Silas Shotwell's Blog

I think most of you got Christmas cards from Meagan and me, but I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas via blog also. This will be my last blog for 2007. They've been a bit sporadic near the end of the year but the schedule has been unusually hectic. I'm not complaining, I'm actually thankful to be busy. The work has all been worthwhile.
Two more dear friends have preceded me to heaven in recent days: Pete Koons of Port Hueneme, CA and Marvin Pegg of Otis, OR. I go "way back" with both of them and our relationships were even richer in quality than they were in longevity. Two good men, supported by outstanding wives. God seems to enjoy doing it that way. I owe a debt to both these guys for standing by me in times when others didn't. They were truly "friends that were closer than brothers." I miss them.
I'm going to be short this time because Meagan and I leave in less than 48 hours for Texas. We're going down to spend Christmas with Jeff and family in Decatur and New Year's with Nathan and Janet in Austin. I hope to see other family and friends in Texas but am sure we won't make it around to see all we'd like. It has been four years since I've been in the Lone Star State and that is long enough to be away. We return to Mt. Hood on January 3.
This is an odd Christmas for Meagan. She ran up an enormously large cell phone bill a couple of months ago so the cell phone is gone and so is Christmas for her. It is an unusual year to have no presents under the tree, but she understands and has learned a valuable lesson. We'll see how well she has really learned it when she gets her cell phone back, (if ever).
So we've tried to focus on other things this year, things more important than getting presents. There are lots of things to be thankful for and multitudes of people who need more than we do.
Meagan's situation also kept us from going to the National Finals Rodeo. We had tickets and all, but were unable to cover travel costs. Thankfully, we were able to find someone else to use our rodeo tickets at the last minute. We watched it all on television and loved it. Our friend Trevor Brazile is truly the best in the world of rodeo! He won the triple crown of rodeo this year, only the third person who has ever done it. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Our biggest void was missing our friend Flynnt Rasmussen, the rodeo clown. We'll hope to see him next year.
I hope a lot of you can come to see us in 2008. We're counting on that. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and thank God for your blessings. You are a blessing to me, and I thank God for you.

It's still November, but we've already had more snow than we had all last winter, or the winter before. It creates some inconvenience, but is beautiful. We've had no school closures, and life goes on as usual. I thought I'd post a few pictures for those of you in Palm Springs and Tucson.
We've had 30 inches of snow in the past week. It's not terribly cold, so there has been some melting, and then more snow, and then more melting, more snow, etc. As I write to you today we have about a foot and a half here at Higher Ground.

Hood River flows on as usual. This is the West Fork, taken from Woodworth Rd (for those of you who have been here). This spot is where I used to fish weekly in 1959 and 1960 when we lived here the first time. And yes, there is fishing right now. We are entering the winter steelhead season.

This is out my bedroom window, looking at the driveway.

Down the road apiece. Looks like a Christmas card. I'll be sending mine out in a week or so. They have snow on them, but not a scene as pretty as I see out my windows.

I'm finding lots to be thankful for. Most especially I'm thankful for my Nissan Xterra, donated to us so generously five years ago. It is tremendous in this weather. I've never been stuck yet in a place where I couldn't get out. I'm thankful for 4-wheel drive and studded tires. Yesterday on Highway 35 I passed Jeeps and even a Hummer in the ditch. My Xterra just kept plodding along. You might remember that last winter I pulled a wrecker out of a snow bank.

The orchard is "asleep." All this is actually wonderful for the orchard. We'll have colder weather later and this snow will be a blanket to protect the roots of the trees.


Taken out my kitchen window. If it were clear you could see Mt. Hood standing majestically behind this orchard. Only God knows how much new snow there is on the mountain. That is good news for skiiers and farmers.

I'm really grateful for our nice warm house. Inside the house I have a lot of plants and I now have geraniums, hibiscus, and gardenias blooming. Quite a contrast to outside. And I'm grateful to have a wonderful fireplace and a wood room in the basement that keeps me from having to go outside to get firewood. I have enough firewood to last through this winter.
I'm grateful for snow boots, warm coat, gloves, and hat.

And I'm especially grateful for two neighbors that have tractors and blades and even seem to enjoy plowing out my driveway. Luis Barajas is the foreman here and he does a great job. And so does my neighbor Lloyd Frasier. Sometimes it seems that they are in a race to see which one can get to plowing fastest.
And again, with my truck, I can get out even when they haven't plowed. When I took Meagan to school this morning I plowed through snow that was above my bumper, without difficulty.
Meagan has already built three "snow people" including a rock star with plastic guitar. But they keep getting covered up with snow and she has to start over. But she loves it.
Whether your weather is like mine, or balmy, I hope you're enjoying it. You might as well, since there's not much we can do about it. I hope you enjoy all these pictures that I took just this morning. And if you like snow, WISH YOU WERE HERE!

