1999 SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM THE FRAHMS

Just an average year for the Frahm gang…… HA! Karlyn’s adoption became official March 11. The judge said he’d never seen balloons and bananas in the courtroom before! In autumn Jon moved to Manhattan to start his career at KSU, and Karlyn began HeadStart. It’s been an exciting transitional year for all of us.

Our January trip to Grand Cayman included a waterspout welcoming us Kansans. We attended the sunset beachfront wedding of a fellow timesharer and the ensuing reception. Many days were spent eating, diving and visiting with Mike, a contester ham operator and his Brit yachtee girlfriend Jan, who were in the 3^rd month of a planned 7 year circumnavigation on their 32’ Don Henry. For Easter break Jon went to Tech Student Assn Nationals in Tulsa and state Science Olympiad, but we other 3 flew to Las Vegas and visited Yankee Trader friend Jan Brackett. We enjoyed the newest casinos, the hills west of town, and lunch with Howard and Leone Haase from YT days. A rental car brought us to Rosarito in Baja California, where we enjoyed a lovely but unseasonably chilly week on the beach in a beautiful condo. Highlights included visits to Ensenada and a HUGE blowhole called La Bufadora, the set and lot used for filming Titanic, and wonderful, inexpensive lobster dinners. We’d been to Rosarito briefly years earlier, and arrived this time surprised to find it choked with humanity. Turns out Playboy hyped it as THE place to be for spring break ’99, and tens of thousands of kids took it to heart. It was actually rather fun to see the students (for a while) and thankfully midday Monday thru Friday were more normal. On return we spent time with ex-Longton friends Bob and Bonnie Mustoe and attended Easter service at their exciting and dynamic new church. Easter dinner was in the hills at their daugher Cathy & family’s wonderful home. Karlyn was thrilled to participate in the family Easter egg hunt, and his parents were thrilled to find windfall avocados from their nearby orchard amongst the eggs. Our big trip this year included Jon’s good high school friend Jack. A wrong turn in Springfield IL turned fortuitous when we visited Lincoln’s tomb, and we made a planned stop at Niagara Falls. Our first major stop was Montreal where we spent 3 days with our exchange student son Hibiki who is attending business college there. Our first visit to Quebec was made especially easy and fun with Hibiki as guide. A highlight was seeing the St. Lawrence Seaway. Attending the ARRL board meeting in Hartford entailed traveling through Vermont, state #48 for Bruce and Janice. We again visited our Gloucester MA friends the Dexters after stopping in Chelmsford to watch Samantha’s hockey team scrimmage. The beach and deep-sea fishing are always alluring; we just missed George Clooney and Co. filming the book-turned-movie The Perfect Storm. We also made our 2^nd visit to Hammond Castle, the wonderfully outrageous creation of a radio-control inventor. Before heading home we ventured to Cambridge to visit the campus of MIT with Jack as guide – he’s now a freshman. The homebound leg took us 10 miles from Woodstock ’99, just 2 days before the big event. Frequent trips to Manhattan including one with a loaded flatbed trailer got Jon and roommate Justin comfortably shifted to their trailer home near the zoo and the beginning of their college career.

Our farming situation was much like last year – very good wheat crop, phenomenal irrigated corn and very good dryland. But prices are even worse than last year and expanded trade becomes a more needed, and elusive, goal. The new wheat crop was off to a great start but is now somewhat dry.

BRUCE recently enjoyed a "multi-single" radio contest with friends in Junction City, then attended one days’ classes with Jon. His brother is returning to Colby next year which will reduce farm management demands. An early December dive vacation to Cozumel with local friends puts him in the holiday mood.

JANICE has accepted a position on the Methodist District Committee on Ministries which involves reviewing candidates. Puddle Duck Preschool for which she is a BoD member is operating smoothly. She and Karlyn are completing Parents as Teachers, as she adjusts to Jon’s new found independence. Genealogy research and cleaning old AFS exchange student files occupy many ‘spare moments’.

KARLYN is a very eager HeadStart student. He continues to improve speech and vocabulary. Balloons are still a special joy, and singing is an ever-growing pastime.