2010 was a busy year for the Haggarty family. I didn't get a Christmas newsletter done to put in the cards I sent out this year, so thought I'd do a blog post to catch up with everything that has gone on during the year.
Allie is a junior in high school this 2010-11 year, and as always is thriving. She made the cut to compete in the Governor's Scholar Program of KY, but unfortunately did not win one of the three coveted spots. But her 28 on her ACT (the first time taking it since 7th grade) consoled her, and we're confident she'll find her niche at the college of her choice. She's been asked to be the Grant County 4-H Poultry Project Leader for this year, a job usually done by an adult, and she's quite looking forward to that. She's my staunch helper around the farm with chores, couldn't do it without her!
Colleen graduated from Williamstown High School this year, number 4 in her class, with a GPA of something over 4.0 (I am not sure how that works, don't ask.) We were pleased to have her paternal grandparents come down from Canada for her graduation, it's always wonderful to see Fred and Shirl. She enrolled in the University of Cincinnati in the fall, in the prestigious DAAP program (Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning), but to her and our dismay, became very ill in November with a combination of Mono and Strep. This caused her to miss so much school that she decided to withdraw from DAAP (it's one of those highly competitive programs where if you miss four weeks you might as well take the year over.) Happily, she was accepted at the University of Kentucky for the winter/spring semester, and is now enrolled there as an undeclared major freshman.
James is still happily employed at the Cincinnati Enquirer as Operations Manager. He loves his job, always something new to learn, a project to tackle, a new piece of equipment to research, it's just been a wonderful place to work and we're so glad he's there! He's reached 970 hours of horseback riding time in the American Quarter Horse Recreational Ride program, and we fully expect he'll hit 1,000 hours next year. He's working on doing a seminar this spring with the local Horse Council on orienteering on horseback, and is still the Grant County KEEP (Kentucky Equine Education Project) team leader.
Laura made a big leap this year, expanding her vintage postcard business. She purchased from her father the ephemera her mother spent over 40 years collecting, and has been working hard to do more than just sell the cards themselves, but to monetize the over 10,000 images. She started out with a Christmas card collection - cards made from reproductions of the vintage images from all over the world. That went well, and she's now working on catalogues for Valentine's Day cards, and will follow those with all the other major holidays. She's also working on a line of quilt fabric blocks (amazingly, you can print on fabric from an inkjet printer); bookmarks, and magnets, all with vintage images.
All the farm and house animals are doing well, although we were sad to lose our last house cat this summer, Miss Cleo now romps at the Rainbow Bridge with her friends Babe and Kitzel. But all the horses are still with us, even Buddy, who will be 31 on January 1st. Toby and his goat charges; Zoltan and Stanley still roam the east pasture; we still have about 100 chickens in large fowl and bantam (although we're just breeding Buckeyes now); the barn cats Frodo, Samwise, and their mother Starz keep the barn and fields rodent-free, and Ziva and McGee are our Canine Early Warning System, guarding the house at all times.
We wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the coming year bring you all peace, happiness, and joy.
