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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO FRIENDS, RELATIVES, and LOVED ONES

2009 has been a year of incredible changes for the Earl & Gail Aagaard household. Here is how we spent the year:
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January: Christmas break visiting with the CAMACHOS IN OREGON; also beginning the process of getting our house ready to sell
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February: Our home put on the market with the BEST REALTOR IN CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
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March: Spring break spent with the Camachos in Oregon;
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April: Last SAU DAUPHIN ISLAND birding trip (unless we crash the party next April!).
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May: Attended LLU graduation; quick weekend trip to visit the Camachos in Oregon
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June 1, 2009: Date of Earl’s official retirement from full-time paid teaching at SOUTHERN ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY; our last HENAGAR, ALABAMA SACRED HARP SINGING, at least for a while…..
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June/July: One month as a volunteer teaching pastors about creation/evolution/intelligent design at ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY OF AFRICA, Kenya, and TWO WEEKS TOURING Kenyan GAME PARKS (after decades of looking at photos); OVERNIGHT RETURN TRAIN RIDE Nairobi/Mombasa to spend three days in the old city and in our own cabana on the Indian Ocean
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August: Visited Thor in Exeter, England then spent two weeks on the LLANGOLLEN CANALin Wales/West England on a CANAL BOAT—Thor and Emily shared part of THIS ADVENTURE; 12 August we ACCEPTED AN OFFER ON OUR HOME from a tea house on the MONTGOMERY BRANCH of the Llangollen Canal (thanks to the internet); spent the last weekend in PARIS, FRANCE (via the fabulous EUROSTAR) to celebrate our 40th ANNIVERSARY; last LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN SACRED HARP CONVENTION, at least for a while. See if you can find Gail and me leading in those photographs—we’re there!
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September: packed up everything we owned and closed on the house on the 30th; last Ackerman Hall, TN sing
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October: Said goodbye to dear friends and neighbors; DROVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY to Bend, Oregon, to arrive at our little rental house ahead of the moving van; Les and Laura and Sophia live only four blocks away; second grand-daughter due in February; unpacked the bare necessities to feel at home; Earl arranged the garage to store the rest and fit in the car!
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November: traded in our (almost) 14-year old Honda Civic on a 2010 SUBARU OUTBACK; took Laura and Sophia with us to Chico to celebrate THANKSGIVING WITH THE SELBY CLAN. (If you can’t see the pictures, and want to - just register…it’s pretty easy.)
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December: enjoying the coldest December on record in Bend,
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loving the dry, fluffy snow,
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the view of Mt Bachelor from our front porch, and being grateful for the warm house and safe, new car.
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If you want more details (with photographs) about much of the above, just click the links in this letter to go to the OGBLOG (or type http://ogblog.net/ into your web browser); or go on over and scroll down through the various posts. There’s more to come on the OgBlog than is linked here….including additional Africa, England, and Paris pictures….so drop in later on, and see what’s new.
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Retirement is heavenly: we get to have Sophia from 1:00 to 5:00 every day, and our activities encompass shopping, going to “the beach”, playing POOHSTICKS at the river, checking out every park and playground we can find, heading for Costco for “samples”, sliding down hills on our new snow-disc, hiking up “mine” mountain, “PILENT” BUTTE, swinging (HIGHER!) for as long as Papa and/or Grandmama will push, “run in circles, scream and shout”, reading National Geographic with Papa in Uncle Thor’s chair, playing the piano and dancing, SINGING Christmas carols and other songs, cuddling for stories in the rocking chair as Grandmama’s little kitty, running home to escape from the Papa Bear, and on and on……if you’re a grandparent, you already know.
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One of these days, reality will strike, I’m sure….but in the meantime, we’re living a dream. If you’ll be in this area, give us a call and we’ll try to fit you into the schedule!
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Merry Christmas, and every good wish for the New Year.
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Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
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Love to all,
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Earl & Gail
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p.s. If you need our mailing address, it’s in the moving posts on the OgBlog. If you want to e-mail, use eaagaard “at” southern.edu - I’ll even send you our phone number if you can’t find it on the Web.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12/13 at 11:38 PM

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