Next Thursday, November 22, is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Through the years Thanksgiving Day has been my favorite holiday. It's the familytime, the food, the football, and Autumn. That combination is hard to beat.
A lot of the luster has vanished since Edna Mae died. On three of our four Thanksgivings since then Meagan and I have eaten alone, twice in fast food places.
But hope springs eternal and so do memories. I'd like to recall with you some of my Thanksgivings of former years. For me they bring warm thoughts and even a few smiles.
The Thanksgivings that I remember were not all that traditional. There was one where Edna Mae was not with us. She had flown to New York City to be with Nathan so he wouldn't be alone on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful trip for her and she talked for years about Central Park, the Macy's parade, and the tall buildings and quiet streets of that big metropolis. Her joy blessed us all.
As a boy I remember my parents inviting college students to come to our home. Most of them were from Idaho and Montana where we often spent vacation time in the summer. The Thanksgiving holiday didn't allow students to get all the way home and back, so we invited them to our house. There were usually a dozen, at least, and there was lots of celebration and laughter. We played flag football in the afternoon and thought we could have beaten the Kennedys.
Then there was the time when my father took his Boy Scout troop to Rattler, Texas. Down on the river, below cousin Billy Hale's place, we spent a few days living off the land. It was to be a "survival hike" for a merit badge. Frankly, we not only got hungry, but a bit desperate. There was a stew made up of weed greens and roots, with a little frog thrown in. On Thanksgiving Day itself we had fried armadillo. But the worst thing was the raccoon that we roasted. We had found it lying dead on a trail, and didn't know how it had died. But it was still warm, so we roasted it and attempted to eat it. A bite or two was enough for most of us. We decided that some things were worse than hunger. The armadillo was pretty good. Tasted like chicken.
When Edna Mae and I were the young preacher and wife at Star, Texas our friend Avery Poe told us he would give us our turkey for Thanksgiving. Avery raised turkeys by the hundreds (or thousands) for Thanksgiving sale. A couple of days before the holiday when we went out to his ranch to get it, he told us we would have to catch it! In loading turkeys to ship off to market three had escaped and were now running wild on his lower pasture. We spotted the turkeys, they were white, and began chasing the biggest and slowest one. I think we chased it for an hour before it collapsed exhausted. I killed it and dressed it. It weighed over 40 pounds dressed! My mother was going to roast it, but it was so big it wouldn't fit in the oven. So we had to have some fellow who owned a Barbecue pit roast it for us. The turkey lasted for days and days and the story has lasted through the years.
There were many Thanksgivings with our dear friends, George and Christa Winegeart and all our children. At first we all cooked together. But as the years passed we started eating out at nice restaurants so the wives wouldn't have to do so much work. Christa and Edna Mae would always get us up from the couches and away from the TV to take a leisurely walk in the afternoon.
And as long as we've had TV, we've watched the Macy's parade in the A.M. Sitting in robe and slippers, watching that bit of fantasy, while the turkey is roasting in the oven, gave the term "holiday" true meaning.
One Thanksgiving, while a student at Texas Christian University, I drove with a friend to Nebraska to see friends that I had met there while attending York College. I had learned to love Nebraska at Thanksgiving time. Cold mornings, autumn colors, pheasants crowing. . . all added to my Thanksgiving mystique. But on this particular year, there was an early storm and we actually got snowed in before we got to the town where we were headed. We had been invited to spend the holiday with the Andersons at Wauneta NE, but we only got as far as Minden NE. We got snowed in there and had to stay for four days in a motel. Local German families took us in for meals and we got to meet some very special people. Minden calls itself the "Christmas City of the World" and the Christmas lights were even more spectacular with the town blanketed in two feet of snow.
A couple of times I have worked in soup kitchens on Thanksgiving. That brings warmth to the heart.
And a few times, when my kids were small, we've gone to Dallas Cowboy football games. Once we stood in line in a cafeteria with my college classmate and Cowboy great, Bob Lilly.
Well, this is memory enough. I feel warm and stuffed. Thanks for listening. I hope you have your own good memories and that you'll have an extra-special Thanksgiving this year.
Meagan and I actually have no Thanksgiving plans this year. First time ever. The last couple of years there were big plans that didn't pan out. It was disappointing enough that I decided to simply make no plans this year. But I'm sure it will be a good day.
I'll have plenty of good memories. That's for sure!