yes, that counts as my annual trip out the county.) BC is over eight years old, set in her ways, and doesn't like to be touched on her lower back or belly. When we took her in for a vet check, they took no chances and muzzled her, for their safety. Muzzled, you ask? Yes, if she isn't happy, she will use her face to strike out suddenly especially if she feels threatened. She hasn't bit Susan or me hard enough to break skin, but we have been bruised. The vet guesses that she may have been mistreated. She did settle down, and quickly learned that she was safe with us and that we weren't going to hurt her. She likes to be scratched especially under her chin. And she takes turns all night long sleeping with one of us. She even grumbles when we convince her that she has to move out of the way, so that we can get up in the morning.

The Great News is that Susan has retired! But my motto is “Nothing is ever easy! And retiring really wasn't. Susan gave them three months notice that she was done at the end of the year. It took them a while, but they brought in a replacement, so that Susan could start training. That lasted less than a week, when the replacement quit abruptly. Susan explained to her boss that she wanted to help, but she was retiring at the end of the year! The company, with little choice left, agreed that until the end of the year Susan would train her boss and two co-workers to do her job. Yes, it took three people to replace her! December 31st was her last day as a full time employee. But Susan agreed to work as a temp starting the first of the year. No benefits, but a sizable increase in pay. Almost everything could be handled from home; luckily Covid showed them that this was possible to do efficiently. It was 4-5 hours a day at first, dwindled down to 1 or 2 calls a week and by the end of May, Susan turned in the company computer and was officially 100% retired!

And now I'll turn it over to Susan to regale us about her adventure! In June, my dear friend Carol Reitz and I headed off to New York and points beyond (for me). Carol traveled with me from Wisconsin to her parent's home in New York. They live just over an hour north of my sister Rose. I left Carol with them and went on with my adventure. I primarily stayed with sister Rose in our childhood home in Ischua but was able to also spend a lot of time with Sara's family eating and playing games. I arrived on Thursday, June 10th. On Friday we went to a fundraiser at the Ischua Fire Department, and I was able to catch up with many friends from town. On Saturday, we had a mini reunion at Letchworth State Park with Aunt Midge, and cousins Patsy, Cheryl, Jerri and Nick, along with sisters Rose and Sarah's families. It was so nice to see cousins, I had not seen Jeri Anne or Cheryl since the mid 70's. I had never been to Letchworth and the gorge is breathtaking and the park beautiful. Monday we caught up with cousins Nathan and Allen and their wives for dinner at Nathan's. On Thursday, Rose and I, along with Willa, our niece, left for Boston. I enjoyed a very nice visit with Aunt Dorothy, John, Tom, Herb and Carol. We were there for four days. We traveled back on Tuesday, and the next day I left with niece Aiko for my brother, Will's home, near Allentown, PA. She drove me down, what a good driver she is. I stayed a couple of days with Will. On Friday, he took me down to Reading where I was able to see where he works and then on to see the old house and have lunch with Bob and Pat Boni. Saturday, he and Amie drove me down to Harrisburg where we met brother Herb and Alice for lunch. I left with Herb and Alice and stayed with them in Virginia until they took me back to meet with Will half way between them and Reading on Tuesday. Aiko and I returned to Ischua on Wednesday. Friday I picked Carol up and on Saturday morning, July 3rd we returned home. My trip encompassed 10 states in 3˝ weeks. It was such a good trip, and my heartfelt thanks goes to Carol for making it possible. I would never have driven the trip from Wisconsin to New York on my own. And to be honest, I know I will NEVER drive it again if I have to drive anywhere near Chicago or Gary, Indiana - that part was very nerve racking. Any future trips will either have to go across on the ferry or up the Upper Peninsula and through Canada. Go around Cleveland was not so bad this trip, but in the past was not fun.

The rest of the summer was rather quiet in comparison. Just trying to create a new routine. I did get a couple of retreats in during September - both in the same week. The last week of September I went to my annual knitting retreat in the western part of the state. They changed the time we went from Thursday through Sunday to Monday through Thursday. This was the only times the camp had openings. These retreats are held at a Lutheran Bible camp and the weekends in the fall are now reserved for the church groups. On Thursday, I packed and went a 2 hours drive to the southern part of Wisconsin to a sewing retreat that was running from Tuesday through Sunday at a retreat center. It was perfect timing. I was able to get 19 pairs of mittens and about 10 hats done at the knitting retreat, and put binding on a quilt and got 25 pillow cases done at the sewing retreat. I admit I was tired once I got home, but it was fun. Paul and Buttercup were glad to see me.

We got a new to us used car in late October. My dearly loved Pontiac Vibe was 18 years old and after the trip to NY, had over 151,000 miles so we decided it was time for a different vehicle. We bought a 2017 Ford Escape with 20,000 miles. It is black and has some nice features. I particularly like that it is AWD, but the back up camera and the heated seats are also nice.

Well, dear reader, this brings us to the end for this year. Many other events occurred during the year, but we won't bore you with them all. Basically, we are well and happy.

Enjoy Christmas and enjoy Life!

God's blessings to you for the coming year.

Susan and Paul Stomieroski

6310 Setter Road Weston, WI 54476 (715) 355-7769

Susan@Stomieroski.com Paul@Stomieroski.com





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