Santa Claus Arrives in Newberry!

Charlie and I took a brisk, four-block walk in 20-degree weather to enjoy the village's Christmas celebration and tree-lighting ceremony. Here's a brief accounting of the festivities. 

Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in Newberry, Mich. at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2, much to the delight of hundreds of onlookers at the American Legion Post 74. The Grinch, in handcuffs, was escorted by a representative of the Luce County Sheriff's Department. After he was released from the back seat of the cruiser, Santa and the sheriff's department pardoned him when he promised to never steal Christmas again. Then Santa did the honors and plugged in the Christmas tree, which was decorated by ornaments fashioned by local residents. 

The crowd was entertained with Christmas carols by the Newberry High School Choir and were treated to a free dinner courtesy of a variety of community sponsors and served by members of the Newberry Area Chamber of Commerce and the Newberry High School Key Club. 

Hope you enjoy the pictures; I think they speak for themselves.

Merry Christmas from the Withrows of Newberry

Celebrate the true reason for the season
JOY TO THE WORLD
THE LORD IS COME!

Our First Thanksgiving in Newberry

As a precursor to the Thanksgiving celebration Charlie and I attended a community wide service of Thanksgiving at the Lutheran church next door. The service was uplifting and was designed to give thanks to all God's many blessings. An organ recital (or prelude) began one-half hour before the service and a social hour topped off the evening. Ladies of the community provided coffee and treats for all who attended.

Our turkey was in the oven at 9 a.m. and dinner was served at 1 p.m. Besides the turkey we had mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes baked with a brown sugar/coconut sauce, cranberries, Brussels sprouts, fresh rye dinner rolls and cherry pie for dessert.

I set the table with fall-colored Fiesta and used the gorgeous bouquet Charlie bought me as a centerpiece.
The dinner was delicious, and quiet, with just the two of us. I guess holidays will be the times we miss our kids and grandkids the most but we did get to talk to them and my parents, which was wonderful in a different sort of way. (For the record - I didn't even cry - so I guess I'm handling the separation OK.)

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from the Withrows of Newberry, Michigan.

4" of Snow and Charlie Shoveling It!

I'm behind, like always, but I just had to post these pix of the 4" of snow we got the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. It snowed overnight and we woke up to a virtual winter wonderland. It was so beautiful.

Charlie bundled up in his Carhartt jacket and set to work to rid the sidewalk of its blanket of white. Since I had marked the sidewalk with candy canes, reindeer and Christmas trees, the boundaries were easy to find and Charlie was impressed with the idea of using decorations to make his job easier.

Since my snow shovel hadn't been used in 12 years the plastic handle was in poor shape and snapped by the time Charlie got to the end of the front sidewalk. No problem - my handyman rounded up a couple of cable ties and some duct tape and had her fixed and the job finished with very little down time.

Hope you like the photographs.

Icicle

Here's our first icicle hanging off the mud room roof.

OUR FIRST SNOW!!!

OK, I know it's not a lot, but it is our first snow and we're loving it! 


Woke up this morning to the lights of the salt truck on Newberry Avenue (the dogs barked). Although it hadn't snowed yet (6:07), the village crews were getting ready. 

Here's some pix taken just a few minutes ago, around 8:45 a.m. Enjoy - we are. 

Christmas Decorations Going Up!

Despite the threat of rain, village employees Joe Livley, Jake Lewis and Jim Brown got the second installment of Newberry's Christmas lights up today. These photographs were snapped in front of our home, which is across the street from Newberry High School on the village's main street, Newberry Avenue.

2010 Newberry Buck Pole

I'm back . . . 

Monday evening, the opening day of deer gun season, the American Legion hosted a hunter's dinner. The ladies of the club served up fresh salads, a vegetable medley, mashed potatoes and gravy, roast pork and roast beef, as well as a carload of scrumptious desserts, all for only $7. We enjoyed the meal and the conversation.

What hunter dinner wouldn't be complete without a buck pole to brag around? Well this one sure had a fine line-up of the white-tail variety. Dinner goers and hunters alike paused to admire the deer, which ranged from a dressed out, 103-pound spike to a monstrous 10-pointer. Prizes were awarded for several categories and I will post the results as soon as I have them. 

In the meantime - enjoy the photographs!

Joined the American Legion

Well, I'm back with some more news from the Village of Newberry.

Charlie joined the American Legion Friday afternoon and received his membership card through the mail on Monday. The club here is very active in community affairs and supports local efforts for a variety of causes.

Must answer the phone; be right back.

We're Here!

Finally, back to the blog and some good news. We made it to Newberry, unloaded our truck and are (kind of) settled in.

Got a late start on Saturday (Nov. 6) and only made it to northern Alabama. Drove to Lansing, Mich. on the second day and arrived in Newberry on Monday afternoon around 2 o'clock.

