December 21 (days start to get longer tomorrow)

Tried to publish a new post last week but the web site wasn't working right and I lost my thoughts. Just a couple of days until Christmas. All is good, I've just been through a busy patch at work. Last Saturday was our "Sip & Shop" turn out was great and we generated a big night in sales, Merle bought his new clubs from me on Monday and yesterday we finished our transaction with Shelton High School (15 golf bags). On top of all that we had a employee luncheon on Wednesday, and I had 2 budget meetings this week. Wednesday night we were invited down to Holiday Beach for their Christmas party, it was a lot of fun and we met some nice people there. Pat & Patty, Dennis & Carletta, Merle & Donna and Chris & I represented Holiday View II.

Weather has continued to be mild but we did get some snow on Friday morning, more up at the course than here at home. Plan to relax this weekend, Jake & Em are coming over tomorrow for a couple of days & Ben & Matt will be coming over on Christmas. They have purchased a room for Chris and myself on my birthday at the hotel where their condo is, I'm sure we'll go out to dinner and have a fun night in Seattle.

Chris has a new car, she sold her car to Jake and after a couple of weeks of looking around she found an Audi Allroad that I'm not suppose to call a station wagon but it is. It's a nice car and fits her needs. Jake is really happy to get rid of his Jeep and upgrade to the Lexus. It worked out for everyone.

Riley and Carter are good, I think they miss being outside as much as they were in the summer but I get out there with them as much as possible and Chris walks Riley to the mailbox if the weather cooperates. Riley will get a workout when Tucker shows up on Sunday, they play really well together and while Carter seems a little jealous, I think he also appreciates the break from full time Riley watch.

I promised myself not to post much about our finances but as I look back on this in the future this will have been a very important year for us. The market was strong and our investments even outpaced that growth. Getting the job at the golf course not only keeps me very busy but helps us sustain our money in the market. Getting ready to turn 59 in a couple of days, next summer will be an important milestone when I turn 59 1/2.

Thinking about 2014, I want to do some work inside the clubhouse, we need to do quite a few things outside such as moving plants that have gotten to big, we need to bark, I want to have someone edge the backyard around the fence to make things easier to mow and begin to work on the hillside plantings.

Each year I wonder what changes will happen and I'm always surprised how things change when I look back. I'm enclosing a couple of photo's I took on my way in to work. One is a bald eagle sitting on a post at the end of the dock at Holiday Beach, it won't show up to well because of the distance but I have it as my screen saver on my computer and it's awesome when blown up. The other is a pack of seals (do seals run in packs?) laying out on the deck at the Glen Ayre dock. We live in an amazing place, I never take it for granted.