Boy was that UHaul a gas hog. Only six miles to the gallon; every fill-up was in the $150 range - UCK! Charlie's Silverado averaged 18.5 mpg, which was exceptional.

Then it took us two and one-half days to unload - Charlie and I did it all. Got the truck back in time and within the mileage allowed, so no extra charges; which was a good thing.

What a bear taking the king-size mattress up a staircase with two landings. I don't even have the energy to describe the process. Let's just say, when we were done, that was the end of our unloading for the day.

Had our first home-cooked meal on Friday night, even ate at our dining room table.

After being in perpetual motion for what seems like forever, we are actually relaxing today. I really don't have the energy to write, which is why this post is so boring. I just wanted everyone to know that we finally did make it to the U.P. and our enjoying our new home and community.

We Have Closed!!!

I know I haven't written since Monday but we have been busy packing, packing and packing some more. After helping Charlie in the garage, I am convinced he does have more tools than a Sears store. Our 11-year-old grandson, Joseph, was sick in the morning and didn't go to school yesterday. Around noon he began to feel better and helped out with packing some of Charlie's endless supply of tools. I'm sure glad he was here.

Anyway, about our closing progress - we did get the packet from the title company on Tuesday, got it all signed and notarized but, because we babysit our four grandchildren and only have a regular-cab pickup, we couldn't get to the FedEx box in Chipley (the county seat) before the 3:45 p.m. pickup. But, the packet did go out Wednesday and was in Newberry this afternoon at 12:58, so the loan will fund tomorrow!

We picked up our truck this morning and just came in about an hour ago. Thanks to some after-work help from our son-in-law, Steven Campbell, and three of our four grandchildren, we have the entire garage in the U-Haul.

Steven also surprised us with the announcement that he taking tomorrow off to help us finish loading the truck. Even though we are not taking a lot of furniture, loading what we are taking would have taken a lot out of Charlie and me. Thank you, Steven, from the bottoms of our hearts.

If all goes well, we should be on the road bright and early Saturday and be in Newberry late Sunday afternoon. Will keep you posted.

FINALLY!

Just received an email from our bank contact - she says the closing packet is on its way - finally.

This means we should have it in hand tomorrow and can get it back to Michigan on Wednesday. The loan is scheduled to fund on Friday.

Hope to be in Newberry by the weekend and can't wait.

Woe is Me: Closing Docs Didn't Show

What can I say? We are s-o-o-o-o disappointed. Our lender promised a close on Oct. 29, and here it is Oct. 29, and no closing documents. Good thing we didn't order our truck.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the next few days, but being Friday (and our contact at the bank took a long weekend), nothing will happen before Monday at this point.

Oh well, guess we'll just sit back and enjoy Trick or Treat (Saturday night) with the kids.

Our new home on Newberry's main thoroughfare across the street from Newberry High School.

In the meantime, found a photograph I had taken of the new house and thought I'd share. It was built in 1900 and has two bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a formal dining room with French doors to separate it from the living room, a full basement and all original woodwork and wood floors. The staircase is beautiful and the landing is where I plan to set up my office. There's even a door off the foyer into the living room that has beveled, leaded glass and the original glass-knob hardware.

What do you think?

I Hate Packing!

Which do I hate more, packing or moving? I think packing, but maybe it's moving, or, better yet, maybe it's both. Sure wish we were rich and could have somebody come in and do all the work. Now wouldn't that be great.

Anyway, I've been packing all day, that and helping Charlie take stuff to the dump. Of course, it hasn't rained in weeks and the sky had to open up about five minutes before we got to the dump, and it stopped raining about five minutes after we left.

Then it was a quick trip into Wal-Mart to pick up some essentials and a couple large tarps to cover Charlie's tools, which will be loaded on his trailer and pulled by the moving van. Then it was McDonald's for lunch; then to Tractor Supply Co. to get replacement lights for Charlie's trailer.

All this with three grandchildren, ages 3, 4 and 6 in tow.

Whew. I'm ready for a cocktail.

Closing Date!

Finally, we have a closing date. After almost six weeks of waiting (and with pre-approval status, no less) we were told today that we will close on Oct. 29! We'll be closing via next-day mail since out lender did not give us enough lead time to get to Newberry for the arduous process. Imagine trying to  to get the truck, finish packing and drive 1400 miles in three days - I don't think so.

But . . . we'll have all out ducks in a row by next week and hope to be in our new home by Friday, Nov. 5, which just happens to be out sixth wedding anniversary. We plan to celebrate at The Pizza Place where we had the best pizza ever when we were up over Labor Day. It was prepared and served by Stephanie Ross. What a doll, and the cakes she makes - you would not believe.

Anyway, this is the first of many posts about our move from Vernon, Florida to Newberry, Michigan.  I've been gone for over 20 years and can't wait to finally get back to the land of the Yooper and all things U.P. Like my husband says, sunshine is way overrated; bring on the S N O W!!!